Who Needs Caffeine??

I cannot tell you how much I love everything about Starbucks!  I will drive out of my way, stand in a stupidly long line and dodge comments of being a coffee snob to get my Starbucks dark coffee fix.  By the way, most of the time I order decaf or just half caffeine!

My fix is NOT often because I need the caffeine, I just love love love coffee!  I used to need the caffeine (and still occasionally do when I’m recovering from a night of insomnia), but now not so much.  I used to feel more tired, weak, and (God Forbid!) cranky!!  I’ve always eaten well and exercised, so it really made no sense.

What changed for me…

Going (mostly) gluten, meat and dairy free makes me feel lighter.  I don’t feel tired after a meal or day of whole foods.  Reducing sugar and alcohol helps too.  I’m really still working on eliminating processed sugar – challenge to come.  Exercise and yoga helps.  I’d like to learn how to meditate – challenge to come.

Blood work revealed that I was vitamin B deficient.  Huh?  I wasn’t anemic, often a cause of deficiency.  Back then I was even eating more meat (vegetarian diets are lower in Vitamin B12).  Aging can be a factor also, but I’m not that old – yet!

I really don’t know the science behind it, but apparently if you’re anemic, overly stressed out, not absorbing nutrients in food because of poor digestion, your adrenals are shot, you ever had mono or Epstein Bar, eat a vegetarian diet – and probably many other causes – you can become vitamin B deficient and feel like hell.  B vitamins are energy boosters, so it made sense I was tired without them.

**Another very important finding, Vitamin B12 deficiency speeds up the aging process**

That’s never ok!

So off to Whole Foods for Vitamin B pills.  A few months later, no noticeable changes.  I’ve tried the Vitamin B injections, which are great.  Small problem though, I don’t know if you can administer your own injections (NOT that I ever would or could!), and hitting the doctor’s office once or twice a week for a B12 shot isn’t cost or time effective.

More research, it’s really difficult for the body to grab all the nutrients from even the highest quality vitamin tablet.  The low quality tablets are made of a lot of fillers and chemicals, so there’s not much of the good stuff available.  Even a good tablet needs to be digested, so it’s difficult for the body to get 100% of the nutrients – and with digestive issues your body is having trouble absorbing nutrients from food and supplements.

Someone finally suggested taking my vitamins in a concentrated, pure powder form.  So a few months ago I started taking all my vitamins isotonically (is that a word?!)…on an empty stomach, mixed with filtered water every morning.  What a difference!  I feel more awake, alert…just brighter.  I seriously rarely need caffeine.  I just deal with the sideways glances from baristas when I order decaf at 8am.

I also noticed little differences, like the whites of my eyes are whiter and my skin seems brighter.  I’m lucky to have left behind the acne in my younger years, so I’m not talking about clearing up pimples (although who knows), just a brightness.  Anyway, I’m interested to have my Vitamin B levels checked again and see if there’s any change.  Regardless, I’m sticking with the regimen and it’s worth the few extra bucks to buy the good stuff over the pills I was getting in the stores.  It’s probably cheaper in the long run because I wasn’t retaining half of what I was paying for!

(There’s also a rumor that a good Vitamin B dose after an evening of overindulging on the wine or tequila does wonders to “cure” the fatigue of a hangover.  Just sayin’)

In my mission to toss all the supplements I don’t benefit from and weed out what does work, this one is staying for sure.

I use Isotonix Activated B complex, and it’s freakin’ amazing!

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