Need support, advice, help...I'll take anything

873 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by journey, Mar 22, 2008

Cedre

Discussion Starter · Mar 21, 2008

Hi everyone,

Sounds like I am not the only person who's been feeling sick lately and fatigued. I'm not getting any support from anybody close by, so here I am. Here's my story:

I haven't been vegetarian for long...and I've been trying to be good with my diet, as in get enough protein, vegetables, fruits and to keep it varied. I've been trying to read as much as I can on veg*n protein sources, iron sources, and other essential vitamin sources. I must confess, I hate tofu (and mushrooms too) so shifting to a veg*n diet hasn't been as easy as just subbing tofu for meat in my dishes...So I've been eating a lot of beans, lentils, nuts and seeds for protein.

Now a bit of a background story. I used to be very anemic when I was younger, even as a full blown meat eater. As much as I wanted to become a veg*n, the people around me (including doctors) would bring my anemia as an excuse for me not to become one. My anemia used to be actually a very scary situation! But it had improved dramatically in the past 10 years, even though I wasn't eating meat on a daily basis. Then I read this: http://www.vegetarian.org.uk/factsheets/iron.html which basically changed my life and allowed me to shut everyone around me up and I practically took to vegeterianism the very next day.

Back to last week. A bit of a confession. Since I start eating so healthy as a veg*n, getting more than my daily required amount of fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, etc I stupidly decided that I don't need my vitamin supplements anymore. Considering that getting your vitamins naturally is always better than from supplements, I stopped taking my B100 complex and Vitamin C. Saturday, I am tired. But on Sunday, I was scary tired. So tired that breathing had become difficult. It freaked me out! I could barely walk from the living room to my bedroom and I would run out of breath. I put 2 and 2 together and started double dosing on B100's and to be on the safe side I started back on iron supplements along with the Vit C's to make it absorb better. Two days later, I am back to normal. Back to normal vitamin supplements...and went for a blood check and it all looks good. Phew!

But of course for two days I had to listen to everyone lecture me about eating meat!!! Worst part was I was too tired to argue with them

Btw, talking about iron...did you know 2.5 oz of beef has 2.4 mg of iron, yet 2 oz of pumpkin seeds has 8.6 mg of iron!!

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SomebodyElse

· #2 · Mar 21, 2008

A couple of things you should keep in mind is that you may have a greater need for certain nutrients due to your unique biological make up, and this is almost impossible for doctors to figure out, because they get almost no nutritional training in their education. The RDAs are the absolute minimum recommendations to keep the "average" person from developing an out and out deficiency disease. So unless you can find a holistic person to work with, you'll have to do a lot of the detective work on your own. The good news is that you are pretty safe in attempting megadoses of most water soluble vitamins, because anything you don't need will be gotten rid of in your urine. Be careful of megadosing fat soluble vitamins like A and D though.

Another thing is that soils are depleted, and its not hard to find studies showing that even organically grown fruits and vegetables contain much lower percentages of nutrients than they did in our grandparents' day. If you are a person with a greater need for certain vitamins, you may not be able to get all you need from your diet alone.

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Hazelnut

· #3 · Mar 21, 2008

Unfortunately, iron is something you're never going to hear the end of. People close to you will be able to see your info and become educated, but way too many people believe that 'vegetarians' have to still eat fish for the iron.

I'm no doctor, but it sounds like an absorption issue more than a dietary issue. Just my opinion.

Anyways, Google "Blackstrap Molasses." People rave about it's healthful benefits, ESPECIALLY for those with iron issues. And, from what I gather, it's easier to absorb than many other sources including supplements (but you still need them), and especially easier to absorb than iron from meat.

Meat is very difficult to digest, and it will be far down your digestive tract before many of the nutrients are available.

Anyways, back to the molasses... I thought it tasted TERRIBLE and I would swallow it down like bad medicine... I started off with Grandma's brand (not blackstrap...very weak), and next went to a bottle of organic blackstrap molasses.

You know what's odd??? As AWEFUL as it tasted, I actually developed a taste for it in a very short period of time...and I actually crave it now to the point of having to limit myself for fear of having too much.

Tip: Until you get used to the flavor, drink a small glass of soymilk/cow's milk/anything that will make your mouth have a 'slime'. Take a big spoonful into your mouth, using the slime to keep it from touching too much mouthskin, and swallow like a big thick pill. Don't worry about what's left on the spoon...licking it off would taste nasty.

Before long, you'll find yourself licking the spoon a big, and really not minding the flavor.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!

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Mr. Sun

· #4 · Mar 21, 2008

I don't know a lot about nutrition and stuff but I wonder if some of what's going on is psychological. I mean people can fast on water for a few days and feel fine so I wonder how quickly your vitamin B count would've dropped in a few days without taking it and how quickly it would bring your levels back up. And the same with iron -- how quickly can it drop and then come back up.

Or perhaps there was something else causing the fatigue that coincided with you stopping the B vitamins and the iron. Perhaps you were a fighting a cold that never manifested itself in a way other than the fatigue.

I don't know. Just throwing stuff out there.

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Cedre

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 21, 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Sun

I don't know a lot about nutrition and stuff but I wonder if some of what's going on is psychological. I mean people can fast on water for a few days and feel fine so I wonder how quickly your vitamin B count would've dropped in a few days without taking it and how quickly it would bring your levels back up. And the same with iron -- how quickly can it drop and then come back up.

Or perhaps there was something else causing the fatigue that coincided with you stopping the B vitamins and the iron. Perhaps you were a fighting a cold that never manifested itself in a way other than the fatigue.

I don't know. Just throwing stuff out there.

It totally could be psychological too. I am almost positive that my breathing problem was psychological...that always happens when I am stressed/tired/hyper. I am not even sure if I was depleted on iron in all honesty as I haven't been on iron supplements for nearly 10 years and I was all fine, I just threw that out there due to my past history. I will as you've all pointed out have to keep an eye on it with trial and error and regular blood checks. (I will try that blackstrap molasses - thanks for the suggestion, I had not heard of that one. Hmm, would fancy molasses be the same? because that stuff is yummy

I actually wasn't taking any iron supplements - so that I didn't stop. It was only the B100, and vit. C (which may have decreased absorption of iron) that I stopped about a couple of weeks ago. Then last week I had a major migraine which caused me to be sick for two days straight (Mr. Sun you are so right!!) and then it went on further to Saturday and Sunday as described above. So I guess it's a combo of everything.

See...just being in a supportive environment makes you feel better about everything. Thanks!!

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Hazelnut

· #6 · Mar 21, 2008

Fancy Molasses? Never heard of it...

What makes blackstrap so special as opposed to regular is that it's thicker, and has about 6-8 times the amount of nutrients as regular (depending on brand). I don't know what fancy molasses is, but I'd check the label to see if it's as strong (the potassium and iron percentages are the main giveaway).

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journey

· #7 · Mar 22, 2008

Also Cedre, have you thought about looking around for a more wholistically minded doctor? Or one with a bit more nutritional training? Sounds like any advice you get from your current one is going to biased against your veggie beliefs. I had a similar probelm (with doctor, different health issue) and stumbled upon a list of wholistically minded local professionals of all sorts in a health food store (you could also ask around at your local health food store, who do other folks go to). My new doctor advocates vitamins over prescriptions and is open to holistic solutions as an option rather than surgery and prescriptions as the only alternatives. It may take awhile to search, but it's worth it if you can find somoneone who at least supports your choices.

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