One of the first things I do when analyzing somebody’s diet is start to shift them to more raw food.
There are many reasons why I do this, which I’ll discuss over time, but one of the big ones has to do with B vitamins.
In general, B vitamins are heat stable…
Except for B1, otherwise known as Thiamine.
If the diet is primarily cooked food [many people fall into this category, especially kids and elderly], then Thiamine gets destroyed and becomes deficient.
Two of the most common initial symptoms are weakness and fatigue.
Not surprisingly, these are some of the most common symptoms people struggle with.
And while the cause of the weakness and fatigue goes undiscovered, people start to struggle with…
- Headaches
- Insomnia
- Dizziness
- Constipation
- And other GI symptoms
Maybe you are on the older side of the population, or know somebody who is in a nursing home. Think about what kind of food is at a nursing home.
Is it fresh and raw?
Or is it cooked?
In the aging population there are a certain group of symptoms caused from lack of Thiamine.
- Loss of appetite.
- Low gastric hydrochloric acid [impossible to digest food without acid].
- Constipation.
- Loss of muscle strength of stomach and intestines.
All because of a shift to a primarily cooked food diet. Without Thiamine it’s guaranteed you cannot digest your food.
Analyze yourself. What percentage of food do you eat that has never been cooked? I think you will be surprised when you really stop to think about it.
For many people it will be 5-10%. Or maybe 15-20% raw food in the diet.
That just isn’t enough raw food.
Increase your raw fruits and vegetables daily. Strive to get the percentage to closer to 50% of your diet.
And if you are deficient in the B vitamins from having primarily cooked food for decades, take a B vitamin supplement with extra B1 to catch up.
I like Cataplex B from Standard Process as the baseline vitamin B complex. It’s made with whole foods, not synthetic coal tar like the vast majority of vitamin B supplements.
Those of you who are patients have access to ordering this.
And then I may add in a higher dose Thiamine supplement to round it out.
I have more to say about vitamin B1 [Thiamine], but I want to keep this short.