According to says Dr. Susan Blum, the founder of the Blum Centre for Health and the author of the new book The Immune System Recovery Plan, ‘With today’s diet of processed foods, it’s easy to become vitamin-deficient, either by not eating enough of the right foods or not absorbing them properly due to digestive issues. You may not get a disease, but you can end up with impaired functioning, because vitamins are cofactors for all the biochemical reactions in the body. We need them in order to function properly.’ So what are the signs that a vitamin-deficiency is affecting your wellbeing?
Firstly, if you have cracks at the corners of your mouth, you could be deficient in a number of vital vitamins, Blum says, ‘It’s common if you’re a vegetarian to not get enough iron, zinc, and B12’, which is what this symptom represents. The fix is to eat more poultry, salmon, tuna, eggs, oysters, clams, sun-dried tomatoes, Swiss chard, tahini, peanuts, and legumes like lentils. As vitamin C helps your body to absorb iron, throw in some broccoli, red bell peppers, kale, and cauliflower for good measure.
If you have red, scaly rash on your face and hair loss, your wellness may be affected by a deficiency in vitamin B7 or Biotin. Also known as the hair vitamin, vitamin B7 is water soluble, which means that your body cannot store it. Therefore, you need to up your daily intake of salmon, avocados, mushrooms, cauliflower, soybeans, nuts, raspberries, and bananas. Cooked eggs are also beneficial, but if the eggs are raw then they still contain avidin – which inhibits your body’s ability to absorb biotin.
A sign of deficiency in vitamins A and D and essential fatty acids is red or white acne-like bumps. These typically appear on your cheeks, arms, thighs, and backside, so a fix is definitely in order! For the essential fatty acid deficiency, focus on adding more salmon and sardines, nuts like walnuts and almonds, and seeds like ground flax, hemp, and chia to your diet. To get more vitamin A, pile on leafy greens and colourful veggies like carrots, sweet potatoes, and red bell peppers. Blum explains, ‘This provides beta carotene, a precursor to vitamin A, which your body will use to make vitamin A. For vitamin D, though, I recommend a supplement—2,000 IU a day in one that also contains vitamins A and K, which help with D absorption.’
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