Diet: Maintain a healthy iron level in your diet by eating iron rich foods, such as red meat, fish, poultry, beans, spinach, iron-fortified cereals and raisins.
Sleep: Get a good night's sleep before donating blood.
Fluids: Drink an extra 16 oz. of water or nonalcoholic fluids before donation.
Food: Eat a healthy meal before your donation. Avoid fatty foods, such as hamburgers, fries or ice cream. Fatty foods can affect the tests done on the blood. If there is too much fat in your blood, your donation cannot be tested for infectious diseases and will not be used for transfusion. If you are a platelet donor, your system must be free of aspirin for two days prior to donation.
