B12 and Iron

[jonge]

Hey Guys,

I'm new to being a vegan. Im unsure about how to go about it in a manner that ensures I get all the nutirents that I need, namely iron, protein and B12.

With protein Im ok as I eat a lot of beans and some of the quorn meat alternatives that I eat also contain protein.

With the B12 I take Spirulina every day which contains the B vitamins, also I kow that B12 is produced in the gut and tonsels etc as long as you are not stress out as this impairs the bacteria which produce it.

The only problem I have is with iron. At least I think this is my only problem. I know that spirulina contains iron around 40% of the RDA but I dont know where to get the other 60%. I eat raisons and dates and spinach the odd time. But where can I gind other sources of iron. Also I hear that vit c is needed for absorption.

Should we all be eating certain foods each day that are a mixture of sources of iron and vit c etc?

I appreciate any help you guys can give me!!

Jon

[Veganforlife]

Hey Jon - even though you mention the quorn meat alternative products, which we do not promote, there's been a ton of discussion about this very topic. The beans, are these cooked? If yes, then I'm not sure if this forum is what you are looking for...?

Do you have Alissa's book and DVDs? Powerful tools and lots of answers in it as well as recipes.

[jacsam]

Yeah, Alissa's book has a whole section about calcium, protien etc. She really explains it very well......I'm sure it would be of great interest to you. (whether your vegan or raw vegan) Good luck.

[Veronica01]

There is so much info in the forum already on those topics. Particularly b12 has a few recent posts floating around, search through the past few days history to find them.

Also the RDA is for SAD eaters who are eating foods like cereals and grains that are fortified with synthetic nutrients. The RDA's are really a little to way higher than necessary on a natural raw vegan diet. They use things like the RDA and food pyramid to be about in the middle of where the worst eaters are eating and with products like total and daily vitamins and other packaged foods they make you think you need 100% of those every day or you'll be deficient. More is NEVER better in any case, you always need enough, so don't worry about maxing out your nutrients every day. And only worry about deficiencies if you don't feel right or a blood test tells you so.

Spirulina doesn't contain human-assimilable vitamin B-12.

"For instance, the blue-green algae, the spirulina, sea vegetables, all of those things are listed as having a lot of B12, but studies have shown that they’re analog B12, which can’t be utilized by the human body. Analog B-12 competes for receptor sites with the real usable B-12. It results that eating any of those things, it’s not only that you’re not getting the B-12 you think you’re getting, you’re actually going to get less, because the analog B-12 clings to the limited numbers of receptor sites in the body for real B12 — and then real B-12 can’t cling to it, because it’s already taken by the analog B-12. So, people who have been eating those things in the vegan movement thinking that it’s a natural source of B12 and that they don’t need to take a B-12 supplement, become very B-12 anemic." from an interview with Nazariah, long term vegan and raw foodist : http://www.fredericpatenaude.com/articles/interview-nazariah.html

B12 generally comes from bacteria on foods you eat and particles you touch and breath in, like if you were outside frequently gardening, foraging, hiking etc. All other animals get b12 without supplements so you have to decide if you want to supplement or not in the first place before you know if there's a problem.

[jonge]

hey guys,

thanks for all the info. especially veronica for writing such a long post.

Jon