The Best Foods to

Donating blood is a relatively safe way to help people with serious medical conditions. Donating blood can lead to some side effects, though, like fatigue or anemia. Eating and drinking the right things before and after donating can help reduce your risk for side effects.
Read on to learn what you should eat and drink before donating blood after you donate.

What to eat and drink
If you’re donating blood, it’s important to stay hydrated before and after you donate. That’s because about half of your blood is made of water. It’s also good to increase your iron intake because you lose iron when you donate. Low iron levels can cause symptoms of fatigue.

Iron
Iron is an important mineral your body uses to make hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is responsible for carrying oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body.
Eating a well-balanced diet with plenty of iron-rich foods can help you store extra iron. If you don’t have enough iron stored away to make up for the iron you lose when donating blood, you can develop iron deficiency anemia.

There are two different types of iron found in foods: heme iron and nonheme iron. Heme iron is more easily absorbed, so it boosts your iron levels more effectively. Your body absorbs up to 30 percent of heme iron and only 2 to 10 percent of nonheme iron.
Before you donate blood, consider increasing your intake of iron-rich foods. This can help increase the iron stores in your body and reduce your risk for iron deficiency anemia.

Foods rich in heme iron include:
• Meats,likebeef, lamb, veal, and dried beef.
• Poultry, such as chicken and turkey.
• Fish and shellfish, like tuna, shrimp, clams, haddock, and mackerel.
• Organs, such as liver.
• Eggs.

Foods rich in nonheme iron include:
• Vegetables, such asspinach, sweet potatoes, peas, broccoli, string beans, beet greens, dandelion greens, collards, kale, and chard.
• Breads and cereals, includingenriched white bread, enriched cereal, whole-wheat bread, enriched pasta, wheat, bran cereals, cornmeal, oats, rye bread, and enriched rice.
• Fruits, such as strawberries, watermelon, raisons, dates, figs, prunes, prune juice, dried apricots, and dried peaches.
• Beans, including white, dried peas, dried beans, and lentils.

Vitamin C
Although heme iron will raise your iron levels more effectively, vitamin C can help your body better absorb plant-based iron, or nonheme iron.
Many fruits are a good source of vitamin C. Fruits high in this vitamin include:
• cantaloupe
• citrus fruits and juices
• kiwi fruit
• mango
• papaya
• pineapple
• strawberries
• raspberries
• cranberries
• watermelon
• tomatoes