I didn’t know much about it, to be honest, but recently it was brought to my attention that a B1 deficiency can really mess your body up. By the time you finish reading this, you’ll see why living Paleo will make more sense (hopefully).
Thiamine is a vitamin that is needed to help our hearts, muscles, and nervous systems to work properly. People at risk of having a thiamine deficiency are people who are going through dialysis, chronic diarrhea, people who take diuretics (for example, heart disease), and alcoholism. Basically, all of these risk factors have one thing in common – malabsorption. Our bodies cannot produce it naturally, so it is important that it is consumed through food. Ensuring that you’re eating the right foods is extremely important! Lack of vitamin B1 can cause severe brain damage! The good news is that if you catch it early enough, you can reverse the effects – either through more conscious intake of thiamine, or through injections.
If you adopt a Paleo lifestyle, it will help you achieve great levels of B1! Sesame seeds and tahini are a great way of getting B1! Tuna, sunflower seeds, pork chops, asparagus, spinach and pineapples are a few of the foods you can add to your diet to get your B1 levels up. In order to absorb thiamine, you need to have adequate levels of B6, B12, and folic acid in your diet. If you follow Paleo, you’ll be eating foods rich in vitamins. Just a side note, heat will destroy thiamine, so when cooking, try not to cook the food for too long (except pork chops). If you cook spinach or asparagus, don’t overcook it or the benefits of them being rich in thiamine are no longer there.
If you’ve been feeling sluggish and you find yourself getting sick often, add more thiamine into your diet and you will feel much better!
Still doing more research on this – and I’m finding out some really interesting stuff.
“Those who move forward with a happy spirit will find that things always work out.”
