Including nuts and seeds at meals
Iron – The Basics
“Nuts contain a good source of iron – as well as good fats (monounsaturated) – but they are also high in calories”, says Todd, head nutritionist.
“While increasing your intake of healthy fats is good, it’s important to cut back on the unhealthy fats that are found in fatty meats, cakes, biscuits etc. Too much ‘good’ fat is not a good thing either. Despite being nutritious, nuts are high in calories and can easily lead to weight gain if too large a quantity is eaten”.
“Be wary of any diet plan encouraging you to eat nuts in abundance whilst trying to lose weight. A small bag (100g) of most nuts contain over 500 calories! That’s over one third (33%) of the calorie allowance for an average woman trying to lose weight!” warns Todd.
To obtain 2mg of dietary iron you need to eat the following:
- 80 to100g pecans, peanuts, Brazil nuts, peanut butter
- 60g almonds (~10 nuts), hazelnuts (~60 nuts)
- 35g pine nuts (~2 handfuls), cashews (~35 nuts)
- 35g sunflower seeds (~2½ tbsp)
- 20g sesame (~2 tbsp), pumpkin seeds
Iron Myths and Misconceptions
“You shouldn’t eat nuts and seeds because they are fattening”. Nuts and seeds are rich in fat but the fat is mainly unsaturated, which can help reduce the amount of cholesterol in our blood. Because of their high fat content, though, it’s a good idea not to eat too many nuts.
Iron - Tips and Tricks
- Nuts are very versatile. Nuts can be added to a range of savoury dishes e.g. stews, soups, casseroles and curries and nut butters can be added to soups and stews to thicken them.
- Add nuts and seeds to home-made bread to eat with your meal.
- Chop nuts and sprinkle them on wholegrain breakfast cereals at breakfast.
- Sprinkle chopped nuts over low fat yoghurt and add some fruit for dessert.
- Add nuts and seeds to salads – ‘toast’ them first for added flavour.
- Serve pasta with pesto which is a sauce made from pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, olive oil and basil.
- Make nut roasts, nut rissoles or nut burgers and serve with salad.
- Eat houmous with vegetable sticks, bread sticks or wholemeal pitta bread or use houmous as a spread on sandwiches for a starter of light meal. Houmous is a chickpea dip that contains tahini which is sesame seed paste.
- Combine sesame seeds with breadcrumbs to use as a topping for oven baked food.