Hey guys, so when I was around 14, my hands and feet would always be cold and sweaty. I was around 140 lb. When I was around 19, I was 180 lb, no longer had low iron or chills, became a vegetarian, lost the weight. Down to around 157lb +- 3.

But very recently, in the past few months, I've started becoming very cold again. I had a blood test done; my doctor said my iron is dangerously low.

I was like, cool, I'll eat my spinach, broccoli, and nuts.

I have been eating my greens devoutly for the last few months... but then I heard rumors that spinach really ISN'T high in iron, and that's just a myth.

How am I supposed to get my iron? I don't know what's correct to do/eat in my situation. I will never ever eat meat again because it just grosses me out. I'd be okay with eating seafood, but not oysters or something gross like that yuck lol And I love my veg. Is there a method to the madness? Should I try to eat a bucket of spinach a day? What am I doing? ahh lol

Thanks in advance! You're all awesome sauce

What is dangerously low, if you don't mind me asking? The lowest mine has ever been is 3 (about a quarter of the minimum you want to be as a woman) & if it's that low, your doctor should have suggested iron tablets. (I don't take them as even the "easy to digest" ones wreak havoc on my stomach)

Oh, & pinach IS a good source of iron, but the body has difficulty absorbing it. Try something with vitamin C in it WITH your spinach...helps your body absorb it & you get more bang for your buck.

Also, you need to make sure your diet is balanced.

I'm vegan, female, & donate blood regularly. I know some things about this.

PM me if you ever want to chat or would like me to expand on this.

Your best bet is probably an iron supplement, your doctor can prescribe you something. I'm not a vegetarian but I still have very low iron and need to take supplements to keep my iron levels up... You'll also notice you'll be a lot less fatigued once you get your iron levels back up. Good luck!

I had a similar problem. I started taking mega foods blood builder supplement. It is actually vegan and derived from veggies...it is not hard on your system. I got it from Whole foods. Two weeks into taking it and I felt better!

Whatever plant iron sources you eat, ALWAYS combine with vitamin C or your body can't assimilate it.

So always drink some fresh lemon water or eat an orange or some raw broccholi or whatever with it.

As far as supplements go, iron is one where quality differs a lot. I have REALLY good experience with Thorne Research Iron Picolinate - you can get it on Amazon for not that much at all. My doctor recommendation for it was 2 capsules before bed with a glass of fresh lemon water.

Here is a page with a list of foods that are iron absorption enhances and a list of foods that inhibit iron absorption. healthcastle(dot)com/iron(dot)shtml

Sorry, I'm not allowed to link with such a low post count, but the TL;DR of it is:

Absorption helpers-

• ​Meat/fish/poultry
• Fruits: Orange, Orange Juice, cantaloupe, strawberries, grapefruit etc
• Vegetables: Broccoli, brussels sprouts, tomato, tomato juice, potato, green and red peppers
• White wine

Absorption hurters-

• Red Wine, Coffee and Tea
• Vegetables: Spinach, chard, beet greens, rhubarb and sweet potato
• Whole grains and bran
• Isolated soy ingredients, like products made with soy flour and isolated soy protein concentrate.

I've switched to white wine, but they can pry my coffee from my cold, dead, anemic hands!

sea vegetables are good like nori etc