Vegan Pregnancy: Iron Sources (+ Recipes)

Vegan Pregnancy: Iron Sources (+ Recipes)

When you’re pregnant, you hear an awful lot about your iron intake. Iron iron iron. Truth be told… in my first trimester, I began to crave meat – for the first time in over 3 years. Talk about terrifying. I was like oh great, why. Whyyyy is this happening. I honestly can’t even begin to explain half the shit that goes through your head when you are making a human, but… this was one of my many thoughts and cravings. I knew that I didn’t really want meat. My body clearly needed something else – and a lot of people told me it was probably craving iron.

Hm, okay! Well to satisfy the “craving,” I opted for high iron foods and also some soy-protein products (think chik’n, boca burgers, etc.). It did the trick, and I didn’t have to even think twice about eating meat.

There are plenty of vegan options for iron, and the ones that I turned to most were:

  • Lentils
  • Tofu
  • Spinach
  • Chickpeas
  • Tempeh
  • Swiss Chard
  • Black and Pinto Beans
  • Potatoes
  • Tahini
  • Cashews
  • Dark Chocolate
  • Fortified Cereal (Cheerios, etc.)

Also – apparently blackstrap molasses is like the plant-based god of iron. Just 2 tbs has 7.2 mg of iron. I do not usually cook or use molasses, but I wanted to point it out. Now sure how I should use it – any ideas for me?

Anyways, some of my favorite iron-packed meals are below. I hope you can draw some inspiration from here when you are putting together your own iron-filled meal plan – plant-based pregnancy or not!!

Share some of your favorite iron-filled dishes below – would love some new ideas. xx bianca

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