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Thread: almost 1 year now

  1. #1
    berta_the_aspie's Avatar
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    Default almost 1 year now

    im so proud of myself, i have been a vegan for almost one year. and i am sooo much healthier now. yay.
    im even giving up bad oils, bad sugar, refined flour and stuff.
    but i am wondering about some things that i cant get straight when reading about them. sorry but here comes some questions:

    is cane sugar/demerera "lethal" (calories etc) at all like white sugar? or should i just use maple syrup?
    what sort of food combining tricks should i use to get better uptake of iron and things like that?
    i have stopped taking the vitamins i did, because they had added sugar in them, so do i really need it? or just D vitamin and B12?
    does the added protein/calcium in rice/soy milk get destroyed somehow if i use it for baking or cooking? (i heard that olive oil cant be heated above 200 degrees celcius or something)

    i know this has probably all been asked before, but i have tried browsing the threads, i just cant wrap my head around the facts.
    det e bedre at den e dyr - enn at den e døde dyr

  2. #2
    paulvegan
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    Default Re: almost 1 year now

    well done.
    i'll leave the questions to some one else, who knows more than me.

  3. #3
    DancingWillow's Avatar
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    Default Re: almost 1 year now

    Congrats on your one year vegan anniversary and congrats on being healthier!

    I don't know the answer to all your Q's, but here's my answer to one of them: if you eat healthy, you get all your nutrients from the food you eat, so there's no need for a multivitamin. You can get vitamin D from the sun...it is recommended that you spend about 15 minutes in the sun every day *without* sunscreen...however, I it's a good idea to do it before 11:00 in the morning or after 4:00 in the afternoon to avoid the dangerous rays. There's a whole sub-forum on vitamin B12; your body does produce it but there are things that can prevent your body from producing it in adequate amounts. On the other hand, taking B12 supplements is not good because they are not absorbed by your body and block actual B12 from being used by your body. There's so much unknown about B12 that you pretty much have to make up your own decision about what's healthy based on what you find. If you are worried that you are deficient in any vitamin, you can get a blood test.

    Also, as far as I know raw cane sugar is definitely better that white or brown sugar. If you're a healthy weight, I don't really think you need to be worried about the calories. But, if for any reason you don't like sugar, you can use maple syrup, agave nectar, and other kinds of syrups.

    Hope that helps
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  4. #4
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: almost 1 year now

    if you eat healthy, you get all your nutrients from the food you eat,
    Hi, that may or may not be true in a de-naturalized world...

    About B12, I'm afraid that we have so much information about it that it may be confusing. I'm afraid that saying that taking B12 supplements is never good and that B12 is from supplements never is absorbed by your body and block actual B12 from being used by your body is misleading... B12 supplements may be absorbed, but there are some issues with B12 and multivitamins. One may be on a vegan, lacto-vegetarian or animal based diet and be so B12 deficient that eating B12 supplements is an urgent necessity, but as a general rule, vegans need to monitor their B12 levels more than non-vegans, because we don't eat others' flesh and blood.

    Some people say that you are on the safe side if you eat a little B12 daily, but that may be wrong, because you may be more B12 deficient than a small amount of B12 can deal with. You live in Norway, so you can't get B12 supplements containing more than 9 mcg B12, because everything above that is considered medical treatment and needs a prescription from a doctor.

    Re. destroying nutrients and cooking, I'm sure you'll find more info about this on Google, but it's always good to include a lot of non-cooked food in your diet.

  5. #5
    perfect RedWellies's Avatar
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    Default Re: almost 1 year now

    That's probably confused you more than ever! But congratulations on your one year of veganism!

    Regarding iron...if you take vitamin C (a glass of orange juice will do) with iron rich food, it will help your body absorb the iron better. Like Korn says, use google...there's lots of information about vitamins out there.
    "Do what you can with what you have where you are."
    - Theodore Roosevelt

  6. #6
    cedartree cedarblue's Avatar
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    Default Re: almost 1 year now

    well done berta, here's to the rest of your life!

  7. #7
    DancingWillow's Avatar
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    Default Re: almost 1 year now

    Quote Korn
    Hi, that may or may not be true in a de-naturalized world...
    Not sure I know what you mean

    Quote Korn
    About B12, I'm afraid that we have so much information about it that it may be confusing.
    So I've noticed I'm glad that you joined in the conversation, because you definitely know much more about B12.
    You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
    ~John Wooden

  8. #8
    Ex-admin Korn's Avatar
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    Default Re: almost 1 year now

    Not sure I know what you mean
    Due to a lot of lifestyle-, environmental- and other issues (our planet isn't any longer in it's natural, not-destroyed-by-humans state), both vegans and non-vegans may have a problem getting all the nutrients they need from the food they eat. One example is the effect of not eating fresh enough food, another one is that water (used on plants and drunk by humans) is chlorinated, a third is that our soil generally has half the nutritional values it had 50 years ago. Is that clearer?

  9. #9
    DancingWillow's Avatar
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    Default Re: almost 1 year now

    I thought that's what you meant, but just wanted to make sure...thanks for clarifying

    Although the destruction that humans have caused to the planet is reflected more and more in our food (for instance, in the reduced amount of nutrients in the soil), there are ways we can eat a closer-to-natural diet than the more processed diets that many people follow...you can eat organic fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and other foods, since the nutrient content of soil in organic fields is higher than that of non-organic fields; you can drink spring water instead of the chlorinated and fluoridized tap water; and you can eat more fresh/raw/non-processed foods. Obviously, there is environmental destruction that may affect your food/water even if you make these choices (e.g., spring water can be polluted).

    Anyway, I know you know all these things, and I'm not trying to start a discussion or an argument on the topic; I just felt that your previous post was rather pessimistic and that while one's diet will probably not be as natural as was possible in prehistoric times, one can eat a diet that's relatively close to natural if one chooses and makes an effort to do so.
    You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.
    ~John Wooden

  10. #10
    Seaside
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    Default Re: almost 1 year now

    Congratulations berta!
    Quote berta_the_aspie
    what sort of food combining tricks should i use to get better uptake of iron and things like that?
    Eat raw spinach salads with grapefruit juice as dressing, and include grapefruit segments. It is one of my favorite salads, and the vitamin C in the grapefruit will increase iron absorption from the spinach. If you don't like grapefruit, use lemon or lime juice as dressing, or orange juice and orange sections (from fresh fruits, not canned).

  11. #11
    EyesWideOpen monkey60613's Avatar
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    Default Re: almost 1 year now

    Is B12 supposed to be taken every day? I take a sub-lingual version every day but I swore I've seen somewhere on this board where people take it every other day....
    "Destiny, or karma, depends upon what the soul has done about what it has become aware of."
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    Edgar Cayce

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