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!!
- Lentil + Hummus Salad
- Lentil Stew
- Chipotle Chickpea Salad
- Coconut Chickpea Soup
- Tofu Breakfast Scramble
- Spicy Lentil + Kidney Bean Mash
- Smoked 3-Bean + Tempeh Chili
- Tempeh + Peppers
- Kale, Swiss Chard + Pink Beans
- Spinach Pie
- Green Goddess Soup
- Thai Tofu + Peanut Lettuce Wraps
- Potato + Rosemary Pizza
- Massaged Kale Salad + Buffalo Tempeh
- Black Bean + Cashew Cheese Quesadilla
- Avocado + 3 Bean Salad
- Baked BBQ Tempeh Steaks
- Tempeh Burger Pizza
- Baked Tofu
Share some of your favorite iron-filled dishes below – would love some new ideas. xx bianca
