YJL

1   Disclaimer

This blog post is:

• not to be, by any means, as medical or health suggestions or recommendations,
• not promoting vegetarianism or veganism, and
• not banishing omnivore.

2   What is this about?

The choices of life, the decisions, and the consequences.

My path and reasons of choosing to be vegetarian, then vegan, and going back to be a vegetarian. It doesn’t mean to be anything for others, but for myself as a reminder or so, why and how I’ve become.

And how evolution goes, how us, human and animal, really are. Things I had never really put my thoughts in; and conjectured terribly wrong about Vitamin B₁₂. How we human still physically need to have ingested B₁₂ just to be alive.

Moreover, how I still being ignorant to the fact of need of B₁₂, how I thought about food and whatever in ingredients.

3   History of being vegetarian and vegan

June 4, 2010, after watching an episode about tuna farming, I realized the scale of farming animals, even they were seafood. I converted to lacto vegetarianism.

Just one year later, little after first anniversary of being a vegetarian, on June, 25, 2011, I became vegan after watching a Flickr video about cow milk.

August 25, 2014, after being vegan for 3 years and 62 days, I’ve converted back to be an lacto vegetarian plus ovo vegetarian, that’s ovo-lacto vegetarian.

I become vegetarian was not because of health issue, religious reason, or ethical thought as others. At least, not exactly the same. I have my own reasons, but I can’t put them into words clearly.

If you are still wondering the reasons, you need to ask how do cow produce milk? What’s on the checklist? First and foremost, pregnancy. How do a cow get pregnant? Think about those thoroughly, before the pregnancy and after the pregnancy in detail step-by-step, you would understand. If you don’t, go search if you do care.

If that’s not enough, read about lobster and think about why I also don’t consume honey. Even I am back to be vegetarian, I will not consume honey, because it’s not essential to my health.

Health is never the reason. Eating healthy and counting whatever you eat without medical reason in my view is really sad and overly obsessive, and possibly baseless, especially if one doesn’t confirm with tests to see if things do make them healthier.

I have seen many people have incredible amount of bottles labeling as healthy food and/or using a lot of “anti-” words, I just couldn’t wonder if they truly do understand those, or just read from some blogs.

4   Realization of the importance of Vitamin B₁₂ to animal

Few days ago, August 22, after watching probably the most important television show episode in my life, a decision had to be made.

Horizon: Should I Eat Meat? - The Big Health Dilemma on BBC Two, the first half of two-part mini-series, the presenter, Michael Mosley, explored the processed meat and red meat mostly, beef, steaks, as you would think of. It’s educational even for a vegan. For example, the fat part in the red meat might not as bad as we would think, conversely, the lean meat might not, L-carnitine in it is linked to heart disease.

When I was watching that part, about the statistics showed no improvements after doctors suggested the patients on low-fat diet, in fact, the numbers got worse. I know it’s not fair to say, but just couldn’t help to wonder if the doctors were sending patients to deaths over the decades.

In the ending, as a conclusion, he suggested whoever wants to give up red meat — whether entirely or partially, or already vegetarians or vegans, need to seek means to supplement Zinc, Iron, and Vitamin B₁₂. The good stuff in red meat was mentioned in his article:

There are lots of good things in red meat. Beef, whole or minced, is a great source of protein and essential nutrients, like iron and vitamin B₁₂, which are vital for health.

[…]

The researchers concluded that “a low - but not a zero - consumption of meat might be beneficial for health. This is understandable as meat is an important source of nutrients, such as protein, iron, zinc, several B-vitamins as well as vitamin A and essential fatty acids.”

I must admit that I didn’t 100% concentrate on watching this episode, but I somehow caught “Zinc, Iron, and B₁₂.” Needless to say, I am really glad I caught that part. It was hours, even a day later, when finally did a search on Internet. The first two did not worry me, because even vegan wouldn’t have problem with them, you just need to eat the right sources and good amount for them.

However, Vitamin B₁₂ is an entire differently story, and solely the focal point of this blog post. From Wikipedia and all sources I have read:

Neither fungi, plants, nor animals are capable of producing vitamin B₁₂. Only bacteria and archaea have the enzymes required for its synthesis, although many foods are a natural source of B₁₂ because of bacterial symbiosis.

It’s clearly to me, as a vegan, I only have a few options, from NHS of the United Kingdom:

• yeast extract, such as Marmite
• breakfast cereals fortified with vitamin B12
• soya products fortified with vitamin B12

Or B₁₂ supplements like tablets, patch, spray, etc. Basically, two categories:

• specially made supplements
• fortified food products or ingredients

Frankly, I don’t like either of them, not a little bit and that’s why I’ve not only been back to be lacto vegetarian but also ovo-lacto.

5   Why go back to be vegetarian?

After the realization, I asked myself:

Ingesting B12 to still be a vegan or change my diet?

Don’t get me wrong, taking a pill would not change the fact of still being a vegan. However, when I started being a vegetarian, I made a deal with myself. When I go out, if I have to skip more than one meal just to keep my vegetarianism diet, then I would not hesitate to order a meal with animal products.

I am fully aware that how human progress to these days, other animal play a big part in it, there is no denial about the fact. Yes, I can make the choice of not eating animal products anymore. But I’d not insist on that to harm myself by not eating animal products when the situation ain’t permitting.

Of course, I would do everything to prevent myself to be under that situation. Nonetheless, if unfortunately, it occurs, I eat what I need to eat.

Based on that, I’d not take a pill just to be a vegan. This might not be for other vegans, but to me, taking a pill is a medical condition. I’m not ill, so I’d rather going back to vegetarian than taking the pill.

Yes, there seems to be natural food sources, but from everything I read, only a couple and they don’t seem to be very promising, say the algae. So, in order to be a vegan, supplement is only the reliable and safe source in my opinion.

6   Why add eggs?

I first was a lacto vegetarian, why I not only back to it but also add eggs to my diet?

A while after I became vegetarian, I was kind of regretting of choosing dairy over eggs, and since I need B₁₂ and I like the diversity, therefore eggs are on the list.

Speaking of egg, it seems B₁₂ is only contained in egg yolk. For a large egg (17g), it contains 5% of Daily Value, while egg while has 0%, according to USDA via Google Search.

7   End of line of my life

I think I am lucky, because I hadn’t experienced any signs, at least, I didn’t believe, if any, they were be caused by Vitamin B12 deficiency.

Three years and sixty-two days, I could be just at the end of line:

The total amount of vitamin B12 stored in the body is between two and five milligrams in adults. Approximately 50% is stored in the liver, […]. While bile is the main vehicle for B12 excretion, most of the B12 secreted in bile is recycled via enterohepatic circulation. Due to the extreme efficiency of this mechanism, the liver can store three to five years worth of vitamin B12 under normal conditions and functioning.[9] However, the rate at which B12 levels may change when dietary intake is low depends on the balance between several variables.

Although I didn’t test my B₁₂ status, but I had not consumed any animal products nearly strictly, except a few times of accidental consumptions. It’s reasonably to presume that the B₁₂ in my body was running low.

8   The meals

When I made my decision, I knew I would have to take it easy and very seriously, because it’s not a celebration, but rather a sad come-back if you will. Some might see adding dairy and egg back to diet is an addition, but to me, it’s a subtraction. I have to get B₁₂ somewhere, and if I am not willing to take pills, then the only reliable food sources are animal ingredients.

I was forced to add dairy and egg to my diet, the choice of choosing not to consume any animal product was no longer there. I have to eat those.

So, as a reminder, I ate the first meals with those ingredients with a special mindset, after three years, because I now need to eat those.

Breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks.

One thing to note, there were two slices of processed cheese in scrambled eggs and the pasta sauce. The best before date was 2013-03-28. If this blog have not had any more blog posts, need not to worry, I would probably be sent to ER and die of food poison or some sort. They had been sitting in the fridge the whole time, other just didn’t eat them, no idea why they bought in the first place. Every time, when I opened fridge door, I saw them and thought of ‘what a waste.’ Now, I felt obliged to use them, hopefully, I’d not regret.

Those slices ain’t the only ones. There were two coffee creamers, one was past for nearly two months, another would be a year this September.

I really don’t like factory made prepared food, that mushroom creamy soup was too flavorful to me. And one slice of cheese was too salty. Another thing is, cold egg does smell or taste funny to me, I think I already knew that.

Those cookies, pastry, chocolate, should also provide some B₁₂ since they would have eggs or dairy content. As for the beer, I found it’s an interesting source, 1% for one can. Of course, if you try to get B₁₂ from beer, you would probably end up with alcoholic liver disease.

9   PSA