i truly accredit my latest success with veganism to vitamins.
you say placebo, i say wonder drug.
my grandma lindell would be so proud. she was addicted to vitamins the way 20-somethings are addicted to twitter. I have memories of her popping like 15 a day. or maybe it was 50. who could tell?
and she was one of those addicts who was always trying to push her latest product. she’d order them for me and my brothers when I was little and then she would ship us the children’s chewables shaped like a stars from geneseo, il because she thought they were THAT important and awesome. Now that’s passed on, I’m pretty sure 85 percent of my immediate family has gotten 65 percent less healthy.
so, maybe it’s a sign that I’ve grown up to be like her, or maybe it’s a sign that I’ve finally been brainwashed by the health stores like her, but i’ve become pretty dependent on my daily caplets. Ironically it’s because of the one trait i possess that never failed to make her cringe – the lack of animal in my diet – that prompted the need for them in the first place. granted, things have gotten a little more extreme since she graced the earth, what with my new-found lack of milk, cheese and eggs. EGGS!! i hear her scream from heaven. BUT WHAT WILL YOU EAT FOR BREAKFAST NOWWWW!!!???!?!
sigh.
i miss her.
amway, i know you’re dying to find out what i could possibly be popping that makes me THIS COOL. the answer? VegLife Vegan Iron vitamins that I bought at Whole Foods a few months ago. Aside from their namesake Iron, they also have B-12. the two things every vegan needs. and im telling you, they freaking work. (see: dizzy, lack of).
but it wasn’t a bottomless jar, and because a. i didn’t feel like driving 67 miles to the nearest whole foods and b. i like instant gratification and therefore avoid ordering online, I set out to find new vitamins wednesday at my local GNC.
and there they were. the store’s brand of vegetarian vitamins.
can i get a woot! woot!
these things have 100 percent of EVERYTHING! iron. check. b-2. check. b-12. check. zinc. check.
they’re so potent that they make my pee turn bright yellow, which I can only assume is a sign of my new super healthy-ness.
now excuse me while i save the world with my new-found b-complex powers.
all it a day’s work for us vitamin takers. all. in. a. day’s. work.
UPDATE: I hope SCVegan is joking in my comments section, but just in case, you really don’t get the reference:
My grandpa always tried to get me to take vitamins; my parents were big on vitamins too. After I went vegan they were even more on my case about taking vitamins. Just not my thing, but I eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. 5 a day? That’s breakfast!
Oh man, I forgot to say how much I like that new word you made up. Vitameatavegamin… Just has a nice ring to it.
Of course I was joking… Obviously, I totally got the I Love Lucy reference. As if I would not recognize 50’s television catchwords.
Awesome article. Of course vitamins are essential. It is the fruit of our family, well at least it is in mine. And James never would have gotten over the multitude of his illnesses without my Chiropractor prescribed nutrients of the earth. At least a legacy was left behind that is important for everyone. 😉 And sigh. I miss her too.
Vitamins are always like the first week of a new! exciting! workout program for me. I get super-pumped about being healthy, make every session (pop every pill), until … oops, I forget one. Usually on the weekend. Then it’s like every other day, every week and occasionally “I feel crappy…I should start taking these again!” moment once every few months. My mom’s always reminding me how important it is to take them, which I completely agree with. I just. Cannot. Seem. To remember.
Quite the opposite of when I used to beg for our Flinstone vitamins, oh, 20 years (!!)!)!!) ago. I remember one winter vacation morning, taking the jar of them downstairs, my brother and I sticking our feet beneath my mom’s hutch in the dining room where the furnace blew out hot air, and eating them like candy. I got in so much trouble.
I should really find a happy medium.