Today we’re going to talk about B12 deficiency, which is the topic that comes 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 on 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 reasons I put together a 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 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 be 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 your 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 of moving too early deficiency to getting more serious, because what happens if you let B12 deficiency go on is it, it can have some permanent effects on your 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 their lives. They might not be as up watching out for this symptoms, so you need to be – parent conscious of what you’re child is eating and whether they might be deficient in B12 or not.
If you’re breastfeeding 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 your blood tested by your 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 your 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 your blood tested, it’s the other thing that I want to hear from you guys about. So let me know your feedback, love to hear from you guys.