Vitamins!!!!!!!

[tolondontoparis]

Alright, so I was watching my favorite raw youtuber, and she mentioned that she had a sever B12 deficiency because she doesn't eat....you know...and didn't have enough of it.

How do you guys get b12 and zinc (not just pumpkin seeds mannn).

[SunshineMN]

For B12 we use nutritional yeast. I'm not wild about the kind we have right now but sprinkled on a salad it's not that noticeable. I wouldn't use it in large quantity for anything now such as cheesy kale chips. Next time we'll try another brand. Michigan Roman posted in prior thread about a really nice high quality brand that people seem to really like the taste of but I can't remember what it was offhand. I think ours is Red Star currently.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

Alright, so I was watching my favorite raw youtuber, and she mentioned that she had a sever B12 deficiency because she doesn't eat....you know...and didn't have enough of it.

How do you guys get b12 and zinc (not just pumpkin seeds mannn).

NO foods are reliable sources of B12. Not mushrooms, not yeast, not kelp, not sea vegetables, not spirulina, not chlorella, not dirt in modern day countries, not bacterial based foods, not anything. Many people like myself were doing all those things in good amounts and were still B12 deficient. Some people produce alittle B12 and can get away with eating those foods for a random top up, but many can't. Those foods sometimes have B12, and other times they don't.

This is the best way to get B12: a worldclass soil based bacterial supplement. No chemicals, just natural ingredients.
http://www.hippocratesstore.org/root...b-12-forte.htm

Lots of opinions written on the internet all about B12, but clinical research suggests exactly what l said above. lf people could safely get B12 then HHI wouldn't have spent lots of money paying a top scientist to forumate a special B12 supplement. They always thought we could get B12 reliably from their typical program of algae, kelp, ferments, mushrooms and sprouts...but the reality was quite different from the long believed fantasy.

Now people can start making B12, but if you have not completely cleaned out the colon and doing enemas everyday and possibly meditating each day, there is a good chance that you will have a B12 problem.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

How do you guys get zinc (not just pumpkin seeds mannn).

Zinc is easy to get.

Chlorella, sprouts, sea vegetables. Even sprouting alfalfa makes the zinc four times more available, same goes with many of the other sprouts. Big zinc boys are sesame seed sprouts, sunflower sprouts and poppy seed sprouts. Poppy seed sprouts are the highest source of zinc discovered on Earth.

[walnutty]

I take a raw, vegan B liquid supplement!

[Raw Angel Mom]

One of the richest food of zinc and manganese is maple syrup. The Indian has used this for healing. It is a powerful anti-oxidant. It isn't raw but surely far better then supplementing. Maple syrup has a medium glycemic index. If you can have the maple water directly from the tree, it would be raw and far better.

If she was B12 deficiency, chance is are that she was in trouble before she went on this diet. You need a good healthy digestive system to be ok. Fasting is surely a very good way to heal this area.

My family no longer supplement and none of us is deficient, but we worked on restoring balance. I had to supplement, not anymore. A study was made in Australia and they found the B12 from the mushroom were absorb-able for the body.

Get simply tested for your B12, if you are low, it is dangerous but if you aren't then monitor every six months.

Supplementing with B12 lead to affect your parathyroid negatively.

I am not a doctor, please research

[Traceyraw]

I just starting getting the shots from my Dr. Every 2 weeks. They give me tons of energy.

Raw Mom do you know how it affects the parathyroid. They are helping me so much but I don't want to have a negative affect on something else. :)

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

I just starting getting the shots from my Dr. Every 2 weeks. They give me tons of energy.

lt could well be a placebo effect. Human bodies aren't designed to thrive on chemicals or cooked supplements like 99% of B12 supplements on the market:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDR-Z...21&playnext=15

l've got some great B12 links that talk about why B12 shots are so bad, but l don't have time to find them right now. l think it's better to take a natural living supplement....better than a bacteria destroying injection of chemicals that defeats the whole purpose.

on a slightly unrelated note: to give you an idea how bad lab made supplements are....there was a double blind scientific study comprising over 200,000 people. Half the group took synthetic anti oxidants (vitamins A, C E) and the other group didn't. The group which took the anti oxidants had a 67% increase in disease across the board over the long term and signs of more free radical damage. lt was a landmark study. lf these lab made vitamins do that, then what does B12 do to us in the long term? Something to think about.

[Traceyraw]

Mr. Raw it is not the placebo affect. I have a great boost in energy. I am not sleepy by 8 pm. I am energetic till 11 pm or so. I am getting so much done. Before I could barely move off the couch. For now I am going to keep it up. The shots are working well for me.

[tolondontoparis]

NO foods are reliable sources of B12. Not mushrooms, not yeast, not kelp, not sea vegetables, not spirulina, not chlorella, not dirt in modern day countries, not bacterial based foods, not anything. Many people like myself were doing all those things in good amounts and were still B12 deficient. Some people produce alittle B12 and can get away with eating those foods for a random top up, but many can't. Those foods sometimes have B12, and other times they don't.

This is the best way to get B12: a worldclass soil based bacterial supplement. No chemicals, just natural ingredients.
http://www.hippocratesstore.org/root...b-12-forte.htm

Lots of opinions written on the internet all about B12, but clinical research suggests exactly what l said above. lf people could safely get B12 then HHI wouldn't have spent lots of money paying a top scientist to forumate a special B12 supplement. They always thought we could get B12 reliably from their typical program of algae, kelp, ferments, mushrooms and sprouts...but the reality was quite different from the long believed fantasy.

Now people can start making B12, but if you have not completely cleaned out the colon and doing enemas everyday and possibly meditating each day, there is a good chance that you will have a B12 problem.

Wait, so what does the colon do in making b12? And is raw not the best way to get B vitamins? I am so confused as to weather humans are meant to eat...you know...or not! I want the best for my body!

[Living Food]

Wait, so what does the colon do in making b12? And is raw not the best way to get B vitamins? I am so confused as to weather humans are meant to eat...you know...or not! I want the best for my body!

You'll hear different opinions about this, but the bacteria in your colon CAN make vitamin b12 that you can absorb IF your digestive tract is completely clean...very very few people have an optimally functioning digestive tract, and this applies to many raw fooders as well. Many people maintain that the vit b12 manufactured by the bacteria in your gut just leaves your body through the stool, but again, you can absorb it if your digestive tract is completely clean and healthy. I used to have loads of in-depth information about this, but can't seem to find it right now...I really need to be more organized when it comes to saving information that I find.

In short, it's really more of a question of absorption then anything else.

And is raw not the best way to get B vitamins?

Raw is definitely the best way to get b vitamins if you do it right, since sprouts are one of the best sources of b vitamins known - far better then meat and other animal products. Nutritional yeast is a great source too, although I don't recommend using it.

And no, we don't need to eat meat to be healthy. You just need to eat the most nutritious foods possible and your body will take care of the rest. It's true that most plant foods contain no Vitamin A, Vitamin k2, etc; however, a correctly done raw food diet brings you to levels of health sufficient for you to convert the versions of these nutrients found in plants (carotenoids, vitamin k1, etc) into their animal-based counterparts. How do you think the animals made these nutrients?

[aviatrix79]

tolondontoparis asked me to take a peak at this thread so I'll whack in my two bob to help her and others out as it seems a lot of people are confused about B12. I can't blame them. It gets confusing sifting through all the rubbish on the internet. This will be a lot of reading but I will try and keep it simple to help everyone understand how B12 works as I've done a lot of resarch on it. I've been called a "know all" in other threads and I wasn't going to use the forum anymore because of it, but I won't apologise for knowing a lot. Afterall, that's why I came here... to share this knowlege and help people that have began the journey that I've been on for years. Anyway....

No one in my family (none of them are raw and eat basically lots of crap) have ever had a B12 deficiency. I on the other hand who has been predominantly raw for about half my life have had a B12 deficiency, twice. Once because I wasn’t including it in my diet (neither through food or supplements) and the second time because I couldn’t absorb it due to gastritis.

To understand Vitamin B12 absorption, you have to understand the different phases B12 goes through in our digestive tracts and understand the proteins that they bind to that enables absorption.

First off, certain types of glycoproteins produced by saliva glands binds to B12. Hydrochloric acid destroys B12 in the stomach so for it to stay intact, it needs to bind to something. It does this by binding to a certain glycoprotein called haptocorrin. When it’s bound together, it then becomes a B12 complex which can survive the acidity of the stomach. This complex then eventually travels through the stomach, into the lower part of the stomach, into the duodendum where pancreatic juices splits the complex by digesting the haptocorrin, leaving B12 as it was in it’s original form. So a lack of glycoproteins is hurdle number one and this is why chewing food properly is very important. Not just for the digestion of B12 but for other nutrients as well. Even if you’re not chewing, say if you're having juice or a smoothie, this is the reason why they recommend we hold the mouthful in our mouth for 10 seconds, squishing it around before swallowing. This way we release enough saliva and hence enough of these essential digestive proteins and enzymes. Of course this doesn't work with B12 if you're on a raw vegan but just to understand the process, I've mentioned it.

Back to the B12 little journey... at this stage of the stomach, the B12 then binds to another glycoprotein called Gastric Intrinsic Factor (GIF) and forms another complex. If it doesn’t bind to this, it cannot be absorbed. Without the GIF, the B12 basically gets flushed out of our systems. It doesn’t matter whether the B12 is from food (raw or cooked) or from supplements (in any oral form), without being transformed into this complex, it is ineffective. This complex then moves through the digestive tract to the small intestine (the ileum to be specific) where it’s absorbed into cells when the B12 again is released from the GIF and is then bound to another protein called transcobalamin II, creating a third complex. This complex then travels to the liver where it is processed and absorbed. The B12 doesn’t even reach the colon, so cleaning the colon makes no difference to B12 absorption whatsoever. It will only reach the colon it if it’s not bound to GIF and therefore will be useless and flushed down the toilet.

So as you can see the B12 has a few hurdles to jump before it reaches us at a cellular level. The GIF is the main one. It’s found in both gastric juices and in mucous membranes. If someone has severe gastritis or other inflammatory bowel disorders, they have difficulty absorbing B12 (or most nutrients for that matter). If someone is very acidic or even too alkaline, the GIF won’t bind to the B12. For this to happen, the PH must be at 7. Some people who have certain types of autoimmune disorders also cannot absorb B12 because their antibodies attack and destroy GIF. People with pancreatic disorders also have a problem absorbing B12 because they can’t produce GIF, or enough of it.

So there you have it. If you’re one of these people that cannot absorb B12 because of 1) pancreatic disorders, 2) incorrect PH levels, 3) severe gastritis and deteriorated mucous membranes 4) inflammatory bowel disorders and 5) auto immune disorders, then you will not absorb B12 efficiently and will become B12 deficient. The only way to increase your B12 levels in this case is to bypass the digestive system and have it injected directly into your bloodstream. If this is you, you should keep injecting it because B12 deficiency is a very serious condition and in the mean time, you can work on trying to fix the things that are causing the lack of absorption. For me it was severe gastritis at one stage. It took me a couple of years to get back to normal. I took injections for a while and then switched to a high B12 dose in pill form as my stomach lining started to build back up. I monitored my B12 levels carefully and then eased up on the dose as absorption improved.

So I hope this helps some of you. I remember being as confused about B12 as most people are :)

[tolondontoparis]

tolondontoparis asked me to take a peak at this thread so I'll whack in my two bob to help her and others out as it seems a lot of people are confused about B12. I can't blame them. It gets confusing sifting through all the rubbish on the internet. This will be a lot of reading but I will try and keep it simple to help everyone understand how B12 works as I've done a lot of resarch on it. I've been called a "know all" in other threads and I wasn't going to use the forum anymore because of it, but I won't apologise for knowing a lot. Afterall, that's why I came here... to share this knowlege and help people that have began the journey that I've been on for years. Anyway....

No one in my family (none of them are raw and eat basically lots of crap) have ever had a B12 deficiency. I on the other hand who has been predominantly raw for about half my life have had a B12 deficiency, twice. Once because I wasn’t including it in my diet (neither through food or supplements) and the second time because I couldn’t absorb it due to gastritis.

To understand Vitamin B12 absorption, you have to understand the different phases B12 goes through in our digestive tracts and understand the proteins that they bind to that enables absorption.

First off, certain types of glycoproteins produced by saliva glands binds to B12. Hydrochloric acid destroys B12 in the stomach so for it to stay intact, it needs to bind to something. It does this by binding to a certain glycoprotein called haptocorrin. When it’s bound together, it then becomes a B12 complex which can survive the acidity of the stomach. This complex then eventually travels through the stomach, into the lower part of the stomach, into the duodendum where pancreatic juices splits the complex by digesting the haptocorrin, leaving B12 as it was in it’s original form. So a lack of glycoproteins is hurdle number one and this is why chewing food properly is very important. Not just for the digestion of B12 but for other nutrients as well. Even if you’re not chewing, say if you're having juice or a smoothie, this is the reason why they recommend we hold the mouthful in our mouth for 10 seconds, squishing it around before swallowing. This way we release enough saliva and hence enough of these essential digestive proteins and enzymes. Of course this doesn't work with B12 if you're on a raw vegan but just to understand the process, I've mentioned it.

Back to the B12 little journey... at this stage of the stomach, the B12 then binds to another glycoprotein called Gastric Intrinsic Factor (GIF) and forms another complex. If it doesn’t bind to this, it cannot be absorbed. Without the GIF, the B12 basically gets flushed out of our systems. It doesn’t matter whether the B12 is from food (raw or cooked) or from supplements (in any oral form), without being transformed into this complex, it is ineffective. This complex then moves through the digestive tract to the small intestine (the ileum to be specific) where it’s absorbed into cells when the B12 again is released from the GIF and is then bound to another protein called transcobalamin II, creating a third complex. This complex then travels to the liver where it is processed and absorbed. The B12 doesn’t even reach the colon, so cleaning the colon makes no difference to B12 absorption whatsoever. It will only reach the colon it if it’s not bound to GIF and therefore will be useless and flushed down the toilet.

So as you can see the B12 has a few hurdles to jump before it reaches us at a cellular level. The GIF is the main one. It’s found in both gastric juices and in mucous membranes. If someone has severe gastritis or other inflammatory bowel disorders, they have difficulty absorbing B12 (or most nutrients for that matter). If someone is very acidic or even too alkaline, the GIF won’t bind to the B12. For this to happen, the PH must be at 7. Some people who have certain types of autoimmune disorders also cannot absorb B12 because their antibodies attack and destroy GIF. People with pancreatic disorders also have a problem absorbing B12 because they can’t produce GIF, or enough of it.

So there you have it. If you’re one of these people that cannot absorb B12 because of 1) pancreatic disorders, 2) incorrect PH levels, 3) severe gastritis and deteriorated mucous membranes 4) inflammatory bowel disorders and 5) auto immune disorders, then you will not absorb B12 efficiently and will become B12 deficient. The only way to increase your B12 levels in this case is to bypass the digestive system and have it injected directly into your bloodstream. If this is you, you should keep injecting it because B12 deficiency is a very serious condition and in the mean time, you can work on trying to fix the things that are causing the lack of absorption. For me it was severe gastritis at one stage. It took me a couple of years to get back to normal. I took injections for a while and then switched to a high B12 dose in pill form as my stomach lining started to build back up. I monitored my B12 levels carefully and then eased up on the dose as absorption improved.

So I hope this helps some of you. I remember being as confused about B12 as most people are :)

My savior!

[MysticTree]

One of the richest food of zinc and manganese is maple syrup. The Indian has used this for healing. It is a powerful anti-oxidant. It isn't raw but surely far better then supplementing. Maple syrup has a medium glycemic index. If you can have the maple water directly from the tree, it would be raw and far better.

If she was B12 deficiency, chance is are that she was in trouble before she went on this diet. You need a good healthy digestive system to be ok. Fasting is surely a very good way to heal this area.

My family no longer supplement and none of us is deficient, but we worked on restoring balance. I had to supplement, not anymore. A study was made in Australia and they found the B12 from the mushroom were absorb-able for the body.

Get simply tested for your B12, if you are low, it is dangerous but if you aren't then monitor every six months.

Supplementing with B12 lead to affect your parathyroid negatively.

I am not a doctor, please research

Birch sap too is very good. It's getting a bit late in the year here to tap the trees though.

[aviatrix79]

Wheat germ is a good source of zinc too. 1/2 cup gives you just under your daily requirement. It's also high in manganese, selenium (another important one people don't talk often enough about), all B vitamins (except B12) folate and protein. If you haven't had it before, it tastes a bit nutty. For those that have a dehydrator, you can use it as you would (or wouldn't) breadcrumbs. Oh and it's not a germ lol.