Superfoods are foods that contain supplementary nutritional benefits apart from regular and daily nutrition. They are loaded with essential nutrients such as iron, calcium, vitamins and minerals hence it is important for all to ensure that they include superfoods in their diet. In this post we will talk about various superfoods that are rich in iron and how they are beneficial for you.
Why your body needs iron?
Iron plays a great role in forming strong muscles and regulating vigorous blood. According to the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), the recommended amount of iron intake for adult women is 18 mg and for men it is 8m.
When superfoods rich in iron are concerned, clams are a remarkable source of iron. Apart from iron they are also a great source of Vitamin B12 and potassium. You can either make chowder with clams or eat them raw along with its half shell or use them in other superfood recipes.
They also do not tend to get contaminated and as said by the Environmental Defense Fund’s Seafood Selector, the breeding of clams are not harmful and also do not destroy the ecological balance.
Iron rich superfoods that you must consume?
Oysters are also an amazing superfood that contains 10.2 mg of iron and about 116 calories. Apart from iron, they also contain high amounts of Vitamin B12. The wild oysters may be extremely tainted and gathered during harvesting season using not so right methods; hence it’s advisable that you always prefer well bred Pacific or edible oysters.
Cereals are also another great source of iron. They are available in the form of hot and cold readymade cereals. Cold cereals contain about 1.8 to 21.1 mg of iron and in hot cereals the amount of iron varies between 4.9 and 8.1 mg. There also come fortified cereals which are readymade and contain calcium.
Soybeans are also great source of iron. If you eat half a cup of cooked soya beans, you get about 4.4 mg of iron and 149 calories. However, you should not consume high amounts of soy beans as they contain plant estrogens that may be harmful for your health.