Hellobee Boards

I'm a low-dairy vegetarian, and I use nutritional yeast and cook with a cast-iron pan a few times a week to help with iron. No idea if the pan actually helps, but I heard about it a while ago and picked it up just in case. I also try to eat a lot of dark greens, esp. kale, which has a good amount of iron I believe. Have you ever made vegan Parmesan cheese from nutritional yeast? It's great sprinkled over pasta!

I eat plant-based, and am always on the low end of normal, I also strugged with this in pregnancy. I take supplements, but the two things I started eating during pregnancy was blackstrap molasses and lentils. I can't remember how much iron is in each of those, but I think it helped.

I added the molasses to oatmeal and some other things that I can't remember right now ( DD had a rough night, I'm working on my 3rd cup of coffee!) and I started adding lentils to foods I already made. Quinoa salad, bean stew etc, just add them right in.

I also started taking B12 during pregnancy, and I found this really helped with my energy and my restless legs. I still take it and notice a huge difference when I don't. (I don't notice a difference when forgetting to take the iron pills) So definitely get this checked out!

Hope this helps!

@nana87: This is the recipe I use! It isn't going to be *exactly* the same, but I find it's a good substitute. Nutritional yeast does have a kind of Parmesany saltiness to it imo.

https://minimalistbaker.com/how-to-make-vegan-parmesan-cheese/

@KT326: Thanks so much for sharing that! I'm so happy to hear that it really does help.

You could try the lucky iron fish. It works similarly to the cast iron pan. You just put it in your soup or whatever you like as it cooks. https://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Iron-Fish-cooking-Standard/dp/B01LX5S5FP

@nana87: I’m a celiac so usually low on iron and react terrible to iron supplements. What I had read somewhere online was to drink pure, naturally red juices - in particular elderberry juice. I tried that and without taking any other supplements my iron levels rose. So maybe that might be something you could give a try...