Category Archives: Vitamin B12 Benefits

Is Calories In, Calories Out the Key to Losing Weight?

weight loss, apple, nutrition, orange, calorieIf you have ever tried to lose weight, then you probably have been told to track your calories. Most calorie trackers focus on keeping track of the calories you consume through food.  On the other hand, fitness trackers or workout machines may track how many calories you burn during the day. However, is there more to the story of weight loss, or is calories in and calories out the only key to success?  A recent report by health experts reveal that there may be more than simple math in the weight loss equation.

What are is a calorie?

A calorie is a unit of energy that is found in food and beverages. The four major macronutrients that consist of calories include:

  • protein at 4 calories per gram
  • carbohydrate at around 4 calories per gram
  • fat at 7 calories per gram
  • alcohol at 9 calories per gram

Whatever calories you consume that are not used as energy are stored in the body as fat. In simple terms, you may lose fat stores if you consume less calories than you burn.  Calories can be burned by physical activity, but calorie expenditure may also increase in those who are growing, injured, or ill.  This is because your body will need more energy to support such processes that involve cell reproduction and other related processes.

Are some calories healthier than others?

Not all calories are created equal. The recent report reveals a growing trend of people focusing solely on the number of calories in and calories out, rather than the quality of calories consumed. Although this may lead to a calorie deficit, and in turn weight loss, it is not necessarily healthy.

For example, a piece of candy and an apple may both contain 100 calories. However, the candy mostly contains empty calories because they contain little to no nutritional value. The calories in the candy are mainly from simple carbohydrates like sugar as well as fat.  However, in the apple, those same calories contain many nutrients such as fiber, vitamin C, and potassium. Therefore, the calories from the apple will provide your body with more health benefits than the candy.

Weighing in on the “Calories In, Calories Out” equation

The latest diet craze known as CICO (Calories In, Calories Out), may lead to vitamin and nutrient deficiencies according to experts. If you are not looking at the nutrient quality of the calories you consume, then you may increase your risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, anemia, to name a few. In addition, if you restrict yourself of too many calories, then you may develop fatigue and malnutrition, which does your body more harm than good. Contact a registered dietitian to help you determine how many calories you need to support your lifestyle, while still helping you to lose any excess weight.

How to Work on Weight Loss

There is no one size fits all plan to help everyone lose weight. However, there are several things you can do today to get on the right track towards healthy weight loss and maintenance.

  • Watch your portion sizes at meals and snacks. A simple way to determine how much food you need to eat at each meal involves your protein and fiber needs. Most adults should consume at least 25 grams of fiber a day through whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Your protein needs, in grams, can be determined by dividing your weight in pounds by 2.75.  Once you determine your fiber and protein needs, use a nutrition tracker to ensure you meet these needs with mostly whole foods, or foods that are minimally processed.  Also, chew your food more per bite, slow your pace of eating to 20-25 minutes per meal, and be mindful of the food choices you make by looking at nutrition labels before you make food purchases.
  • Stay active most days of the week.  Balance out each week with cardiovascular and resistance exercises. Cardio exercises include walking, jogging, swimming, or biking. These exercises work to increase calorie burn. Resistance exercises, on the other hand, such as lifting weights, doing push-ups, or using resistance bands, help to maintain lean muscle mass. Maintaining your muscle mass as you lose weight helps you to maintain calorie-burning power, also known as metabolism.
  • Get plenty of sleep.  Weight loss may be more difficult for those who do not sleep well.  This is because lack of sleep can disrupt the hormones that control hunger and appetite. Try to get at least 6-8 hours of sleep each night. If you have trouble sleeping due to visiting the bathroom regularly, stop drinking fluids at least 2 hours before bedtime.  If pain is keeping you up, visit your doctor to get support.  If you are not sure what is causing your restless sleep, you may have sleep apnea. You can ask your doctor about getting a sleep study done to determine the cause of your sleepless nights.
  • Visit your doctor if diet and exercise are not leading to weight loss. If calories in and calories out are leading to weight plateaus or gains, then there may be an underlying health issue. Research has shown that some people who have a family history of obesity may have a harder time losing weight than those that don’t. This could be due to:
    • genetic factors.
    • increased risk of conditions like hypothyroidism or insulin resistance.
    • environmental factors such as growing up without knowledge of healthy eating behaviors.
  • Fill in your nutrient gaps with vitamins and supplements. At the very least, take a multivitamin such as Zestia by VitaSciences. Zestia contains a blend of Super Food extracts, probiotics, and digestive enzymes helps to support optimal health. If you live in a climate with little sunlight, you may also need to add a vitamin D3 supplement to your daily routine.  Low vitamin D levels can affect many aspects of health such as bone and immune health, to name a few.

-written by Staci Gulbin, MS, MEd, RD, LDN

Sources:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (November 16, 2016) “Finding a Balance” 

Harvard Health Publishing: Harvard Medical School (May 2014) “Eating fiber-rich foods helps keep the heart healthy”

Harvard Health Publishing: Harvard Medical School (updated April 11, 2017) “Why People Become Overweight” 

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (accessed November 27, 2017) “Protein”

Medline Health News (November 22, 2017) “It’s the Latest Diet Craze, But Is It Safe?”

Medline Plus (accessed November 28, 2017) “Vitamin D” 

 

 

How Does Vitamin B12 Help my Body?

Vitamin B12 helps your body in many ways– it is one of the most crucial nutrients for survival, as it helps to maintain your nervous system, build healthy red blood cells, and sustain energy needed for day-to-day life.

How Does Vitamin B12 Help my Body?

Unfortunately, many Americans don’t get nearly enough vitamin B12 from diet or daily supplements, as there are many health conditions that interfere with vitamin B12 absorption.

Vitamin B12 helps you function

It’s true- you cannot survive without healthy, constantly replenishing supplies of vitamin B12 cobalamin. This super-power is needed for just about every aspect of day-to-day functioning.

Vitamin B12 is the ultimate brain vitamin

  • Vitamin B12 promotes production of myelin, which coats your individual nerve cells and protects them from harm while also enhancing intercellular communication for quick reflexes.
  • Vitamin B12 helps to maintain normal, healthy cognitive functioning, including good memory, organizational skills, and emotional wellbeing.
  • Vitamin B12 helps your body convert carbohydrates into usable energy, which in turn helps to prevent fatigue and boost mental clarity.
  • Vitamin B12 helps to minimize homocysteine, a hormone frequently connected with early aging and dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease.

Vitamin B12 prevents pernicious anemia

Vitamin B12 anemia, aka pernicious anemia (PA), is one of the most preventable yet widespread forms of nutritional deficiency in the US.

Vitamin B12 is needed to regulate the production of hemoglobin-toting red blood cells needed to deliver oxygen to your brain and the many organs of your body. Without sufficient vitamin B12, you run the risk for PA, a form of megaloblastic anemia that results from abnormally large, misshapen red blood cells that cannot function properly.  With time, the ratio of normal, healthy red blood cells to distorted, oversized cells dips to a dangerous low, and you begin the suffer the effects of low oxygen.

Signs of low oxygen include constant fatigue, dizziness, brain fog, confusion, and memory problems.

Methyl B12 Patches

Get the Vitamin B12 Patch! Now in Methyl and non-Methyl.  Buy now.

In addition to decreased oxygen, pernicious anemia causes symptoms resulting from peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage), including:

  • muscle spasms
  • painful tingling and numbness in the hands and feet
  • muscle weakness
  • difficulty walking
  • vision problems
  • poor reflexes

Vitamin B12 is good for the heart

In countless studies, vitamin B12 supplementation correlates with healthy levels of homocysteine, a protein that in elevated amounts is associated with increased risk for heart disease and stroke. By constantly digesting homocysteine and keeping levels down, vitamin B12 helps to promote excellent cardiovascular health.

Vitamin B12 aids metabolism

Vitamin B12 is a favorite for athletes and anybody following a weight-loss regimen; it promotes DNA synthesis- it ensures normal cell growth and protects the cell membranes. Vitamin B12 also helps your body convert carbohydrates (such as glucose) and fats into pure energy, which in turn boosts stamina needed for sports endurance and overall mental well-being.

How have you benefited from supplementing with vitamin B12?

Are you happy with your current regimentation of vitamin B12 pills or shots?

Please share your comments below.

Sure you’re Getting enough Vitamin B12? Infographic

So, you think you’re getting enough vitamin B12 in one day? If you’re one of many who suffer from vitamin B12 malabsorption, then you need upwards from 1000 micrograms of B12 each week. Sounds easy? Guess again.

Sure you’re Getting enough Vitamin B12? Infographic

Vitamin B12 deficiency epidemic

Vitamin B12 occurs only in animal-based foods such as beef, chicken, fish, and dairy products like cheese and eggs. If you’re a vegan, then it’s time to start taking vitamin B12 supplements, in order to prevent vitamin B12 deficiency, a condition that back in the 20s was a fatal disease known as pernicious anemia.

Scary stuff.

These days, vitamin B12 deficiency is still epidemic, though not as pernicious as it used to be. Still, many people are at risk for permanent nerve damage resulting from long-term vitamin B12 deficiency, so it’s a good idea to make sure you’re getting enough into your blood supply.

The reason for the epidemic is simple– these days, there exist more factors that lead to vitamin B12 malabsorption than ever before. Your ability to digest and use vitamin B12 from foods diminishes exponentially with each risk factor.

 B12 deficiency risk factors include:

  • Family history for pernicious anemia
  • Family history for autoimmune disease
  • Gastritis or other damage to the stomach
  • Gastrointestinal illnesses such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis or GERD
  • Lupus
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Alcoholism
  • Bariatric surgery, such as gastric bypass
  • Vegan dieting
  • Migraine
  • Medications for diabetes, acid reflux, depression, and birth control

Foods with vitamin B12

If you’re not able to digest vitamin B12 from foods, then doctors recommend anywhere between 1000 to 3000 micrograms of vitamin B12 each week in order to prevent deficiency and start feeling better.

How much is that? Our infographic gives you an idea- to get just 1000 micrograms of vitamin B12, you would have to eat 11 servings of clam chowder…14 plates of fried liver with onions…or 17 sushi rolls of fish eggs.

Though beef is touted as one of the best sources of vitamin B12, you would actually need to eat 80 servings of beefsteak to get even close to the amount of vitamin B12 you would need to get your B12 levels back to normal.

That’s why it’s so important to take your vitamin B12 supplements, if you are experiencing even mild to medium symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency.

Your life and your health depend on it. Take as much vitamin B12 as you feel that you need until symptoms of tiredness, sadness, sluggishness, and memory problems disappear.

There is no danger of overdose with vitamin B12, so it’s perfectly safe to take more than you think you’ll need, to be on the safe side.

Here is our free infographic:

Foods with vitamin B12
Infographic by Vita Sciences and the Vitamin B12 Patch

Download this infographic.

Embed Our Infographic On Your Site!

Vitamin B12 Benefits the Whole Body

Vitamin B12 benefits: Vitamin B12 is amazing- it actually affect s your whole body, from your energy levels and metabolism to fertility and basic neurological functioning. Listed are some of the most awesome benefits of vitamin B12, and ways to make sure you’re getting enough.

Vitamin B12 Benefits the Whole Body

Sharp memory, cardiovascular regularity, nerve reflexes, and emotional wellbeing- believe it or not, these are all aspects of daily health that depend on your ability to maintain a steady supply of vitamin B12 in your blood stream.

Vitamin B12 benefits

Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient that you only get from eating animal-based foods, such as beef, chicken, seafood, eggs, and milk products. There are no rich sources of vitamin B12 in any plant foods. To get the most benefits, it’s important to eat plenty of meat and fish, while also supplementing with high-quality vitamin B12 in a digestible formula.

  • Vitamin B12 protects the nervous system by sustaining myelin, a fatty layer that coats each individual nerve cell. The absence of sufficient vitamin B12 can lead to a breakdown in this crucial element, leading to destruction of nerve cells.
  • Vitamin B12 supports the production of healthy red blood cells needed to deliver oxygen throughout your body. Dizziness, brain fog and irritability from low oxygen can occur with vitamin B12 anemia.
  • Vitamin B12 boosts energy, as it helps your body digest carbohydrates and fat cells, producing usable energy in the form of ATP (adenosine triphosphate).
  • By controlling homocysteine levels in your blood, vitamin B12 benefits your cardiovascular health. Elevated homocysteine is linked with increased risk for heart attack, stroke, and even dementia.
  • Vitamin B12 benefits the whole body by promoting healthy cell growth, particularly with regard to the cell membrane.
  • In many studies, scientists found that elderly individuals with normal levels of vitamin B12 scored better in memory tests than senior citizens with vitamin B12 deficiency, and were less likely to suffer dementia prematurely. MRI results also showed more advanced brain loss in dementia patients with vitamin B12 deficiency than their peers who took vitamin B12 supplements.

 

Are you sure you’re getting enough B12?

With vitamin B12 deficiency, you may experience distressing signs of anemia- chronic fatigue, dizziness, depression, frequent painful numbness and tingling, plus more.

Unfortunately, many of us have difficulty maintaining a healthy level of vitamin B12, due to chronic conditions, lifestyle choices, or medications that interfere with your ability to digest vitamin B12 normally from foods.

If any of these apply to you, then you may not be reaping all the benefits of vitamin B12 needed for survival:

  • Autoimmune disorders
  • Vegan dieting
  • Prescription medications for diabetes or GERD (acid reflux)
  • Pernicious anemia in family history
  • Gastritis
  • Weight loss surgery (gastric bypass)

Get more B12 now

You can get the most B12 benefits for your buck when you use highly absorbable vitamin B12 that dissolves rapidly into your blood supply. For some, vitamin B12 injections, however painful, are sufficient. Still, many patients complain that they cannot get replenish their B12 levels to the max without using additional vitamin B12 supplementation.

Vitamin B12 Patch Box

 

Get the Vitamin B12 Patch for $19.95

 

Maxasorb Vitamin B12 Cream

 

Maxasorb Vitamin B12 Cream- $19.95

Can you think of any more vitamin B12 benefits not mentioned here? Have you noticed a difference in your energy levels since taking vitamin B12? Please feel free to comment below!

Image by Sura Nualpradid