FEELING tired, short of breath, pale skinned? Nails all brittle or plagued by headaches? You could be iron deficient.
Guidelines state men over 18 and women over 50 need 8.7mg and women 19-50 need 14.8mg, but five per cent of us are deficient.
Iron is found in red meat, chicken, beans, lentils and, of course, spinach.
If you feel like your iron intake needs a boost, here are three ways to help…
NOODLES
ZENB pasta is made from 100 per cent yellow peas – no wheat, gluten or anything else.
The brand is the only regular pasta alternative I like. Now it has brought out some fine noodles that are perfect for soups and Asian dishes.
A 100g portion contains 3.9mg of iron, which is 28 per cent of your daily recommended intake.
This is a great way to get iron, plus protein and fibre, into your diet without supplements or pills.
One of my favourite products and they take just five minutes to cook.
From £4.50 for a 320g pack with four individual portions, zenb.co.uk.
POWDER
I DON’T always believe a fancy name guarantees a fancy product.
But I do love the berry-flavoured daily greens from Elle Macpherson’s Super Elixir range.
It is a new flavour from the cult wellness product, with more than 40 ingredients. The main one is barley grass, followed by leaf powder and wheatgrass – all great sources of iron. Plus there is kelp and spinach, too.
There are also plenty of fruit and veg powders and fibres which help with energy production and are great for the gut, cognitive health, immunity and skin, hair and nails.
This is a pimped-up green powder but thanks to all the antioxidant rich fruits, you get a big fruity smell when you open the container and it tastes lovely.
It has got a supermodel price tag though.
From £50.40 for month’s supply, welleco.co.uk.
CAPSULES
IF you’re looking for a supplement that offers your entire daily intake of iron, then Innermost’s The Rise capsules could be a good solution.
With just two capsules a day you’ll get 14mg of iron. But these may also help cognitive function and stamina because they contain other productivity-boosting ingredients.
These include vitamin B, a superfood called maca and the mushroom cordyceps, which are said to aid endurance.
Plus there is bacopa monnieri, a plant that has been used for centuries in traditional Ayurvedic medicine that improves cognitive function for a sustained energy boost.
In trials, 85 per cent of people said two capsules a day made them feel more productive.
From £19.96 for a 30-day supply, liveinnermost.co.uk.
