5 Foods to Overcome Anemia

Anemia often goes undetected until it becomes severe. This happens because the body is able to compensate for early anemia. If you have mild anemia and if the condition has developed over a long period of time, you may not present any symptoms.

If you're suffering from one or more of the following symptoms, you could be anemic:

• Loss of energy and easily getting fatigued
• Abnormally fast heart beat, especially with exercise
• Pale skin
• Dizziness
• Leg cramps
• Difficulty in concentrating
• Insomnia
• Shortness of breath, especially with exercise

Anemia-fighting Foods

If your symptoms are severe, you should definitely get medical help. You can also try some of the following foods to replenish the body's supply of iron.

1. Wheatgerm tonic

Wheatgerm is rich in iron and zinc, besides being a good source of many other nutrients.

• Blend together 1 tablespoon wheatgerm, 1 tablespoon brewer's yeast, 1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses, 1 tablespoon canola oil, and half a cup of orange juice in an electric blender.
• That's it! Your wheatgerm tonic is ready.

Drink this tonic at least 3 times a day.

2. Soup of bottle gourd

Bottle gourd is rich in iron, zinc, magnesium, vitamin B1, and vitamin C. Fortify yourself with some delicious bottle gourd soup.

You will need:

• 1 medium-sized bottle gourd, chopped
• Half a cup of beetroot, chopped 
• 1 cup spinach, chopped 
• 2 glasses of water

Get started!

• Fill a heavy-bottomed pan with water and add the pieces of bottle gourd, beetroot, and spinach. 
• Cover the pan and allow the water to come to a boil.
• Boil for 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables become soft.
• Strain the soup using a sieve. You may have the soup along with the vegetable pieces, too.

Drink the soup once everyday until the symptoms of anemia are relieved. 

3. Raisins

Raisins contain iron, fiber, potassium, sodium, protein, and calcium. 100 grams of raisins have 1.88 milligrams of iron.

• Soak around 8-15 raisins in half a cup of water throughout the night.
• The next morning, eat the raisins along with 1 teaspoon of honey.

4. Pomegranate

Pomegranate tastes as delicious as it looks good. Plus, it contains fair amounts of iron and calcium. 

• You can eat 200g (medium-sized) of pomegranate every morning before eating breakfast.
• You can also drink a glass of pomegranate juice along with breakfast every morning.

5. Liver

Chicken liver is considered to be the best source of iron. Raw chicken liver has 9 milligrams of iron as compared to beef liver, which has 5 milligrams of iron.

The iron obtained from animals is known as heme iron and is more easily absorbed by the human body than the iron found in plant foods, called non-heme iron.

Liver also provides good amounts of vitamin B12, copper, zinc, and phosphorus.

Note that the body needs vitamin C in order to absorb the iron present in food. Thus, along with foods rich in iron, you must have vitamin C-rich foods as well such as tomatoes and citrus fruits.