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The Greek word anemia means “no blood.” But that is an exaggeration. The person has plenty of blood, there is just not the usual number of red blood cells or these cells are NOT carrying their usual payload of energy-giving oxygen.

The most common form of anemia is iron-deficiency anemia unless the person is losing blood - as a result of menstruation or perforated ulcers for example. The symptoms are that your brain feels fuzzy or you are always cold.

Luckily, it’s generally an easy condition to correct, and the cure is our favorite thing–food.

The Daily Value (DV) for iron is 18 milligrams. Pregnant women need a much higher amount - 30 milligrams a day.

It’s not too hard to get enough iron if you eat meat, fish, and poultry. 3 ounces of steamed blue mussels have 6 mg. of iron. A 3 oz. serving of lean, broiled top round steak has 3 mg, and the same amount of roasted turkey has 1 mg.

If you eat little or no meat you have to pay more attention to your diet. A cup of canned pumpkin has 3.4 mg. of iron. Kidney beans and lentils have about 3 mg in a half cup serving. As you can see, the total amount of iron isn’t the problem with these foods.

It has everything to do with how well our bodies absorb the nutrients we eat. The iron found in meat is readily absorbed. The iron found in plant foods is less so.

Combining certain foods can increase the absorption rate. For example, pairing a food that contains vitamin C with a food that contains iron guarantees that you will get substantially more of iron into your bloodstream. Iron is best absorbed in an acidic environment. There are many ways to include vitamin C with your meals to increase your absorption of iron. For instance, a large tomato has 23 milligrams of vitamin C or 38 percent of the DV or drink citrus drinks.

One nutrient you don’t want to combine with iron is calcium. Especially when you are taking iron supplements. They compete for the same receptor sites in the cells. For example, put milk on our cereal in the morning, but wait until later to take your iron supplement.

The same goes for coffee and tea. Both beverages contain tannins, chemicals that have a blocking effect on iron supplements, so don’t take you iron supplements with coffee in the morning.

One way to get more iron in your diet is to simply cook your meals in cast iron pots. As a rule, this increases iron by 2 to 5 percent.