B Vitamins
Are they worth the hype?
I was recently talking with a client who has struggled for years with exhaustion and fibromyalgia. This poor girl has been to see multiple primary care physicians, neurologists, and even sleep therapists to address why she can’t sleep well, thus directly causing her chronic and debilitating exhaustion. She mentioned that she has even been on vitamin B12 injections in the past, that helped little, but not enough to pay for it long term. How frustrating! I shared with her my favorite way to include B vitamins (listed at the bottom of this post!)
We started talking about the different B vitamins, their functions, and which foods contain them. We nerded out brainstorming which foods we could incorporate into her food plan. After that, I told her I’d create her a write-up of what I believe to be the 3 most important B vitamins and came up with the infographic below.
Sometimes, knowing the functions BEHIND the foods and supplements recommended helps to sustain habit change. Understanding the WHY might help some of my readers to discover something about themselves, or incorporate these great vitamins into their diet a bit more. Take a look at the highlighted foods next to vitamins b3, b6, & b12 and let me know if you include some of these in your diet…
Instead of chasing the sleeping problem directly, I’ve recommended to her that we look at ways of boosting her energy and setting her circadian rhythm from the START of the day instead. She could definitely benefit from more natural light exposure in the morning, more happy hormone (seratonin) production, and more detoxification by the liver to help her feel less sluggish.
Here are my top 5 favorite ways to include the B vitamin foods:
- Crunching on seaweed snacks
- Adding sunflower seeds to granola
- Including spinach in omelettes and pasta sauce
- Adding canned salmon in a lunch salad
- Using toasted walnuts to make pesto sauce
If you have already considered and added these foods and need a little more help, the best B12 supplement is recommended through my friend, Jodi Kiernan, who Is a cardiac pediatric NP, who approaches her clients’ care in a whole-body approach as well. She utilizes Young Living supplements to help her clients.
You can find her supplement recommendation here.
1 thought on “B Vitamins: Are They Worth the Hype?”
Thanks!