At my recent blood tests I have been shown to be low in iron (a low haemoglobin count) so I’m interested to see which foods have a good iron content as I don’t eat red meat, although this information from Healthaliciousness.com shows that meat sources aren’t necessarily the best forms:
“Iron is an essential mineral used to transport oxygen to all parts of the body. A slight deficiency in iron causes anemia (fatigue/weakness), and a chronic deficiency can lead to organ failure. Conversely, too much iron leads to production of harmful free radicals, and interferes with metabolism, causing damage to organs like the heart and liver. The body is able to regulate uptake of iron, so overdose is rare and usually only occurs when people take supplements. Iron from natural food sources, like the ones listed below, are considered safe and healthy. While iron is better absorbed from heme (meat) sources, non-heme (plant) iron is better regulated causing less damage to the body.”

Most of us know that spinach is full of iron , but did you know that one of the best foods high in iron is dried Thyme? In one tablespoon of dried Thyme there is 21% of the daily requirement of iron.
Okay so maybe using a tablespoon of Thyme is a little strong for most of us but I made the following soup with some other amazing foods super high in iron content .
Dried Pumpkin seeds have 115% of our daily requirement per cup (WOW!) and 100 grams of sundried tomatoes have 51%
(All scientific info courtesy of Healthaliciousness.comand a BIG thanks to Gwynedd at The Royal Marsden for passing their info onto me)

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 carton of organic chopped tomatoes
6 sundried tomatoes
1 medium onion chopped roughly
2 cloves Garlic (smashed and left for 10 minutes before using)
2 teaspoons of dried Thyme
400ml of vegetable stock
1 dessert spoon of coconut oil (or olive oil)
1 small carton of Oatly Cream (non-dairy)
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup dried Pumpkin Seeds per serving

Heat the oil and add the onion over a gentle heat, place a lid on the saucepan and gently cook until translucent – about 5 minutes. Remove the lid and add the garlic, stir and cook for a minute, add both the chopped & sundried tomatoes.
Pour in the stock, stir and cook for 5 minutes.
Remove from the heat, carefully ladle into the blender, blend until smooth (and strangely looks like Heinz tomato soup!)
Return to the saucepan, add the Oatly Cream and Dried Thyme.
Stir and return to the heat to warm up, add the freshly ground black pepper, ladle into bowls and sprinkle the Pumpkin Seeds on.
I’ve also used broccoli sprouts on mine.
Serve, Eat, Enjoy

Let me know what you think?
What are your favourite iron-rich foods?