vegetarian

Dear Pooja,
I am suffering from low vitamin B12 levels since I follow a strict vegetarian diet. I had been prescribed medicines twice by doctors in the past since I was suffering from recurring fever due to low B12 levels. Both times I got extreme acne eruptions all over my face, which took almost two years to subside after stopping the medicines. Normally, I have seen that B12 is found in non-vegetarian food items (liver, meat, eggs) or diary products. The problem is that since I am acne prone, I am unable to consume diary products since they cause eruptions. Could you please suggest some plant-based food items that could help increase my B12 levels.

Vitamin B12 is necessary for the synthesis of red blood cells, nervous system functions and growth and development in children. Deficiency of this vital vitamin causes lowered immunity, symptoms of fatigue, poor memory, depression, even tingling in your hands and feet. As a vegetarian you don’t have much access to B12 in your diet other than a little from the milk and milk product that you may be consuming. Now milk can sometimes trigger acne eruptions if your body is unable to digest it properly – this leaves you with no dietary source of B12 sadly. I highly doubt that the oral B12 supplements were the cause of the eruptions on your face that you noticed the last two times. B12 is an essential nutrient and if you cannot obtain it from the diet then oral supplement becomes essential. Another option that you could try would be to ask your doctor if he can give your intramuscular injections of the vitamin. When the levels are very low and the immunity is thus affected this route is usually advised. Check with your doctor for the same. Take better care of skin hygiene with a good balanced diet containing ample hydration for improved skin but don’t hesitate in correcting the your vitamin deficiencies. Good luck!

Celebrity nutritionist and founder of www.nourishgenie.com, nudges weight loss in the right direction.

Food is meant to be a good, beautiful, nourishing thing. It gives us strength to do things we love. So why is it that when it comes to losing weight, food becomes bad, like the enemy? Like it’s wrong somehow or that dieters don’t ‘deserve’ to eat? I see so many cases where instead of using nurturing foods, people punish the body with little, tasteless or no food at all in a bid to undo years of unhealthy eating in a matter of weeks or months.

But it cannot be done.

You cannot undo habits overnight that have lead you to gain weight over years. Starvation/fad diets or what I like to call weight loss by punishment, is usually not sustainable and restrictive diets are oftentimes the quickest to see their results negated as the body limps back to pre-diet weight. All that hullabaloo for nothing.

Or is it nothing? Starvation tricks the body into thinking that it is not getting any food. Your body begins to desperately hang on to the first meal you eat, and stores it as fat. Starvation – or low-calorie/fad diets – also make your body lose muscle, and the only thing that muscle loss is accompanied by is fat storage. In other words, even if you starve yourself, the only thing you eventually gain from the attempt is weight. So all that hullabaloo is not for nothing, it’s for something.

No matter how shiny the package or tempting the ad, there is no reason to subscribe to diet food or foods because all foods are essentially diet food, barring a few like red meat. The fat content of food greatly depends on how it is made. If eaten in moderation and cooked with little oil, potatoes are brilliantly healthy. French fries, not so much. As long as you control for sugar and oil, there are very few foods that are off the table.

Second, fat is good. In fact, it’s very good. In fact, it’s so good for you that it is one of the five nutrients – the other four being protein, carbs, vitamins and minerals – your body needs for its daily survival. Fats compose of about 10% of your total calorie intake. Daily. And while a low-fat diet plan is good for you, no-fat diet plans are bad. Fats are needed for the brain, for the body’s daily functioning, for the skin, among other vital functions. A good low-fat diet plan consists of healthy fats like nuts, seeds, healthy oils like olive oil. If you’re confused about where to get good fat-moderated diets, you could ask a nutritionist, or go online (where there are scores of free diets available) or even find one on customized online diet portals like www.nourishgenie.com.

The point, of course, of any good diet plan is that it should make you feel good, both physiologically and psychologically, and leave you energized and happy.

A good diet plan enables you to healthily indulge in all kinds of foods like rice, mangoes, pasta, noodles, popcorn and more, and won’t make you wistfully stare at your family as they eat ‘normal’ food, because you should always eat together. Eating meals together with friends and family not only gets you closer to them, it takes you closer to your better self too. And that’s really the whole point, isn’t it?

B12 deficiency – plant based sources??

DIET PLAN FOR WEIGHT LOSS