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Wednesday 9 January 2013

Just Be. B12


Hello dear readers,

I have been ambushed by my maternal health nurse whom is DESPERATELY concerned about mine, Rivers' & unborn baby Be's intake of vitamin B12. So tomorrow I am off to see a dietitian because obviously I am not putting the health of my children first by being a vegan and extended breastfeeding...dear god. I'm excited to see the dietitian though because I know my diet is well balanced and thought out (most of the time) and will be interested to hear her opinion. She is well educated and specialises in vegan diets, children and pregnancy (bingo!).

I have done much research on the topic but decided to give you all a few links to information regarding B12 supplements. With my milk supply decreasing we are making an afternoon smoothie for Riv with soy milk, coconut yogurt, berries, banana (or other fruit), moringa leaf powder and chlorella. My B12 stores were on the low side but not worrisome during my pregnancy with River. I am yet to have any blood tests during this pregnancy (18weeks on Saturday). As most of you know, I don't really take supplements, I take MuscleEase after workouts and add Chia/hemp seeds to at least one meal daily and obviously the moringa powder & chlorella when I make myself a smoothie. So I definitely do not take B12, most that I have found are not vegan. According to the next few articles you would think I am such an idiot...

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/89/5/1627S.long

http://veganhealth.org/b12/natural

http://www.vegansociety.com/lifestyle/nutrition/b12.aspx

But finally, something that seems to support what I feel:

http://www.naturalnews.com/029531_vitamin_B12_vegan.html

http://www.roylretreat.com/articles/b12.html

If you can be bothered reading, basically there has not been enough conclusive research done to support plant sources of vitamin B12. I HAVE been relying on sea vegetables, mushrooms & chlorella...which one guy suggests I am CRAZY for doing so. The last two articles however, suggest that B12 deficiency is more to do with bacteria in the gut and absorption...and that I don't actually need to supplement. It will be interesting to see what the dietitian says.

Today I have been the carb queen...had half a bowl of oats with cinnamon, raspberries and soy milk at 6.30am, two salad rolls at 10am when Riv went to sleep, potato & leek soup with toast at 2pm for lunch (Riv slept til 1pm), and quinoa pasta with hearty vegetable & lentil sauce for dinner at 6pm. As you can see I haven't had nearly enough fruit and have filled up on too much bread. This week has been off with Eric working so hard on the factory and me trying to get my own business back to booming. We haven't meal planned or done a big shop so our meals are not as well structured as they should be. I also did a workout of hang cleans at 20kgs and pull ups (jumping) with some yoga tonight.
Tomorrow I will aim for fruit salad breakfast with coyo, kale chips (snack), soup for lunch, green salad in the afternoon, perhaps a brown rice curry for dinner and steamed apple for dessert.

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I am very tired today but I am slowly getting all I need to get done. This is going to be SUCH an exciting venture. Next weekend is Tough Mudder (I get to watch...), the following weekend is a Crossfit comp in Mildura (again I watch...), I do my Crossfit Level 1 early Feb and Project X should be unveiled at the same time!!! I'm finally getting in the habit of 'precence' and being happy exactly in the NOW although I tell you my hormones aren't helping!! It should also be mentioned that after my last blog I have been sick again TWICE, hardly acceptable second trimester behaviour if you ask me :)

Thankyou for your kind words after last weeks blog, I am strong because I have a great foundation of support in you guys, my family, and my dear friends.

Cheers & Giggles xx

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