Your body needs thirteen different vitamins in order to stay alive and remain healthy. These tiny molecules participate in thousands of chemical reactions that build your tissue and organs, provide you with energy from food you eat, clean the toxins from your body, protect you against infections, repair damage, and allow your cells to communicate with each other. Your body can’t make these vitamins by itself, so it depends on you to provide them by eating the right foods. Some (the fat-soluble vitamins) can be stored; others including the B vitamins are water soluble and need to be “restocked” every day. If you don’t take in enough of a particular vitamin, your supplies dwindle, causing a marginal deficiency and, eventually, a deficiency disease with very real consequences.
Vitamin B12, critical to tens of thousands of functions in our body daily, is one almost all of us are deficient in!!! It helps us produce energy from the foods we eat like carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. It is also essential for a healthy metabolism, nervous system, immune system, proper detox functions, and red blood cell production.
Just a Few Signs of B12 Deficiency:
Fatigue
Migraines
Irritability
Anxiety &/or Depression
Memory Loss (mild to dementia)
Parkinson's, ALS, and neurological conditions
"Auto-Immune" conditions
Restless leg syndrome
Vision changes
Heart disease & Vascular problems
Digestive issues
Delayed growth in kids- physically & mentally
Vitamin B12, is an unusual vitamin in that we can't obtain it from plants or sunlight directly. We either need to get it from the animal food or even better, make our own. In order to produce our own B12 we need a healthy gut and the right organisms. These special organisms (elevated biotics) are found on the leaves and skins of organic fruits and vegetables. Unlike factory-produced probiotics and soil based organisms, elevated biotics are able to survive your digestive process and make it to your ileum, where B12 can be made.
Whenever possible, grow any plants of your own that you can, whether it's tomato plants or kale or indoor potted herbs or sprouts you grow on your kitchen counter. Eat these plants unwashed or very lightly rinsed to remove just the dirt. Don't soak or scrub them. If you have a trusted farmer you have a relationship with and you know their growing practices very well, you could also eat their produce unwashed or with a very gentle rinse. This is a great way to get these elevated biotics.
As with all supplements today, many are junk and a waste of money, some are even harmful, and some are excellent. Most B12 on the market is harmful as they usually contain some form of citric acid or natural flavor (MSG). It is important to use a B-12 that contains both methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin. These 2 ingredients ensure a more bioavailable product.
*For further reading, check out the book Could it Be B12? An Epidemic of Misdiagnosis
May 2022
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