Personal Narrative: My Daily Intake Of Iron

My daily recommended intake of iron is 32.40 mg, and my intake of iron on day 1 was 14mg, on day 2 it was 20.80 mg, and on day 3 it was 12.31 mg. My intake of iron is under my recommended intake and needs to be improved. Iron is an essential mineral found in every cell of the body, with its main function being the production of hemoglobin found in red blood cells which transfers oxygen from the lungs to tissues, and myoglobin, which provides oxygen to muscles. If you do not have enough iron, you cannot produce enough healthy oxygen-carrying red blood cells. Iron has two forms: heme and nonheme. “Plants and iron-fortified foods contain nonheme iron only, whereas meat, seafood, and poultry contain both heme and nonheme iron. Heme iron, which is formed when iron combines with protoporphyrin IX, contributes about 10% to 15% of total iron intakes in western populations” (National Institute of Health, 2016). The best sources of iron are found in “lean meat and

Personally, my biggest diet influence is habit due to the fact that I follow a strict pescatarian diet, as well as consume meals that are prepared quickly between classes I tend to consume similar meals on a daily basis. Specific meals that I consumed over the three-day period primarily influenced by habit was the breakfast that I consumed on all three days which consisted of one English muffin, toasted, one fried egg, half of a Kraft singles American cheese slice, one cup of brewed coffee, with two tbsp. of original non-dairy Coffee mate. I tend to have this specific breakfast on a daily basis due to it being an easy and filling vegetarian breakfast that provides protein from the egg as well as carbs from the English muffin and cheese. I also tend to consume black beans often due to them being a good plant source of iron and protein and have made it a habit to consume them, such as on day 1 and 3in order to make up for the absence of meat in my