Vitamin Deficiency and Me

Like many people, my Celiac’s disease went undiagnosed for the first 30 years of my life. One of the symptoms was several severe vitamin and mineral deficiencies, particularly iron. I was always anaemic despite eating plenty of red meat and having very light periods. I was also always getting numbness and tingling in my toes and fingers, which it turns out is nerve damage due to vitamin K deficiency. As well, I had several bouts of depression which is strongly associated with deficiencies in B vitamins, folic acid, zinc, iron, and vitamin D. I always took a multi-vitamin and often added different supplements, but they were doing me little good as my small intestine was so damaged from the gluten it was unable to absorb anything.

Now that I am following the gluten free diet I haven’t had any problems with anaemia, but there are a few supplements I still take. Like many people, I take a multi-vitamin just to make sure all my bases are covered. However, last year my annual check up showed I was low in vitamin D, so I now take a daily supplement. Vitamin D is made by the skin when it comes into contact with sunlight, so vitamin D deficiency is quite common in rainy or northern countries like the UK, especially if you wear sunscreen. Vitamin D is best known for helping your body absorb calcium and phosphorous, important for strong bones, but it also supports the immune system and helps protect your brain against ageing. I also take vitamin E, as it is a powerful antioxidant- it combines with oxygen and destroys free radicals before they can damage your cells. This free radical cell damage contributes to cancer, heart disease and aging in general. And exercise creates more free radicals. Finally, I take glucosamine sulphate as running can be quite hard on the joints and I have a touch of runner’s knee from years of gymnastics as a child.  

The Score:

Calories:	Protein:	Carbs:	Fat:	Alcohol:	Fibre:
1835.05	95.72g	217.42g	60.01g	0	42.93g
	21%	48%	30%
Calories burned through exercise:		485

What I ate:

Time	Item	Amount
07:45	Vitamins - Centrum Advance A to Zinc, 400iu of Vitamin E, 1000iu Vitamin D3 and 500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 each
	Cold water	200mL
	Mattesson’s Turkey rashers	3 rashers
	Gluten Free fruit muesli	70g
	Alpro Soy milk	120mL
	Sainsbury's pressed apple and cherry juice	200mL
08:30	Black tea	500mL
10:00	Easy Run
11:00	Tri-Berry Nuun electrolyte tablet in water	750mL
	Total Greek yoghurt	125g
	Sainsbury's frozen mixed blueberries and strawberries	100g
	Sponser vanilla Recovery Shake	20g (1 scoop)
	mixed with skim milk	150mL
13:45	Spinach	25g
	Tomato	78g
	The English Provender Balsamic Italian Dressing	12g
	John West Mackerel fillets with no added brine	50g
	with Hellmann's light mayonnaise	13g
	and Branston gherkin relish	10g
	on Genius brown bread toast	2 slices
	Sainsbury's Freefrom iced rich fruit cake slice	1 slice
14:15	Green Tea	250mL
17:30	Brazil nuts	6g
	Cashews	17g
	Seedless Red Grapes	100g
16:00	Camomile, honey and vanilla tea	250mL
20:00	Cook Indian Pot	320g
21:30	Ellactiva Chocolate Calcium Chew	1 chew
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill

Plus 500 to 1500mL of cold water sipped from a water bottle throughout the day.