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| Varieties of heart-healthy, protein-rich lentils. |
The doctor called yesterday to say that I’m in fact anaemic. No big deal. I guess I see it that way because I don’t view anaemia as a real illness. Sure you feel dizzy sometimes, but it’s nothing a few iron supplements can’t take care of, right? Or maybe I just have a really mild case.
Either way, it got me Googling -- now there’s an illness right there… Googling! I wanted to know foods I could eat that would help increase my iron levels. Turns out, two foods I ate today are perfect for that.
They are lentils, which is a top non-meat sources of iron, and two naartjies (for non-South African readers, they are a kind of citrus fruit). Google it! Naartjies are high in vitamin C, which helps absorb iron.
Lentils are a great source of protein and have earned their rightful place in the superfood spectrum. They’re packed with nutritional benefit and are pretty cheap. They also are a very good source or iron, though, they lag behind sources such as red meat (especially liver) and spinach. But needless to say, liver isn’t something I crave very often. Or ever.
It should also be noted that I “cheated” today. “I’m cracking,” I told my brother meekly as I reached into our “sin bin” for a chocolate finger. Earlier in the day, I also had a Lindt milk truffle. I would say that I feel guilty but I don’t, really. It could’ve turned out so much worse. I could have eaten a whole box of chocolate biscuits if things had gone really awry.
Tomorrow’s a new day and I’ll just pretend nothing ever happened -- that’s the easiest way to stick to an eating programme when you‘ve cheated; otherwise you feel so guilty about it, you figure there’s no point and the whole thing comes crashing down.
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| This is what a naartjie looks like. |
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