We've all heard of the saying that you are what you eat, but I think there's a lot more to that. You are what you absorb. In This episode of The Little List Project, we're going to talk about how you can boost absorption from the foods that you eat.
And all the things that I'm talking about today are simple and easy.
So easy that you could get started this week. So let's get into it.
1.Grind Flax Seeds Before You Eat Them
When you eat flax seeds whole, they pretty much come out the same way they went in, and it's really hard to get the most nutrition out of them. Now, they can definitely work as a fiber, but you're not going to be able to absorb much of the goodness inside
So if you want to absorb more from flax seeds, it's a good idea to grind them, to break down that hard exterior, and that way you can absorb much of the nutrients inside. And for this, you don't need a fancy grinder. Anything simple will do, such as a Magic Bullet. Or your regular coffee grinder. So the next time you add flax seeds to your meal, just remember to grind them first.
2.Eat Iron And Vitamin C Together
If you're anemic or if you're someone who's struggling to get enough iron in your diet, you probably know how hard it is to absorb from your food. Especially plant foods. Plant foods have a source of iron known as non-heme iron.
And this can be a little bit difficult to absorb. So what can you do to boost absorption? You could eat iron with vitamin C rich foods, and when you do this, you are boosting the absorption by quite a bit. By pairing vitamin C and iron together, the boost in absorption is roughly three times as much. So let me give you an example.
If you had dark chocolate with an orange, that would be an ideal combination. The dark chocolate has iron, and the vitamin C comes from the orange. And when you have them together, you get a big boost in absorption. Another example would be something like having black beans with tomato salsa. The black beans have iron and the tomato has vitamin C. So the next time you're eating plant-based foods that have iron, make sure that you have a source of vitamin C with that food.
3.Cook Carrots To Absorb More Beta-Carrotene
Now, I'm a big believer in having both raw and cooked veggies, but when it comes to carrots and beta- carotene, which is what your body will convert to vitamin A, cooked is better. When you cook the carrots, you boost the absorption significantly, and this applies not only to carrots but also other veggies such as pumpkin.
4.Eat Veggies With Fat
Now, I'm not saying it needs to be loads of fat, but just enough fat for you to actually absorb the fat soluble vitamins. Now, when you eat vegetables without fat, it's hard to absorb these fat soluble vitamins such as vitamin A, E, and K.
So here's an example. If you were to eat a salad, let's say it's an arugula salad, has quite a bit of vitamin A and K, and you didn't have any fat source to go along with it, you'd have a hard time absorbing that vitamin A and K. A quick thing that you could do is add some nuts.
Or seeds, a little bit of nut butter, maybe an avocado or a little bit of dressing, and you will be able to absorb a lot more of the nutrients from your salad.
5.Avoid Coffee And Tea During Mealtimes
I love having tea. But not during mealtime. And the reason for this is that having coffee or tea along with your meals, can block the absorption of iron.
And if you are struggling to get enough iron in your diet, the best thing you can do is to avoid coffee and tea with your meals. The stronger the coffee, your tea, the less iron you absorb from your meal. So stick to herbal tea if you need to have something with your meal or have your coffee and tea well before your meal or well after your meal.