When I get home and sit on the sofa I’m overcome by a tiredness that’s hard to fight. I’m otherwise healthy. Could I be missing something in my diet?
If your GP has ruled out any underlying medical reasons for your tiredness, then looking at what and when you eat is certainly worth a try. Probably the best place to start is iron and how much you are getting daily. The average woman in the UK aged 19-64 does not hit the 14.7mg daily target and this can lead to iron stores being gradually depleted.
Once they are used up, anaemia develops. A doctor can diagnose this, but before they do, you can still experience symptoms such as deep lethargy, lower work capacity, poorer intellectual performance and reduced resistance to infections, all of which combine to make you feel tired.
The bottom line is that you need to know which foods are good for iron and include a variety every day. Take this typical day’s food: a breakfast of fruit salad and yoghurt with a skinny cappuccino; fruit mid-morning; a lunch of cottage cheese with a baked potato, salad and a banana; a cereal bar and a smoothie mid-afternoon; and a dinner of grilled chicken with noodles and vegetables. This sounds healthy, but it only contains 8mg of iron.
Compare this to a breakfast of two poached eggs with granary toast; a handful of dried apricots and cashews mid-morning; a pitta bread filled with canned crab and salad, plus a yoghurt for lunch; oatcakes and ricotta cheese mid-afternoon; and a beef stir-fry with noodles and vegetables for dinner. This contains 15mg of iron.
Advertisement
The best meat and fish for iron include: lean beef and lamb; sardines; anchovies; kippers; mackerel; pilchards; canned and fresh brown crab; pheasant; venison; and tuna canned in oil. Other oil-rich foods include: dark green vegetables; sesame and sunflower seeds; almonds; Brazil and hazelnuts; mixed nuts; peanuts; tahini paste; dried apricots and figs; and fortified cereals such as All Bran and Bran Flakes.
Because iron can get bound up with some of the super-nutrients in tea and coffee, reducing absorption by up to 50 per cent, it is best to have these drinks apart from meals and snacks. Vitamin C in orange juice, berries and peppers seem to have the opposite effect, helping to improve absorption of iron. If you need an extra boost, try taking a general multivitamin and mineral supplement with 7mg of iron.
Eat regularly; providing your body with a regular intake of gently released energy will help beat tiredness. Make sure you drink enough during the day; dips in hydration can sap you of mental and physical strength. And finally, try a cup of camomile before bed. It will help ease you into a restful sleep, a lack of which will compound your tiredness.