by Fiona Hollis

Are you unsure about B12?

There’s a lot of talk about it - and I think we have all feared whether we are getting enough at various points of our raw food journey.

We created a wisdom nugget with some suggestions, and had some great feed back from YOU.

Here’s a few things to consider…

Reasons to Supplement a Raw Vegan diet with B12

- Modern soils, due to intensive and unsustainable agricultural practices, are depleted of nutrients, and it is thought that vitamin B12 is now largely absent from most soils. Rawmom Joanna Steven

- Animals in the wild, herbivore, omnivore or carnivore, eat bugs along with their greens. Our produce is very clean, and I am not about to start adding the tiny spiders living on my backyard garden greens to my smoothies! Rawmom Joanna Steven

- While our gut does produce some vitamin B12, Dr Gabriel Cousens explained that it happens in an area of the gut that is too low to be reabsorbed, and this B12 production does not have an impact on our B12 levels. Rawmom Joanna Steven

- Use B12 patches - B12 is absorbed better through the skin vs orally. Dr.Ritamarie

Can we Thrive Without Supplements?

Emma writes:

Here in Europe (as well as in Australia and New Zealand) vegetarians and vegans can get their B12 and other B vitamins, such as folic acid, from yeast extract products. The most common one in the UK is Marmite but the German company Essential makes a much more tasty (if expensive) organic yeast extract.

I was away traveling for the three months before I became pregnant and so dutifully took my folic acid tablets every day but once I had returned home my body inexplicably started refusing to take them, which at the time I felt guilty about. I since found out that I have been getting plenty of folic acid from my morning toast with yeast extract and my body was cleverly telling me I didn’t need to take the extras any more.

Raw health expert Dr Flora writes:

I’ve never been deficient. Never known anyone to be. I eat seaweed which is rich in B-12. I don’t take antibiotics, which would kill my Bs, including B12. I also eat homemade sauerkraut, which is rich in B complex and B12. I lick my fingers! (hygiene? I have to lick my fingers when I scrape out my blender after making almond cream with figs in it! And, that apparently helps keep the minimum up. I drink fresh coconut water, rich in bifidus, which keeps everything high. Don’t mess with deficiencies. Get a blood test to find out where you are. There are so many types of supplements, but they are all not needed if you have sufficient. Test twice.

In her book Creating Healthy Children, Karen Ranzi dedicates a chapter to the issue of B12.

Jinjee and Storm (www.thegardendiet.com) have raised a healthy family on a non supplemented raw diet - and have been living it for over 30 years. Jinjee claims celery juice is a nerve-cell re-builder, so understanding food as thy medicine opens a whole new dimension to raw food as a provider and a healer.

Karen Dolan wrote in with this really great  information on celery juice:

Celery juice is highly nutritious and very hydrating. Because it is incredibly alkalizing, it equalizes the body’s PH, which is essential for good health. All parts of celery are packed with minerals, vitamins and nutrients. Celery leaves are high in vitamin A, whilst the stems are an excellent source of vitamins B1, B2, B6 and C and dense in potassium, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, sodium and essential amino acids.

This super food also contains important concentrations of plant hormones and healing essential oils that give celery its characteristic smell. These oils help to regulate the nervous system, and are very calming.

It helps calm the nervous system but does not help with many other things that you need B12 for.