

Wondering about your health or managing an illness? Here's a health coach to cheer you on...Ask Nurse Deb!
Non-Heme Iron Sources:
Note: the iron absorbed from Heme-rich food sources is 15-30% more efficient than non-heme iron which is absorbed at only a rate of 5%. Eating some of both is a good idea. In the Non-heme iron list, fortified cereals can carry 18mg/serving, legumes 4-8mg, but remember it is less fully absorbed than its 'heme' cousins.
When you read the list of non-heme iron containing foods, you may notice that many of these plant based foods are also good sources of calcium. Even foods like orange juice are being fortified by calcium supplements which can raise the odds of us meeting the target of 1300mg/day for teens. One source commented that most adults never reach their daily intake target for calcium, so why are we surprised that our kids don't either? Good point. Another source claims only 10% of female teens meet the goal for calcium intake - read "I don't want to get fat" here? In addition to deep green leafy veggies, milk and other dairy foods are the biggest source of calcium in the American diet. Fat free and low fat versions generally work as well as the high fat milk and cheeses. But here is our paradox showing up - milk and dairy products are often a significant contributing factor to iron deficiency anemia!
NON-DAIRY CALCIUM-RICH FOODS
Ok...here's the list.
I keep wondering how we expect to get sardines, liver, tofu and kale into these kids? Even I wouldn't eat some of it! I guess creative cooks have added hidden ingredients to sauces, pancake mix, and casseroles forever. A case of what we don't know is there will help us, and we may never even taste it! But back to the paradox of calcium/dairy blocking absorption of iron...my suggestion at this point is to alternate what gets eaten - if you're doing lots of dairy, have your iron food several hours later or an hour before you ingest what will block absorption. If need be, ask your doc if adding a multi-vitamin is a good idea or find at the health food stores the protein powder mixes that can be buzzed into a smoothie with fruit to add more of the building blocks to your young person's diet. Or yours! Most of all, start reading food labels if you haven't already made it a habit. There is a wealth of information to be had there and I am betting it will bring you to being more mindful about what you choose to take home from the store, and what you put into your mouth or the mouths or your family.
If any reader has ideas about how a teen might metamorphize from a junk food junkie or king of energy drinks to a healthy eating nut, I'd love to hear about it. I'm reminded that our kids learn far more about living from seeing what we DO than by what we tell them or force them to do. Good luck, Sacramento Gal, with your teen who is entering the mysteries of feeding his body in appropriate ways during these teen years. Check back and let me know how it's unfolding - my email is asknursedeb@gmail.com or leave me a comment on this thread!
Tibetan Medicine and Indian Ayurveda tell us that "food is our first medicine." It implies that food choices can soothe what ails you, or by eating what is in harmony with your body type, you can maintain your good health and skip altogether the experience of getting sick. Perenial wisdom of the 80's assured us "You are what you eat." Feed lot fattened beef filled with chemicals? Chickens so top heavy they cannot walk even if they had room to try? I would suggest that our culture of fast foods, highly processed foods, and allegedly 'fresh' produce that travels >1,500 miles to reach us is not exactly what makes for healthy strong bodies. Small wonder diabetes and immune dysfunction are skyrocketing - we've forgotten what life giving food looks and tastes like and are losing the tribal knowledge of how to prepare food from scratch! (Definition: 'Scratch' means having meat or other protein source, veggies, carbohydrate, beverage, perhaps fruit or desert that you put together and cook to create a meal - not thawing or heating up a pre-packaged item or warming soup from a can!)
COOKING?
How many young people launching into adulthood know how to cook for themselves? Unfortunately that issue is not new to this generation - how many middle aged to elder men know how to cook for themselves? A family tale tells of a young woman whose mother wouldn't allow her to enter "her" kitchen, and upon her marriage in the 1940's, the young couple survived on BLT's until the husband couldn't bear it any longer and offered to teach his bride a few more meal menus. How many times a week do you or someone in your household cook a meal from scratch?