This article was contributed by Joanna Steven

When I first told my doctor that I planned on getting pregnant some time this year, she immediately prescribed a multivitamin. Since I am aware of the fact that many raw women cannot stomach leafy greens and other super nutritious foods in the early months of their pregnancy, I decided to go ahead and take them. But when I noticed that each pill contained twice the daily requirement of iron, I was a little concerned.

According to the MedlinePlus Encyclopedia, iron overdoses can cause anything from dehydration to liver damage. When I told her that my hemoglobin level was already 44 (with 37 being the limit between normal levels and anemia, and 47 the limit between normal and excessive levels) without even taking a supplement, she stated that as a vegetarian, taking iron supplements wouldn’t hurt, and that pregnant women need more iron anyway.

In an article on the www.drspock.com website, Dr Elisa Ross, MD, mentioned the fact that women are often anemic in the last months of pregnancy, and this could possibly cause “low birth-weight and preterm babies”. As a result, while the recommended daily intake of iron is about 18 mg for an adult, it increases to about 30 mg if you are pregnant to build hemoglobin and a healthy placenta.

Still, I wasn’t convinced that I needed the synthetic prenatal. If my iron level is so good without me even paying attention to it, I should be able to eat enough iron rich food to get me through my pregnancy without difficulty. I was also able to find plenty of studies showing the adverse effect of iron supplementation during pregnancy. For example, a study conducted at the University of Turin, Italy, showed that “Iron supplementation is associated with glucose impairment and hypertension in midpregnancy”. Basically, women who take iron supplements have a significantly higher risk of developing hypertension and gestational diabetes; they also had lower levels of high density (good) cholesterol.

I started incorporating various iron rich ingredients into my daily recipes, and realized that really, when we eat healthy, nutritious raw foods, we should get all the iron we need without taking supplements.

Few SA dieters are aware of the fact that raw vegan ingredients contain more than enough iron for good health, more so than red meat and other supposedly iron rich foods.
For example, let’s look at hemp’s nutritional profile. A quarter of a cup of hemp contains 40% of our daily iron requirement. By contrast, a serving of red meat contains only about 10 to 15%. We would need to eat 10 steaks a day to get enough iron, while a little more than ½ a cup of hemp is more than enough!

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Another super iron rich food is parsley. Some people like to juice it, or add it to green smoothies. I personally find it a bit strong in smoothies, and there is evidence that parsley juice isn’t recommended during pregnancies (while eating parsley as a whole food is healthful, massive quantities such as in parsley oil can be detrimental). My favorite way of eating it is simply in tabbouleh. And since I substitute the traditional bulgur wheat with hemp, my tabbouleh really becomes an iron powerhouse!

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In the nuts and seed department, pumpkin seed and unhulled sesame seeds really shine. Just an ounce of either seed provide nearly ¼ of our daily iron requirement. I love sprinkling pumpkin seeds on salad, or adding them to flax crackers. And sesame seeds can be slipped into nearly anything as they are so small, or they can be a dish’s main attraction if you use tahini (sesame butter) as part of a salad or kale chips dressing. In general, other nuts and seeds such as sunflower, cashew or flax will provide around 10% of our iron needs per ounce. If using tahini, either make your own using unhulled sesame, or buy ready made tahini made with whole seeds. Hulled seeds contain significantly less iron and calcium.

Eating an iron rich raw vegan diet is really easy, and here are a few recipes to get you started!

Protein & Iron Strawberry Banana Shake (serves 2)

This recipe provides 30% of the FDA’s protein and iron requirement, as well as more than 300% of our daily vitamin C requirement, thus enhancing our body’s ability to absorb iron. It also provides 25% of our folate requirement, an important nutrient during pregnancy.

• 4 cup sliced, strawberries
• 2 large bananas, frozen*
• ¼ cup hemp seeds
• ½ to 1 cup water

Agave or honey to taste, depending on the fruits’ sweetness

Directions:

Blend all the ingredients until smooth.

* If using fresh bananas, add a few ice cubes for a cool, refreshing smoothie.

Parsley & Hemp Tabbouleh

I often look at ethnic recipes for nutrition. Often, the ingredients within them have been combined, consciously or not, to ensure maximum nutrition absorption while tasting wonderful. This salad supplies more than 50% of our iron requirement for the day, as well as a generous 20 grams of protein.

It is believed that parsley is an herb that facilitates abortions. However, pregnant women in many cultures have eaten generous amounts of parsley and carried their pregnancy to term. The problem seems to be with parsley oil, which amounts to massive quantities of parsley, but the herb itself is actually healthful and rich in vitamins and minerals that are very pregnancy friendly, such as folate and vitamin K.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces parsley, chopped
• 1 Roma tomato, diced finely
• 1 T fresh mint, chopped
• 3 T hemp seeds
• 1 green onion, diced
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T fresh lemon juice
• Pinch salt

Directions:

Toss all ingredients together except for the tomatoes. Refrigerate until ready to use, and add the tomatoes just before serving. If the tabbouleh stays in the fridge for too long, it might start to dry out. Simply add a little more olive oil and toss one more time.

Quick & Easy Morning Cereal

This cereal is so quick and easy, and my husband likes it more than all the really complicated ones that need lots of dehydrating and prep time. Adding nut milk make the mix even more nutritious.

Ingredients:

• 1 T pumpkin seeds, soaked
• 1 T sunflower seeds, soaked
• 1 T raisins
• 1 T dry apricots, finely diced
• 1 T prepared raw chocolate chips, chopped (or a few cacao nibs)

Anything you want to add! Berries, fresh fruits cut into small cubes etc. are especially good

Directions:

Toss all the ingredients together into a bowl, add some nut milk, and enjoy!

Tags: children, Food, Living Food, parenting, Raw food, raw kids

This entry was posted on Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 7:14 pm by admin and is filed under Family, Food for Thought, Inspiring Families, Pregnancy, Tips for Moms, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.