An anemic’s strict diet consists of bread and water

I have severe anemia (iron deficiency) and recently have been put on a strict diet. Recently after some extensive research,  I find that if I was to follow this diet 100%, I basically wouldn’t be able to eat anything.

Let me run through this diet with you in a nutshell.

I’ll have to have food that’s high in iron, things like:
- Meat (especially red meat)
- Soy
- Spinach
- Broccoli
- Legumes
- Potato
- Oatmeal

Then, I can’t have tea, coffee or chocolate because they contain tannin and that inhibits the absorption of iron. But what helps me to absorb iron are things high in Vitamin C, like:
- Orange
- Broccoli
- Kiwi
- Black current

But what really stuffs up the diet is that I can’t have food high in oxalate, something that also prevents iron from being absorbed by my body. These ironically include:

- Spinach
- Orange
- Some red meats
- Soy
- Oatmeal
- Potato
- Kiwi
- Black current
- Legumes
- Broccoli
- Well, basically all the foods you can imagine, full list here and here.

To further add to my despair, I can’t have alcoholic beverages, sugar, processed foods or additives 2-3 hours before or after I have a high in iron meal.

As you can see, following this diet strictly, I could probably only end up eating bread and water.