Iron not from meat is "non-heme" iron, which is more difficult to absorb than heme iron from meat. Obviously, don't let that dissuade you. The paragraph below (From city of Toronto website, of all places) makes the good point that eating some Vitamin C of some kind with your non-heme iron aids absorption:
"Non-heme iron comes from grain products, vegetables and fruit, eggs, legumes
and nuts. It is not absorbed as well by the body. Eating foods rich in Vitamin C and eating a small amount of meat, fish or poultry with non-heme iron-rich foods will help your body absorb iron better. For example, having chilli made with beans
(non-heme iron), a little bit of ground beef (heme iron), and canned tomatoes and other vegetables (Vitamin C), will help your body absorb more iron
from your food."
I've also heard that caffeine inhibits iron absorption, so don't drink your coffee within at least 30 mins. of eating your iron + vitamin C. My winning combination when I was training for half-marathons was oatmeal with walnuts and maybe some ground flax or wheat germ, plus half a grapefruit. Coffee later.
Other sources:
Beans: pinto, chickpeas, lentils
Other greens: collard greens, kale, mustard greens, swiss chard (you should be eating these for other reasons as well... such as calcium)
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