Iron-deficiency anemia is a fairly common occurance in athletes. It is especially common in female athletes who have heavy periods. Anemia causes fatigue and reduced performance.
Solution: If you frequently feel tired without an explanation, get your iron levels checked with a blood test. To help prevent anemia, make sure your diet includes red meat, or iron-rich alternatives (dark-meat chicken or turkey, salmon, tuna) and an iron-fortified cereal. If you are a vegetarian, you can also find iron in meat-less alternatives such as pistachios, cashews, chickpeas, dried apricots, sesame seeds, tahini, black molasses, spinach and wholemeal bread. It's also important to include vitamin C in your diet because it helps with iron absorption. So try to include vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables, such as oranges, tomatoes, berries, and broccoli, at every meal.
Solution: If you frequently feel tired without an explanation, get your iron levels checked with a blood test. To help prevent anemia, make sure your diet includes red meat, or iron-rich alternatives (dark-meat chicken or turkey, salmon, tuna) and an iron-fortified cereal. If you are a vegetarian, you can also find iron in meat-less alternatives such as pistachios, cashews, chickpeas, dried apricots, sesame seeds, tahini, black molasses, spinach and wholemeal bread. It's also important to include vitamin C in your diet because it helps with iron absorption. So try to include vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables, such as oranges, tomatoes, berries, and broccoli, at every meal.
RSS Feed
