In an effort to attain the recommended daily nutrient requirement of the family especially for the growing and active children, most mothers take time to carefully plan and set up a healthy diet chart of menus and servings that would suit the family's health and nourishments needs. In doing so, the meticulous mom needs to know the good food sources of these nutrients and minerals and know how much portions they will need daily.

For this discussion, let us focus on one nutrient iron. It is no secret that iron is vital in anyone's diet especially in preventing and fighting against iron deficiency anemia.

There are a number of sources of iron in food. Some of them are offering more iron content than the other. Basically, there are two main categories for iron: the heme iron and the non-heme iron. The former is generally found in meat, fish and poultry food products and are more preferred by some as they are more easily absorbed by the body.

If you are looking for the best sources of iron on meat, then you can go for a serving of three ounces of chicken or beef liver; or of oysters, or of clams or mollusks. From these three, you will be able to get 3.5 milligrams or more of iron. As oysters and clams may not be available in some localities and quite expensive for some households, you may want to settle for the following sources in second place. These food sources offer 2.1 or more milligrams of iron on their servings: cooked beef which may be ground or steak, canned sardines in oil, or cooked turkey.

Other sources of iron found in meat products which offer .7 milligrams of iron include chicken, veal, pork or ham, and fishes such as haddock, perch, salmon, halibut and tuna in servings of three ounces.

The second source of iron is the non heme food groups which may be found in vegetables, whole grains or fruits. Let us break these down to the best, better and good sources for your added information. If you are seeking for the best source of iron for your family, you need not look far but just reach out for a bowl of your favorite breakfast cereal. Look closely at the label and you will usually find that these are enriched with iron and actually very good for your diet. This is a plus as most kids enjoy eating cereals during breakfast so no need in forcing a spoonful of iron into their mouths.

Other great sources also include a cup of cooked beans which could be chickpeas, lentils, white beans or soybeans. Then you could opt of a one half cup of tofu or an ounce of squash seeds, sesame or pumpkin seeds. These food sources generally give you 3.5 milligrams or more of your iron requirement.

The next group of sources offers 2.1 milligrams or more of iron in your diet. The list includes canned lima, split peas or red kidney beans at one half cup servings, a medium sized baked potato, dried apricots in one cup servings, broccoli medium stalks would do fine, wheat germ in one fourth cup and enriched egg noodles well cooked in one cup servings.

Your favorite peanuts, cashews, walnuts or almonds are good non-heme iron food sources which give off .7 milligrams of iron. You may add to the lot dried seedless peaches or raisins, spinach, pasta, slices of bread and rice.