crazy nutritional yeast craving....b12 deficient?
so, about this time last year (there was a post about it even...) i had mad cravings for garlic...was putting garlic salt on my sorbet, on my granola, crushing garlic in my drinks...turns out i was crazy iron deficient...(odd cravings sometimes point to iron defiency)
NOW...
I'm craving nutritional yeast like mad....nutritional yeast is a great source of b12...which is "stock piled" in our body, but can deplete....
anyway, I'm putting it on everything (like garlic last year..)
putting nutritional yeast in my oatmeal--YUMMY!, in my cereal, sprinkling it in my salads, on my cut apples, ( i literally have to have it at every meal!--and then, I'll find a pretzel rod to dip in it for a "snack"--not wanting the pretzel...just the yummy yellow flaky stuff!) :)etc....
knowing so well the link between nutritional yeast and it's potency of b12, could i be developing a deficiency? --can i check it myself? with a "kit", or do i need to go to the doctor...or could this be a "weird" craving, and i be iron deficient, again?--which is becoming a pattern over the last few years (around jan.-feb.) and these weird cravings...it's impossible that there's a digote/zygote/fetus/human/cluster of cells...growing inside of me, so that's not it...
I read that it takes two or three years for your body to deplete it's supply of B12, so if you've been vegan for longer than that and don't take supplements, maybe. I'd go to the doctor to get checked, though. I've read that deficiencies can do permanent damage.
Your primary doctor can order a simple blood test. I hear ya about the weird cravings. When I'm anemic, I crave garlic and onions too!
LB...there is NY that isnt fortified w/ b12. i only know that RedStar does fortify,but not sure of the other brands.
My nutritional yeast is fortified with : inactive dry yeast, niacin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamine hydrochloride, folic acid, Vitamin B12.
Maybe it was one of those minerals?
Just for clarification, niacin, riboflavin, thiamine, folic acid, and B12 are all B vitamins; the first four aren't minerals. For some reason, some vitamins have names other than "vitamin X". Like ascorbic acid=vitamin C. As an interesting piece of trivia, I think it's the riboflavin that turns your pee bright orange if you take a multivitamin or B-complex :)
Weird about the skin flushing thing--never heard of that...
Since all NY isn't fortified, then it seems like an unlikely craving as a result of a deficiency. I'm with BP--I think it's just the yummy factor ;D
Yeah, Niacin flush is no fun, it won't hurt you, but it is very uncomfortable. My mom ate a lot of NY when she was breastfeeding my older brother. He got really bad flushing, even though my mom was fine.
CarmenMichelle, I have craved NY like it's my job as well for the last couple years. And FWIW, I was diagnosed with a pretty severe B-12 deficiency. I don't think that there's a direct correlation, especially if you don't have other symptoms of B-12 deficiency, but in my mind it would be worth a trip to the doctor if you've got other symptoms.
Hibiscus posted a fabulous link in another thread to http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/. I'd suggest checking it out to see if you exhibit any other symptoms.
I've been vegan for about 3 and half years.
...I'm always really fair skinned. --the sun is enemy numero dos (mean people are numero uno...) so, that's not an issue, but, have been extra flushed lately, which i thought was perhaps psychosomatic, since I've been really stressed/manic lately, with a valley of depression currently in my mania, unable to think clearly/focus..have been anemic off and on (before), but who hasn't! I've been a bit weaker than normal, and have had tummy problems....i mean, not to throw things out there in fit of conversion theory or anything, because, if we all wanted, we could make ourselves seem to have anything.... ???
nevertheless, I'm gonna attempt to make it by the doctor soon.
perhaps I'm just in a really crappy manic episode right now, and simultaneously/unrelated just going through a NY is the greatest thing ever spell...
im really fair siinned too...and coincidentally just got my B12 levels checked last week b/c they were taking blood and i was thinking that i had other symptoms....
actually, it turned oiut that i was HIGH! it came out over1100, when normal cut off is 1000.
and i hadnt been particularly over using the NY lately (or even eating really great :-\) so, idk.
i certainly have no flush. hmmm....
turns out in the US, the "normal" levels are low compared to other places, like japan, etc....there, they shoot for 1300.
and i found out that since B12 is water soluble, you will pee it out...and it can fluctuate week by week.