B12 Conscious

All week I've had vitamin B12 on my mind. On Wednesday, I took a mental health morning and happily got in some much needed sleep. I woke up to a text from one of my sister's friend, explaining all the reasons why I should take vitamin B12. She went on to tell me how without the consumption of any animal products our bodies aren't able to get enough of it. B12 is needed for blood formation, and a lack of it in the body can lead to anemia and decreased immune responses. I thought this text was especially ironic considering I had taken the morning off due to fatigue.  The person who sent me this even offered to buy me the vitamin herself, just so I would take it. Due to her major concern, I did some research on it and it is true that vegetarians, especially vegans have a hard time getting this vitamin. The reason is because B12 comes from the soil. When animals eat grass or or other plants directly from the soil, the humans who eat those animals or products from them, are also getting the vitamin. Even our ancestors who lived off of plant-based diets, took their food directly from the ground and probably didn't wash it as thoroughly as we do today, so they probably still ate a good amount of soil and directly took in this vitamin. Many vegan websites recommend taking vitamin B12 supplements. Other ways to get this vitamin is in B12 fortified foods and drinks such as soy milk, and also in nutritional yeast.
After all this research I've been blaming much of my tiredness and emotional reactions to this lack of B12, and in reality, yes, a B12 deficiency can be harmful, but much of life is mental. I went on a run yesterday and though I didn't go as far as some of my other runs, I was just as tired if not more, and the first thing that I did was blame myself for not getting enough of this vitamin. I don't want to start blaming my weaknesses on a lack of this vitamin. It is very important though so I'm probably going to start getting B12 fortified soy milk, but as of right now, I'm still deciding on whether I should take the supplement. I'm glad my sister's friend made me aware of this even though it's somewhat getting to my head. I don't want to be a naive vegan, actually have something go wrong, or become unhealthy from this way of eating, so I'm glad to now know about B12.

Learning something new everyday,
Maggie