Friday, August 15, 2008

BYOB (Bring Your Own B-12) ???

Growing up, I was never a huge meat eater. It was mostly because I didn't enjoy the taste, not opposed to the idea of eating animals. I mean come on, we lived on a farm where we raised animals for our meat. (One rule to growing up. We weren't allowed to name the animals. My mom didn't want us to be scarred when we found out what/who we were eating for dinner.... :) )

My first job when I was 16-years-old was at McDonald's. And, I haven't eaten a hamburger since. When I went away to college, and had complete freedom in my diet, I went vegetarian. (I do eat seafood/fish and dairy so I'm not a complete vegatarian). Again, mostly because of taste but I really started to enjoy the health benefits. The first time I came home and proclaimed I no longer ate meat, my mom promptly bought me a few books and told me if I was going to be a veggie, I had to be knowledgable about it and do it correctly.

My family is a big meat and potatoes family, so my parents will try anything to get me to eat meat. Anything that is slightly off in my life, they (half) jokingly say, "well... it's because you don't eat meat."

So today's phone call from my mom was nothing unusual. With my stress fracture healing so slowly and the whole long affair with my abdomen and chronic pain issues, I figured my body just healed slower than the average person. My mom saw something on TV this morning about B-12 shots and how vegetarians should especially consider it. She said she thought maybe I was deficient and that's why I'm healing slowly, especially since she said I wasn't like that as a kid. And, that I should ask my PCP during my annual check up (I'm a HUGE preventative care fan!!!)

I usually just brush her "it's because you don't eat meat" comments off, but I took this one into consideration. Tonight, I did an internet search and actually found some blogs/forums that discussed this very topic. Maybe my mom wasn't completely off?

My question: has anyone considered/received a B-12 shot? Has anyone talked to their doctor about it?

P.S. Thanks to everyone for their well-wishes and support on my great master plan. I'm counting on all of you to help keep me with it! :)

6 comments:

Mendy said...

I don't know anything at all about the B12 stuff. Sorry.

Jess said...

I have heard about people getting B-12 shots, but I have never followed up on it and looked into its benefits.

But at least you took her advice seriously. I know for many of us, the suggestions our mothers make, we just brush off. I know, personally, that I can get pretty peeved by mom always coming back to some of the same things and it annoys me, so I ignore her advice.

Unknown said...

Have you tried vitamin B supplements? The ones I take are some kind of super B vitamin and it includes loads of B-12. Something to think about...

MNFirefly said...

I am semi-veggie like you (Gotta have my sushi!). I have been thinking about taking B-12 shots myself. It's not a bad idea.

Almost Vegetarian said...

Well, I'm pretty hesitant to take shots. A lot of foods (especially vegan foods)have extra B-12.

Now, I don't worry about it because I do eat cheese. Well, at least small amounts. And put cream in my coffee. But, to be sure I do try and remember to take an organic vitamin pill every morning. That pill is as invasive as I want to get (a shot seems so much more so).

Hope that helps. Feel better.

MissAllycat said...

I'm a veggie and take a B12 supplement every day.

There's a great podcast about B12 here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/VegetarianFoodForThought

It's called "An Essential Vitamin: B12" - about 3/4 down the page. Great info!