Unit 4: Out of Class Lab

Write a list of foods that contain iron. Identify whether they are heme or non-heme iron sources. Evaluate how often you eat the various iron sources. Do you feel you get enough iron? Why or why not?

Non-heme iron sources:

Spinach. Every month or two I get an odd craving for cooked spinach. Normally I'm lazy, grab a can of canned spinach and just eat it straight out of the can. Gross right? In the moment, delicious, but after I finish I can't look at spinach for a long time.

Lentils. I rarely eat these and only when I make lentil soup, which is usually once in a decade.

Tofu. I rarely eat this. I will occasionally have a "tofu scramble." It's supposed to be like eggs, but isn't. It's still yummy though.

Pumpkin Seeds. I do eat a lot of nuts in conjunction with trail mix and granola. I don't know specifically if I'm eating pumpkin seeds but, I know from reading up, that other nuts are also good sources of non-heme iron.

Iron Enriched breakfast cereals. I'm pretty sure that cereal is the rock star of my iron world. I eat cereal often. It is probably in the top five suppliers of iron for my body.

Garbanzo beans. I love chick peas. I eat them quite regularly, along with other beans. Beans are probably in the top five suppliers of iron for my body.

Dried Apricots. I really hate dried apricots.

Baked Potatoes. I eat these frequently. Top five.

Wheat Germ. Have I ever eaten this? I don't believe so.

Split Peas. Like lentils, I have made split pea soup, once in a decade.

Broccoli. I have some of this in my refrigerator right now. It's been in the for a week and a half. It might be bad. I should check on it. I'm not much of a cook during exam time.

Pasta. Pasta is a top-five star. I eat it a lot.

Bread. This is definitely the taker of the number one spot in my top five iron suppliers. I eat a lot of bread, probably too much bread. I love it.



Heme iron sources:

Beef Liver. I never eat this.

Clams. I never eat these.

Canned Sardines. Gross. I never eat these.

Salmon. I enjoy the occasional three our four ounces of salmon, if it's cooked right.

Turkey. Turkey tastes good in a sandwich or at Thanksgiving dinner. I don't eat a lot of it.

Ham. I never eat this.

Veal. I never eat this.


I wonder if I get enough iron. I don't really know. Although I don't eat heme sources of iron very often, I do get iron from other sources, and there are quite a number of other sources available to me. I don't deal with much issues with iron-loss (if you catch my drift), so I suspect that I am only slightly iron-deficient if I am in fact iron deficient.