Happy #wellnesswednesday friends! We’re back to follow up on our post from last week about the importance of micronutrients in keeping you healthy! This week, we are going to dive into a mineral that each one of us should be including in our diet, and that’s iron!

What is iron? It is so much more than a material used to build skyscrapers or a symbol you see on the periodic table! Iron is one of the most essential minerals that we need to help transport oxygen throughout our bodies. The reason that iron is so important, is because it is a vital component of hemoglobin, which is what carries oxygen from your lungs and transports it throughout your body.

The problems occur when you don’t have enough iron, because then your body runs the risk of not getting enough oxygen, which will cause you to become tired and fatigued and put your immune system at risk.

So how do we make sure that we get enough iron? There are iron supplements that you can take, but your best option is to create a diet that is filled with iron rich foods! Some examples of foods that are good sources of iron are:

Meat and Eggs: Beef, Lamb, Ham, Turkey, Chicken, Veal, Pork, Eggs (any style)

Seafood: Shrimp, Clams, Scallops, Oysters, Tuna, Sardines, Haddock, Mackerel

Vegetables: Spinach, Sweet potatoes, Peas, Broccoli, String beans, Beet greens, Dandelion greens, Collards, Kale, Chard

Bread and Cereals: Whole wheat bread, Wheat products, Bran cereals, Corn meal

Fruit: Strawberries, Watermelon, Raisins, Dates, Figs

Beans and Other Foods: Tofu, Beans (kidney, garbanzo, or white, canned), Dried beans, Lentils

The good news is that as you can see above, it’s not very hard to find foods filled with iron! Have an iron filled recipe that you love? Share it with us!