I Yam What I Yam

Lately, a lot of people have been asking me if, after I switched to a wheat and egg-free lifestyle, I have had any vitamin deficiencies.

I really hadn’t given this much pause until the question came up more than once.  I never considered the fact that not eating enriched grains could lead to a B12 problem, so of course, I did some investigation.  After I looked into it, the reason why I am not B12 deficient (I got a blood test, so thank you to everyone who made me curious and get on top of my health) became clear: I have a crazy addiction to sweet potatoes and bananas.

It’s true, ask my husband.  After the birth of my first daughter I developed food allergies, and when the second one came, I acquired an affinity for yams.  It was so weird, since as a child, nothing, not even toasted marshmallows on top of a sweet potato puree could convince me to give this tuber a fair chance.  And then Baby 2 arrived, and I wanted nothing but.  I started eating them for breakfast with butter (I’m lucky to be able to eat dairy), cinnamon and salt.  I roasted them at dinner with cayenne, lime and some chopped scallions.  I microwaved one every day at lunch, and frankly, the bigger the yam, the better.  One day I wondered just how much the enormous yam that I was cooking weighed, and it was a hefty pound and a half!  I love yams so much that when I went to the endocrinologist and he checked to be sure my hands weren’t shaky, he commented: “You know you’re orange, right?”  I had no idea, but it would explain why everyone thought I looked really tan.

Then recently, I drifted away from the yam in favor of the thrice daily banana.  I eat them on my gluten-free oatmeal.  I eat them for snacks.  I eat them with chocolate and I would probably fry them if I weren’t so busy frying up plantains.  The yam is so last year.  The banana is so right now.

A B12 deficiency is nowhere in my future.

The point of this rant on my funny eating habits is that sometimes our bodies just know better than we do.  When I was pregnant but did not yet know it, I was suddenly repulsed by coffee, something that wasn’t so great for my baby.  I also developed a craving for orange juice in the first trimester when I ate nothing but burgers, ensuring that the baby got enough folic acid (also B12), and then, when I was diagnosed with something that shut me out of many enriched grains, it responded again.  The nose knows and so do the taste buds– my body needed B12 so it went out and found it.  We really are intuitive, amazing machines.

In case you hate yams and bananas, here is a list of some foods high in B12:

organ meats (gross)

dried beans, lentils, peas

potato and sweet potato

spinach, beets, brussels sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, banana, oranges, peaches