The Role of Dietary Iron in a Healthy Life

Dietary iron is an important nutrient for keeping the body healthy and strong. Dietary iron is found in hemoglobin (red blood cells) and in myoglobin (muscle cells). Iron is needed to help carry and release oxygen from both red blood cells and muscle cells. Getting too little iron can cause iron deficiency anemia, a lack of iron in red blood cells from poor absorption. Symptoms of iron deficiency anemia include lack of energy, pale skin, light headedness, deceased appetite, and brittle finger nails.

Iron deficiency often occurs during pregnancy when the developing fetus may take iron from the mother’s body – especially when there is not enough for both the developing baby and the mother. Iron deficiency can also occur during a women’s menstrual cycle from the shedding of the blood layer in her uterus. Infants, young children and adolescents also need extra iron to support their rapid growth. Infant and young children have a milk based diet that lends them susceptible to iron deficiency. Adolescent girls are also vulnerable from their rapid growth and initiation of their menstrual cycle.  

In contrast, getting too much iron can also be a significant problem. Iron toxicity can cause heart damage, liver damage, and bacterial infections. Symptoms of iron toxicity are loss of appetite, gray look to the skin, headaches, lack of energy, and shortness of breath. Toxicity usually occurs when a person takes too many iron supplements. It is very rare to get too much iron from diet alone.

There are two forms of iron in the foods we eat, Heme iron and nonheme iron. Heme iron usually comes from animal products such as beef, poultry, and fish. Most of the iron our body absorbs is heme iron. Nonheme iron comes from plant based foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans. For example, kidney beans are a good source of nonheme iron. Both heme iron and nonheme iron are needed by the body to maintain total iron stores at a healthy level.

There are ways to enhance the absorption of iron by combining certain foods. Heme iron is easier for the body to absorb. It also has a compound that helps nonheme iron be absorbed by the body when both are consumed during the same meal. Another way to improve the absorption of nonheme iron is to consume some vitamin C/citric acid such as citrus fruits and juice, with your meal. Lactic acid also helps with nonheme iron absorption. Nonheme iron is also more available to the body if the nonheme food is cooked in a cast iron skillet or pot. Certain foods decrease the absorption of nonheme iron and should be avoided when eating heme iron containing foods. Avoid excessive amounts of coffee or tea and food that contain tannic acid, high fiber foods such as bran and fiber supplements, large amounts of calcium during a meal, and some food additives.

Getting enough iron is tricky, since there are delicate systems at work. It can be very difficult to create menus when some vegetables may actually inhibit iron absorption and some increase it. The safest bet is to eat a generally healthy and balanced diet rich is fruits, vegetable, whole grains, lean meats and poultry, and low fat diary products. Aim to eat one meal a day that is meat based with some whole citrus fruit or fruit juice with it. For example, for breakfast you can have a piece of low sodium breakfast ham with a glass of orange juice.  Another meal option could be beef and kidney bean chili and a salad (no spinach) with a citrus based dressing.

How To Create A Healthy Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is the time when you are breaking the fast your body has been going through during sleep, and revitalizing your brain for the day ahead. Eating breakfast can keep you alert throughout the morning and regulate your metabolism. This will help to keep you from overeating during the rest of the day. Breakfast also keeps your body out of starvation mode. Starvation mode can lead to weight gain because your body is trying to save every calorie you eat. Breakfast does not have to be a difficult endeavor. Follow these steps for easy weekday breakfasts.

Meal planning is the most important concept to getting a healthy breakfast on the table fast. It is important to sit down and plan out what you will eat during the week. Avoid fast food breakfasts as they will lead to weight gain, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. It is a much healthier idea to make your own healthy breakfast. Think about the week ahead and what kind of breakfast you would like to eat. This is the time to get ingredients for simple but healthy high fiber muffins or breakfast scones. Make the muffins/scones on a weekend when you have more time. Bake and cool completely then place them into a freezer bag or freezable container. When you would like to eat one, take it out of the freezer bag/container and microwave for about 15-20 seconds. For something more substantial, you can even make pancakes or waffles. Mix up your favorite high fiber pancake/waffle recipe and cook according to the recipe. Once cooked, cool completely and place into a freezer bag or freezable container. When you need your breakfast, take out how many pancakes/waffles you want to eat and reheat in the toaster or toaster oven. Each of these items freeze perfectly until you want to take one or two during the week.

Another healthy breakfast idea is eggs. Not only are eggs cheap but they are quick cooking and filled with healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Eggs are not the demons they once were but you do need to keep your consumption of eggs down to about 1 to 2 a week or less. Eggs still are a high calories food and contain some saturated fat.  A great way to use eggs is to make a vegetable omelet or frittata. Take any leftover vegetable you have in the refrigerator (you can also use a frozen vegetable mix with no sauce) and put then into a hot sauté pan. Cover the vegetables with two beaten eggs and scramble until eggs are firm and vegetables are hot. You could also serve this with two defrosted pancakes or a muffin.

Smoothies are another great breakfast option and they are so simple to prepare. Simply mix you favorite frozen or fresh fruit into a blender with some vanilla (or another flavor) low fat yogurt, add a little flaxseed meal and blend. You can drink alone or have with a defrosted scone. You can also make this mixture ahead and either keep it in the refrigerator or freeze to use later in the week. There are so many combinations that the possibilities are endless.

One of the most important aspects of any meal planning is to have a good source of recipes. There are many website online that have hundreds, even thousands, of recipes. These recipes will help you cook/bake healthy breakfast foods fast. There are also many cookbooks and cooking magazines at your local library that have a wealth of great recipes that will meet your needs. Using these techniques it is no longer too easy to skip breakfast.

Healthy Action Step: Aim to eat breakfast at least three times a week.

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How To Cook Your Way To Health

Low fat cooking has been given a negative spin in the last several years. For years beforehand we were told that eating low fat foods would help the US population lose weight and become healthier. But the opposite has occurred. Americans are continuing to gain weight at an alarming pace, even with the widespread consumption of low fat products--mostly in the form of low fat cookies and other processed foods. Most low fat processed foods have a high amount of sugar to compensate for removing fat from the food. People thought the food was healthier and they ate more than they should have. The sugar in the food did not decrease the calories in the food. The low fat craze also turned into a food marketing campaign to sell more processed food products. Food companies realized that Americans would buy up low fat products -- and eat them.

What would have been better for Americans was to stop buying the processed foods and learn to like fruits and vegetable based snacks/meals. These are naturally low fat and full of important vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. If the public had learned that the most effective way to lose weight and increase health was to consume these naturally healthy foods perhaps the obesity epidemic would be slowing. Health professionals should have emphasized teaching Americans how to cook at home, because in order for people to eat more fruits and vegetables people need to know how to cook. There is a hidden, and growing, epidemic of people who cannot cook for themselves. People with no time or money to cook find it easier to buy their foods from a fast food restaurant or a meal in a box. But it does not have to be this way. Cooking can really be as quick--sometimes quicker--as take out. Low fat cooking, in particular, is really about making fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grain the base of your diet.

A plant based diet is really not hard to follow, but you do need a good source of recipes. There are many websites that have hundreds of good recipes. Choose easy recipes that that take 30 minutes or less to prepare and don’t use a lot of unfamiliar ingredients. Chicken recipes are always a good start. Boneless chicken breasts are naturally low in fat and are a fast protein to cook. Make sure the recipes have vegetables either topping the chicken or in the sauce. Avoid red meat such as beef whenever possible. Red meat is high in saturated fat which has been implicated in increasing your risk of cardiovascular disease. 

Next you need to learn to plan meals for the week. This is not as hard at it sounds, but does take some thought before going to the grocery store. Try to buy food that is on sale in the bulk meat section. The store sometimes has family size meat packages that go on sale. After you bring the packages home, break them down into 4-6 servings and freeze. This helps keep the cost down and gives you a protein source. 

Third, focus on in season produce to also keep costs down. Seasonal produce is always cheaper than out of season produce. There are many great recipes for seasonal produce online. Check your grocery circular for which fruits/vegetables are exceptionally low. A great money saving idea is to buy a large amount of on sale produce and freeze in servings of 4-6 for use throughout the year. This technique also works if you go to the farmer’s market or pick you own farm and bring home a large amount of produce from this trip.

Lastly, aim to make one or two vegetarian meal a week. This is a sure fire way to not only save money but to learn how to eat a more plant based diet. There are many vegetarian recipes/website that can give you ideas on what to make. Not only does this keep your grocery bill down but it also helps your health because you are eating more vegetables and whole grains. 

Healthy Action Step: Work towards learning to cook dinner at least twice a week. As you start to become more comfortable, increase cooking dinner to three times a week.

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How To Reduce Your Sodium Intake

Sodium is an important element -- one that our bodies need to function properly. Sodium helps maintain our acid/base balance, signals our muscles to contract, and keeps our water balance in check. Sodium also regulates how much water our body stores and how this water is used. But many times the amount of sodium we eat is too much for our body to handle properly. Too much sodium (including table salt) can cause many health issues such as dehydration, hypertension, kidney disease and elevated blood glucose levels. Sodium causes high blood pressure when it removes water from the blood, making the heart pump harder to get blood throughout the entire body. Those with kidney disease, diabetes, and hypertension are required to eat a low sodium diet to reduce the salt burden on their system.

The recommended sodium intake is 2400mg or less a day. This is about 1 teaspoon of table salt. For those at risk for, or have been diagnosed with, hypertension, 1500mg of sodium or less is the recommended amount. Most of the food we eat contains sodium so it is very easy to meet the recommended intake—and easy to get too much. Most of the sodium/salt in an individual’s diet comes from packaged foods. There is sodium in nearly every packaged food so it is important to read the Nutrition Facts label to determine how much sodium is in a serving for the food you are planning to eat. Highly processed packaged foods such as dehydrated potatoes and other dehydrated foods, canned food, and boxed mixes have the most sodium.

To reduce the amount of sodium in your diet it is important to stick with fresh fruits and vegetables and other unprocessed, unpackaged foods. These items typically have far less sodium/salt than processed foods. Also, when you cook with whole foods you can control how much salt you put into the food. Only a small amount of the sodium we eat comes from salting your food during cooking. If you want to reduce your salt to the lowest level possible, there are many good sodium replacements that can make your food taste just as delicious without any salt. Instead of over salting, you can add lemon juice and pepper to bring out the natural flavor of the food. You can also add herbs such as rosemary and thyme. These herbs taste much better with the natural flavors of what you are cooking than a handful of salt does.

If you do not want to cook, you can choose reduced sodium packaged foods when you want to use a packaged food item, but be sure to only add a small amount of extra salt or none at all.  To have complete control over your salt intake it is best to cook your own food. If you don’t know how to cook, take a cooking class through continuing education. Learning to make a few simple low salt meals will keep you healthy and your blood pressure in check.

It is also important to drink enough water, especially if you choose to eat even reduced sodium packaged foods. Reduced sodium foods still have considerable sodium in them that can be detrimental to your health. The water you drink will keep you from becoming dehydrated. Small amounts of sodium will reduce the amount of water in the body – and water retention can also lead to weight gain.

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