Vitamins

Your body needs to get a lot of the fuel it needs to give you energy and keep you healthy from the food you eat.  It particularly needs vitamins because of the huge amount of jobs they do making sure that your whole body works like clockwork! Your body does make some vitamin D (helped by sunlight!) and the B group vitamin called niacin but like minerals, you get the rest of the vitamins you need to stay healthy from the food you eat.

Vitamins come in two types – fat soluble and water soluble.

• Fat soluble vitamins travel through your body using fat.  They are stored in your liver and in the fatty tissue in your body.  They just hang around until your body needs them, but for different lengths of time so you still need to replace them, just not too often.  Vitamins A, D, E & K are the fat soluble vitamins. 

• The water soluble vitamins are different – they aren’t stored in your body, they go to your bloodstream and get excreted if they are not used.  You have to replace these vitamins every day to make sure your body has enough all of the time.  These vitamins are the ‘B group’ vitamins – B1 (thiamin); B2 (riboflavin); B6; B12, niacin; Folic acid, biotin, pantothenic acid - and Vitamin C.

Have a look at the table below (Table 1) to see what vitamins you need and where you can find them!

Table 1

	VITAMIN			WHAT IT DOES				WHERE YOU FIND IT
		A			black beans black-eyed peas chickpeas (garbanzo beans) falafel kidney beans lentils lima beans (mature) navy beans pinto beans soy beans split peas tofu (bean curd made from soy beans) white beans bean burgers: garden burgers veggie burgers tempeh texturized vegetable protein (TVP)				Apricots Carrots Dairy products like milk Eggs Nectarines Spinach
		B1 B2 B6 B12 Niacin Folic acid Biotin Pantothenic acid			B vitamins help your body to burn up fat from the food you eat or the fat that is stored in your body – they help your body to use the food you eat to give you energy! B vitamins also help to make red blood cells that carry oxygen to all the different clls in your body – they really are very important in keeping you healthy!				Beans Chicken and other meats Dairy products like milk, cheese and yoghurt Eggs Fish and seafood Green leafy vegetables Peas Some citrus fruits like oranges Whole grains like wheat and oats
		C			Helps to heal cuts Keeps your teeth, gums and muscles healthy Helps to fight infection				Bananas Berries Broccoli Citrus fruits, like lemons and oranges Peppers Spinach Strawberries Tomatoes
		D			Keeps your bones and teeth strong and healthy as it helps your body to absorb calcium!				Really tiny amounts in: Dairy products with added vitamin D Eggs Fish and cod liver oil
		E			Protects your lungs from pollution Keeps your eyes, skin and liver healthy Helps to make red blood cells				Eggs Green leafy vegetables Nuts Sardines Wheat germ Whole grains
		K			Your body absolutely needs this vitamin to make sure your blood clots!				Dairy products like milk, cheese and yoghurts Green leafy vegetables Liver Pork