3 Top Plant Based Sources Of Iron.

So you are starting out your plant based journey but have seen warnings about Iron Deficiency. Well you don't have to worry because there is far more Iron in many plant based foods than you might think.

Number One one this list I think will pleasantly surprise you.

You can in fact have your chocolate and enjoy it knowing it contains more iron gram for gram than a portion of lean cooked beef! I used to say to my mum all the time I need my square or two of 70% plus dark chocolate for my health. She would roll her eyes at me but she knew I was right. Plus two squares a day or every couple of days wasn't going to hurt me.

So an 85 gram portion of dark chocolate will provide you with 10mg of Iron! Of course you have to bear in mind this should be at least 70% cacao solids. So something like Lindt Dark Chocolate will do just make sure it hasn't got any pesky milk powder in. For some reason they love to add milk powder to dark chocolate.

The average female needs only around 18 mg of Iron a day and vegans or plant based dieters will need slightly more. So eating that portion of chocolate will get you well on your way to reaching your 18 mg's a day requirement.

Number Two is of course those lovely dark leafy greens. When you hear all those jokes about vegans and Kale we really do love it because it is a great source of Iron for us. It tastes good as well!

Spinach, Kale, Swiss Chard, they are all good sources of Iron. However ignore those people who say raw vegetables provide more nutrients there is no real science to back that up. In fact you get almost no Iron from a cup of raw Spinach when comparing it to eating cooked Spinach.

The difference is as vast as less then 1 mg of Iron for Raw Spinach to around 6 and a half mg's for the equivalent cooked amount. So please do eat your veggies cooked especially your leafy greens!

Spinach has the higher amount of Iron compared to the other leafy greens I mentioned however personally I prefer a nice bunch of Kale and can consume more of it so for me it averages out the same or better. You can also buy quite bit bags of Kale here in local UK supermarkets for a very reasonable price. It is easy enough to cook as well.

Now of course coming in at number three for a good source of Iron on a plant based diet is....NUTS! Yes that is right just be careful as they can run high in calories so portion control them and balance the calorie intake vs how much iron you can get from them.

Coming in top is Cashews which is good because quite often home made vegan cheeze recipes use Cashews for the main base of it. They really do make a very good creamy cheeze replacement if I am honest.

There is almost 2 mg's of Iron per an ounce ( 28.4 grams) of Cashews. That really is not bad I wouldn't recommend more than that for a portion size through out the day unless you're very active and have the calories to spare. As nuts are definitely not a low calorie snack, but they do provide many health benefits and are full of essential nutrients and vitamins we require.

If like me though you are not a massive fan of cashews then you can always opt for almonds with just over 1 mg of Iron for an ounce. Although it is good to note that almonds also contain a lot of other nutrients that come in higher quantities than cashews so might be the better option overall, as you don't really want to be consuming too much nuts in general due to caloric intake.

One thing almonds are higher in compared to most other nuts is Calcium which is something else you'll want to keep an eye on when going plant based. Although many non dairy milk and yoghurt alternatives are fortified with calcium. So you should be fine on that front.

So these are some of my go to sources of Iron as a vegan. Yes there are more options, even some that may have higher amounts of Iron than what I've listed.

These are just what I consider the easiest to find, buy and incorporate into your every day diet. They are also my personal favourites, especially the chocolate!