Are you Vitamin B12 deficient?

Surprisingly ...... I am......

Some days back I was constantly feeling a little irritable and was feeling completely sapped of energy.The "Monday-morning- blues" feeling was a constant companion and then I thought I might be having anemia. One of my doctor friends suggested that I should get a haemogram done . While I was leaving her clinic something also prompted her to say " get your serum B12 also checked Pls" Clearly i went ahead to do both the tests and got some alarming results.

My haemogram was within a perfect normal range but my B12 levels were riding at an all time low alarming levels...............

I am now taking a multi vitamin and making sure that am including something very common to each house hold and important to replenish the B12 in my diet but something which i was convieniently trying to avoid everyday........ MILK

I also thought that I should share an article written by one of my students, Ashuta Gundecha, on this very subject............ What follows is the same article written by her, unedited and in her own words.........



Are u Vitamin B12 deficient???
A Jain diet is based on the fact that a simple natural diet will help keep their mind pure and peaceful . This diet necessarily means a vegetarian diet including sattvic foods.
In Jainism, foods can be classified into 3 categories:
Sattvic food includes fresh fruits, fruit juices, vegetables, cereals, whole grains, legumes, lentils, milk, nuts and seeds. These foods keeps the body in a peaceful state, calms mind, enabling it to function at full potential.
Rajasic food includes spices, herbs, coffee, tea, fish, eggs ,salt and chocolate. These foods are said to be stimulating , making mind restless and uncontrollable.
Tamasic food includes meat ,alcohol ,tobacco ,fermented foods, overripe foods. These foods are destructive to mind ,makes person greedy. These foods destroy body’s resistance to disease.
Now worldwide it is being proved that vegetarian diet which includes sattvic foods is the best form of diet.
BUT the question arises ,are all the nutrients required for good health present in vegetarian food?

The answer is YES!! BUT if the person eating vegetarian food does not include milk and milk products , he might be deficient in one of the important B complex vitamins- VITAMIN B12 !! Vitamin B12 is needed for building proteins in body , formation of blood cells and normal function of nervous tissue. A person might develop anemia if he/she is vitamin B12 deficient.
Vitamin B12 is required in following amounts:
(ICMR -Indian council of medical research Vitamin B12 content of foods:
Recommendations) Values per 100g of edible portion
GROUP Vitamin B12 mcg/day
Man 1.0
Woman 1.0
Pregnancy 1.0
Lactation 1.5 (mother breastfeeding her child)
Infants 0.2
Children 0.2-1.0 (1-18 years)

Foods Vitamin B12 mcg/day
Milk(buffalo’s) 0.14
Milk (cow’s) 0.14
Curd (buffalo’s milk) 0.13
Curd (cow’s milk) 0.10
Skimmed milk powder 0.83

All vegetarians should ask themselves 2 questions to know if they are vitamin b12 deficient: Do I consume milk and/or milk products on regular basis??
Do I suffer from any of the symptoms like sleeplessness, dizziness, red tongue, sore tongue, numbness of hands and legs, difficulty in walking, weight loss, diarrhea??
If your answer to the previous question is NO and later question YES, then u might be vitamin B12 deficient.
Thus its important for vegetarians to consume dairy products(milk and milk products on daily basis). Also special care should be taken by mothers breastfeeding their child as the requirement of vit B12 rises in them. Even infants if breastfed for long duration i.e more than 6 months without giving top feeds may develop vitamin B12 deficiency.
Way in which milk and milk products can be incorporated in the diet,
-Plain milk, curd, buttermilk.
-Buttermilk, kadhi.
-Milkshakes, fruit salads ,kheer.
-Paneer sabji, paneer paratha, paneer rolls.etc.
So when all the foods included in sattvic diet are included by vegetarians, they would be able to live a healthy life!!!

I have learned my new lesson now, having my glassfull of milk everyday and already on the way of recovery!!!!

Every coin has 2 sides...........................

The other side of Garlic !!!

I have been down with a throat infection for the past 2 to 3 days and my family may be finding it comfortable as there is no regular nagging behind them from my side. It is very clear that with the kind of infection I have, I am unable to speak, let alone pester my family for their daily chores.


This compulsory " MAUNA VRAT" did get me thinking and I suddenly remembered that i had not spoken to all of you about " the other side of Garlic".


Since day one in the ailment I am sincerely using the home remedies to fight the infection using garlic as the main constituent, but i have been very careful that the amount of garlic that i am using is not too much for my body and my body type. It is this thought that got me thinking and i realised that we haven't discussed garlic in a different light.


When we are using garlic as herbal or food medicine, we need to be cautious about certain things and conditions. These are listed below:

• Any herb that is strong enough to act as a medicine , is always strong enough to produce side effects. Having large amounts or very high doses or long duration applications of Garlic can sometimes cause side effects like stomach irritation, nausea, garlic odor to breath, skin irritations, flatulence and heartburn also.
  
• Apart from these side effects, one has to also take into consideration the body physiology of the patient before garlic is used in larger amounts. A Typical "Pitta" physiology with a type A personality will not tolerate Garlic as easily as others.
  
• Garlic is a herb with hot potency. In other words, it can bring about heat and can really fire up body processes. So it should never be used directly when there is an acute inflammation or redness or pain.


• Caution for Diabetics: Use of Garlic has a blood sugar lowering effect and so people using hypoglycemic drugs should use garlic with caution. If using this herb in very large amounts during cooking, it is advisable to inform the Diabetologist or the Dietitian about the amount that is being used.


• Caution for Heart Patients: Garlic has a blood thinning effect. People taking blood thinning drugs which are prescribed after a stroke, heart attack or detection of blood clots should consult with their physician or nutrition consultant before using large amounts of garlic in their food. Large amounts of Garlic can amplify the effects of these drugs to a higher extent than required, hence the caution.

So........... This was just a caring reminder of the other side of garlic to my readers and followers of this blog !!!

With a lot of help from my favourite Garlic pearl necklace and caution about the use of direct juice in this particular inflammation and infection; and after an undesired but unavoidable antibiotic prescription from my family doctor, I am on the path of a speedy recovery.

See you all soon !!!