When I started this raw journey, I thought that I was armed with enough knowledge to do this in a healthy way. For a while, things were going well, but the past several days my daughter and I have been tired, had loss of appetite, diarrhea and several, severe headaches. We have been approximately 85% raw, no meat, no dairy, no cereal, with a diet consisting of vegetables, fruit, nut spreads, smoothies and salads. After considerable research today, I discovered that we are both probably suffering from a deficiency of vitamin B12, folic acid and vitamin D. So, this morning, I went the the nutrition store and bought some vitamins, against my better judgement. But after a large salad for dinner this evening, I took a vitamin, with lots of water. This evening, no headache, no diarrhea and we even went to the gym and did some cardio. Does anyone else use supplements? Are they "dead" food and if so, how else do I get my vitamin B12 that supposedly is only able to be gotten from yucky animal protein? Animal protein is not and will not be an option. Help, please?
Thank you,

Deb

Yes, I use supplements. All respect to creationists, but my view is that we evolved in the sea where minerals are plentiful and not even 700 million years of evolution on land is enough to change the basic way our cells evolved over the preceeding 2 billion years. Plants are entities unto themselves and have little interest in meeting our dietary needs beyond tempting us with something sweet or savory to help spread their seeds. So it's the minerals in the sea which are harder to get on land in plants; like iodine, chloride and sodium, and others like selenium which are regionally dependent, that I look to supplement. B12 too.

I take B12, and am considering getting a sunless tanning system for Vit D(I live in Michigan and fall is boding an overcast winter). My feeling is that it's better to NOT develop irreversible neurological damage. When one gets further along in raw or more adapted, one may not need to supplement as much or at all.

Have you seen the articles on B 12 on this site? On the first screen when you open this site, select "Articles" and then look for the heading titled "Other" and you'll see a few articles there that discuss B12.


My favorite raw vegan

I've been raw for 25 years+, and right now I'm taking a mega-dose of vitamin D and a small dose of B12 every day. It's cold and dark in New England and I can't fly to Costa Rica just now to catch some rays, so I'll definitely be taking D till sometime late next spring. Gabriel Cousens has sone pretty exhaustive research on vitamin deficiencies in raw vegans; I recommend his articles on the subject, especially related to B12.

Sharrhan:


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Thank you all for responding,

I am not sure what exactly is going on with my daughter and myself on this raw journey. We both started the supplements the other day. I decided to get a multivitamin from our local health food store and right away the intestinal problem went away, but we are both still experiencing headaches. I'm going to give the supplements a few more days and see what happens. It may not even be the diet, who knows, we are both very sensitive to barometric changes and the weather keeps changing from semi warm (mid 60's) to cold at night, so this could also be the problem.

At least, I feel better about the supplement, as a matter of fact, I learned to read the ingredients on everything that I buy. The lady tried to sell me a multivitamin that had (fish) in it. My daughter would have freaked out and neither of use would have taken it.

It is good to know that I am not the only one that uses a supplement while still trying to maintain a raw lifestyle.

Thank you,


Deb

im taking a Dsup right now as well if you feel you need to then by all means listen to yourself and do it . im in the same camp as Sharrhan , its dark and dismal up here (today the first day of sunshine in weeks) and I cant afford any fancy daylight machine so i'll stay on the supp till about april

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I take certain herbs & supplements & find them very helpful. Definitely go with what noticeably helps your health & your daughters over a particular dietary philosophy!