This article is the first in a series where I will be looking at possible nutritional dangers related to the kind of slow-boiling economic SHTF that we all find ourselves in. For inspiration, I need look no further than Daisy’s recent comments in her Survival Sunday post: “Maybe our epic disaster isn’t going to be an EMP or a war or a supervolcano. Maybe it’s just going to be prices climbing ever upward until normal folks can’t afford to eat or have utilities. Maybe that is the major disaster of our lifetime.” With double-income families with children now using food banks in my county, folks, we’re already there!
Embarrassing as this is, I am going to share my own story in this article of how cutting back and cutting back on my food budget recently caused a major health problem. Y’all know how I love this community, so I am going to share, despite the embarrassment! My hope is that I might help one person avoid what I have just been through.
The Background: How it Happened
Let’s face it: meat has gotten to be outrageously expensive. I used to have a budget where I was buying high-quality meat from a local abattoir. Food prices went up, gas prices went up, and suddenly, I was looking for space in my food budget. It didn’t happen consciously: I just went to the abbatoir less and less. I filled up on beans and lentils, drawing on some of my pantry preps. I cut back on eating out, where I had always ordered a meat treat.
As I normally eat less meat than the average person, this cutting back meant that I was eating almost NO meat. I would say perhaps I was eating only one or two servings of meat per week or less, which is substantially down from when I could afford to eat out every week.
Then, I made a crucial error. I was already aware that reducing my consumption of red meat was affecting my energy levels. I learned that lesson a few years ago. I had been taking a high-quality supplement a couple of times a week that my sister had recommended. However, it was also expensive.
When the last bottle was getting low, I remember being reluctant to reorder it, remembering the cost of getting the two bottles. Now, I didn’t consciously do this: my mind just let it slip to order more, and I fell out of the habit of taking it. At some point, I remember thinking, “Maybe I’ll be OK without it.” What I did not know at the time was that these choices were setting the stage for a B12 deficiency that would seriously affect my health.
B12 Deficiency: What is it?
In short, B12 is a vitamin that our bodies cannot produce. It can only be found in animal products. According to the Mayo Clinic, B12 has some pretty important jobs in our body, including to “make and support healthy nerve cells and red blood cells, and the DNA inside cells.”
While most people eating a varied and healthy diet in America should be getting enough B12, there are certain groups who should be aware of the risk of deficiency: “vegetarians or vegans [or reluctant vegetarians, in my case!], older people, people who had gastric surgery, and people with certain digestive conditions such as celiac disease and Crohn’s disease” [L
There are a dizzying array of symptoms that can come along with a B12 deficiency. Yes, being dizzy is one of them! My own symptoms came up on me so slowly that I didn’t realize it until I was almost completely incapacitated: bone-crushing exhaustion, headaches, dizziness and weakness, memory problems, and severe brain fog.
You will see that I ticked most of the boxes on the Mayo Clinic list: “fatigue, muscle weakness, stomach problems, nerve damage, vision problems and mood changes.” However, these are only the most common and typical symptoms. If you are concerned, you can check out this much more detailed information on the B12 Society website. If you are medically minded, this website also has quite a bit of detailed information on tests, testing and treatment.
In my own case, getting diagnosed was not so simple. I was convinced that I was IRON-deficient, and yet I knew that I was consuming an appropriate amount of plant-based iron each day. A conversation with a local pharmacist over my interest in purchasing some high-iron tablets quickly changed my mind.
“You’re self-treating,” he said. “You don’t actually know what’s wrong with you. I strongly recommend that you get to your doctor and get tested before you do anything more.” That supplement that my sister had recommended? When I checked the bottle, I was shocked to see that it also contained B12. I really didn’t know how it had been helping me.
I went to my doctor and had my iron, hemoglobin, and B12 levels checked. Only the B12 came back as deficient. The pharmacist had been right.
A Simple Solution on a Budget
I got a call from my doctor when they got the results. I was to start taking a 1200 microgram supplement immediately. I will be retested in two months. To be honest, I’ve been taking them for about a week and, hmmmm, I don’t know….maybe I’m feeling a tiny bit better? It is going to take some time.
I feel embarrassed that I compromised my health so seriously because my budget was tight. As readers who know my posts are aware, I make a lot of effort to maintain my health as best I can. However, I’m glad to have learned a valuable lesson.
What I Learned and How I’m Preparing
I have learned to be much more aware about my nutritional health and how I cut my food budget. In terms of preparedness, you bet I am adding some B12 supplements to my emergency pantry.
The B12 supplement I bought this weekend costs less than $14 per bottle, and the expiry date is way out in 2028. You better believe I will be stocking up on these and putting a whole bunch in my pantry and bug out bag! So, now I have a tool to improve my health that costs less than 20 cents a day. I feel lucky that I learned this lesson before things got more serious.
The OP recommends this supplement or this one if your budget is tight.
B Aware of B12
I recently allowed a shortage of funds to unknowingly but seriously compromise my health.
How are you dealing with the grocery budget crunch we are all feeling? Do you have any tips you can share with us on how you are maintaining nutrition during these difficult times? Please tell us in the comments section.
5 Responses
Perfect timing. I believe that I’m B12 deficient as well. Recently did a very expensive line of testing at a functional wellness center to update my ongoing food allergies (way better this time around). I can’t eat legumes & beans & only prefer ground beef & chicken, therefore I am like you most likely deficient in B12. And now, I’m sensitive to egg whites. WTH.
Be careful though, you simply can’t look at how expensive good (not Walmart, CVS, etc. brands) are. Think of it like they’re food. Because they are. Pay now or pay later I always say. And you most likely don’t NEED these everyday. Your body (liver, pancreas) can’t absorb it all every day either. Switch to every other day or every third day to give those organs a break. And to give your wallet a break.
You can only absorb an extremely tiny amount of b12 at one time, so may I suggest that you take smaller amounts with several times a day. This will increase the amount of b12 you absorb.
Also, H2 blockers (Tagamet, Zantac, etc and their generic equivalents), as well as proton pump inhibits (Prilosec, etc) INHIBIT B12 absorption. So you should be sure to take a supplement of B12 in that case, most especially if you are (as most of us are) reducing your meat consumption.
Most B complex supplements do NOT have all 11 of the traditional B complex. Some years ago it was decided that three of them did not meet the technical definition of a vitamin: choline, inositol and. PABA.
Almost all vitamin companies happily dropped these three components. But just because they didn’t meet the definition didn’t mean that you don’t need them. You do. Choline and inositol are especially valuable for the brain, and PABA increases the effectiveness of many other vitamins.
The Solaray company still makes a full-component B complex with all 11 B vitamins. It is called Solaray Vitamin B-Complex 100 (they also make a Vitamin B complex 50, better for children).
They do make a B complex that does not have all 11 components, so check carefully to make sure you have the right one. If all else fails, count the number of ingredients on the Supplement Facts label – but be sure that there is no Vitamin C filling up the numbers!
Currently a 250 capsule bottle costs about $50. If you take three capsules a day, that will last you almost three months. If you only take one capsule, it will last you over eight months. That’s about six cents a day for three, or two cents a day for one. Its really cheap.
Three a day is ideal, as some of the nutrients work best at that amount. It can keep your hair its natural color, or in many cases, grow your natural color back. (I’m in my late 70’s, and my hair is brown with blond streaks – completely natural.) Its the PABA that does that. PABA is also a natural internal sun block.
And is has 100 mcg of B-12.
I think that pernicious anemia is well-named. It really sneaks up on you. Along with missing out on B-12, a diet that contains very little meat or eggs will also leave you low on Vitamin A. Yes, the consensus among vitamin manufacturers seems to be that all you need to do is take beta-carotene and your body will turn it into Vitamin A. But it’s not an easy conversion, it needs your body to function well, and it requires energy. This last item is something we’re all short of. If you have super-dry eyes and skin — especially the skin on your heels — and you don’t eat eggs regularly, you may want to supplement actual Vitamin A.