Hey guys this is Heather from healthyeatingstartshere.com. Today were going to talk about B12 deficiency,
which is topic that come us all the time in vegan and vegetarian nutrition. So the deal
is that vegan and vegetarians can be really healthy, but they aren’t necessarily healthy.
One of the things that often get in the way is philosophy. So, for reasons like the environment,
like not wanting to eat our official foods, not feeding into corporate interest or even
having an idea what man’s natural diet should be. I get in the way increase my resistance
to taking supplements.
While I hear that and I agree a lot of those things. I’m not a fan of supplements - I’m
a fan of whole foods and also a fan of really super healthy vegans and vegetarians, because
what I want to do is show all of those skeptics out there that plant foods really can be super
healthy.
And that’s one of the reason I put together healthy eating challenge that you can check
out on my site, was to help you be super healthy on a vegan vegetarian nerve plant base diet,
get more of vegetables and tear life. Show you how super healthy it can be.
One of the things that vegans do absolutely need supplements is B12. Vegetarians can be
deficient as well because they might get enough from their diet, and even meat eaters can
be deficient in these vitamins. It’s not just vegans who made this supplements with
this.
What I want to go over was the symptoms of a deficiencies, so that you can be a little
look out for them and make sure that you don’t get let it go too far, because this is one
that can be really serious. I’ve written down the early symptoms because I don’t
want to miss any important.
Unusual fatigue which - you know, we all got tired from time to time, but feeling completely
during of energy can be a sign of B12 deficiency. Bad digestion is another one that you know
- it could go with anything pretty much of some things not going on. But what you want
to look for is all of these symptoms can lumped together if you start noticing them, then
you going to start to think about B12 deficiency.
Not having an appetite and feeling nauseous, those are more specific and if there’s no
other reason like food poisoning or anything like that you might suspect a B12 deficiency.
For women, loss of menstruation is big one, if you notice that B12 deficiency is probably
is you’re first bet that and it’s not having enough fat in your diet.
And tingling hands and feet is one that will show you that you are on the verge from moving
to early deficiency to getting more serious, because what happens if you let B12 deficiency
go on is it, it can have some permanent affects on you’re nervous system.
And those tingles that you might feel in your hands, is your nervous system having problems.
It can also cause some brain damage. For kids this is super important because this is going
to affect them for the rest of there lives. They might not be as up watching out for this
symptoms, so you need to be - other parent conscious of what you’re child is eating
and whether they might be deficient in B12 or not.
If you’re breast feeding super important to make sure your own B12 levels are up, because
that’s how you’re input is going to get them from you. The only way to know for sure
if you’re deficient in B12 is to get a blood test. But the standard blood tests are as
accurate or as efficient as one called MMA, which stands for Metal Melodic Acid test.
So if you’re going to get you’re blood tested by you’re doctor ask for the MMA
test on B12.
Be on a look out for those symptoms very-very important, you can read more on my blog healthyeatingstartshere.com.
What I want to hear from you today whether you’ve noticed any of these symptoms, or
if you’ve noticed any of you’re friends with this symptoms, maybe someone you know
who went vegan and a couple years later starts notice things like that.
The thing with B12 is that it stays stored in your body and if you haven’t enough stored
up, it will last you for about two years, so you might not see these things right away.
And if you have you’re blood tested, it’s the other thing that I want to hear from you
guys about.
So let me know you’re feed back, love to hear from you guys, I’m Heather, Healthyeatingstartshere.com.