I tried to donate blood last night only to be turned down yet again because my hemoglobin count was too low. In fact, this time it was so low they were required to direct me to a nurse to ask me a few questions about what I eat. I didn't have the guts to actually confess I am "dieting" and therefore eating a great deal less than a normal person. I am still eating balanced meals, eating a hefty amount of protein at at least 2 meals and taking a multi-vitamin that has 10 mg of iron in it so I'm a little lost as to why I would have low iron.
I am going to the doctor for more blood tests but in the meantime does anyone have any go-to foods or recipes that have a lot of iron in them? While dieting, I've stopped eating cereal (often enriched with iron) because it just makes me more hungry, I can't stomach seafood or beef or chicken livers, either and I know they have a lot of iron too. I do put blackstrap molasses in a lot of baking and drink kale daily in my fruit+veg breakfast smoothie and I love meat!
Any help/ideas/recipes would be great!!