I recently had the Well Woman blood tests done by Medichecks. There’s nothing wrong with me but now that I’m 44 I thought it would be good to start monitoring things like cholesterol since there’s a family history of it. I also like to check my HbA1c regularly for diabetes. Since I don’t have any symptoms the NHS won’t do this so I have to pay for it myself but it’s pretty good value and for £39 you can have a nurse come to your house to extract the blood.
I have the results and it turns out I’m very healthy. The test covered vitamins and minerals, all of which are fine for me. My folate levels are right at the top of the normal range but this is probably because it’s included in the daily supplement I take. Folate is something meat-eaters are sometimes deficient in and the consequences of this are birth defects, hence the recommendation for women to take a supplement. My B12, magnesium, vitamin D are also all good.
The inflammation check which measures the amount of C-reactive protein in your blood is very low for me which is fantastic. Lower is better. Anti-inflammatories come from plants and I eat nothing else. My cholesterol is also good at 4.28 mmol/L (or 165.5 mg/dL). Cholesterol is only found in animal products. There’s no cholesterol in plants.
I’m sharing this publicly because people have often told me over the years that I’m missing out on essential nutrients and can’t be healthy as a vegan. That’s just obviously not true. I can’t remember exactly when I went vegan now but it was about 2001 which is nearly 20 years ago.
I take a daily supplement called Veg 1 which is made by the Vegan Society. I haven’t always taken this but I recently switched to an Oat Milk that doesn’t contain B12 and started taking the supplement then. B12 is the main vitamin vegans need to either take a supplement for or eat fortified foods. Thankfully, many foods are fortified with B12 now. Taking a supplement should not deter someone from becoming vegan. Meat-eaters need to take supplements too, like folic acid for example, and B12 is given as a supplement to livestock so by taking it yourself you’re just bypassing the middleman, the animal.
I also take an algae-derived Omega 3 tablet rich in EPA and DHA. People sometimes tell me I’m missing out on essential omega 3s by being vegan because some omega 3s only come from fish. This is also not true. Fish do not make omega 3, they get it from marine algae. So again, I’m just cutting out the middleman and in the process avoiding the mercury and other toxins that can be found in fish. It’s also much better for the environment and when I see the fishing industry litter that is strangling seals and drowning turtles I feel better knowing I’m not supporting that and we have no need to.
Don’t believe it when someone tells you that you must eat meat to be healthy. It’s completely untrue.
rachel.blog 
Oooooo; which brand is your Omega 3 supplement?
We’re taking this one at the moment – https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/together-natural-algae-dha-omega-3-softgels-60010638?skuid=010638
It’s pretty good. No complaints.
I keep trying to like your posts by although WordPress logs me in, the ‘Like’ icon says white! Any ideas?
Hmm, strange. Is it possible it’s a browser issue? Try using a different browser if you have one and see whether it works in that. Let me know how you go!
So much nonsense and scaremongering is out there about plant-based diets. About five years ago I voluntarily had a bone density scan done, just out of curiosity. I had been vegan for about ten years at that stage, and as I was getting into my late 50’s, I decided to see if there were any potential concerns with bone density. My official results came back as “excellent bone density”. Even the radiologist who did the scans commented on it as she was looking at the screen during the process. It’s a shame that so many people are still being scammed and scared by the meat and dairy industries into eating their products, just because it’s good for business.
It is totally scare-mongering. It’s almost as though vegans have to prove they’re not malnourished or on death’s door. We have been brainwashed as a society into believing meat and dairy products are essential for our health and yet there’s growing evidence the opposite is true.
Not surprised at your good results, – I just watched The Game Changers. Good film, very convincing and the food looked delicious. I went on a training day at the weekend with my Multi-Academy Trust and our CEO had just finished watching it and he thought the arguments in it were very strong.
It’s great the film is getting such good publicity and so many viewings. It’s really going to have an impact. Since watching it I’ve been making burritos regularly. They’re soooo good! I don’t know why I never did it before.