Consume plenty of fruits and vegetables, including spinach. Avoid sugary foods or beverages. Eat nuts, grains, rice and beans. Tea or coffee with meals can reduce the absorption of iron. Avoid raw shellfish if iron levels are elevated. Meat contains about 40-50% heme iron; the balance is non-heme. The iron. in plant-based foods is nearly all non-heme iron, but some plants do have. traces of heme iron.