Saturday 31 December 2011

Happy new year!


I have never been a big fan of new years.. I seriously rather sleep because I don't like staying up that late and then be really tired the next day. Last new years, I told myself that next new year, I will go to bed before 12 so I would get a good nights sleep. Christmas is important to me, and so is semlabun-day :D but defently not new years.

Because of that, I actually stayed home tonight and celebrated it with Whitley who just came back from the states this morning! We had sushi (best food in the world) and watched a movie. We are both leaving the house 4.20 am tonight for Rome so we didn't want to stay up late anyways. It would have been nice to go to the church but we were both tired so this turned out good.

I've packed knäck, now I only have to pack everything else. Happy new year everybody!!!

Brown hair again, last day without sugar and Italy tomorrow morning!


The plan was to not dye my hair until I'm done with school so I could save some money. I got so bored of my hair though so I dyed it myself today. That way it isn't as boring and it's cheap. It's also not permanent so it will go away in about 2 months. And as you can see on the picture, my bangs is much longer now so soon I'll be rid of it :D Yay!

I also have to mention that today is the last day of my sugar fast! I started 1st of January last year and to sum it up: I accidently ate a couple of cookies in May but I seriously didn't understand that it was sugar in them before I already ate them! It was when I flew to America and my flight got cancelled and the whole trip took about 40 hours so I was too tired to think and just ate it and then realized afterwards. I also ate a fishermans friend that wasn't sugarfree.
I really don't care about that but I know that if I don't mention it then my coworkers at Arlanda will tell me that it really does count.. haha anyways... Tomorrow the sugar free year is finished and I will celebrate it with a couple of caramels from Harrods and probably a knäck when I'm on the flight to Rome. I'm going with some very dear friends of mine and also a couple of girls that I haven't got to know yet but they seems to be very sweet so I'm really excited!

"Costs" of lifestock production


  • Nearly 800 million people could be fed by all the grain currently fed to US livestock Professor David Pimental NY 


    • 70% of United States grain goes to feeding farm animals USDA 1991  

      • It takes almost 3.5 kg of corn and soy to produce just half a kg of pork.  Cattle-Fax 1989 


        • More than half of the water used for all purposes in the United States goes to livestock production L. Beckett & J. W. Oltjen J Animal Science 1992;71:818-8268 


          • 2000 lit of water is needed to produce ½ kg of meat cmp to 7 lit to produce one pound of wheat Audubon News Jan 2000 


            • Every kg of beef that is avoided can save up to 40 000 liters of water * 


              • Every second of every day, one “football field” of tropical rainforest is destroyed in order to produce 257 hamburgers*  

              * Boyan S How Our Food Choices can Help Save the Environment.

              Ps. I'm not trying to push down americans :) This is just the numbers and facts I happened to have.

              Friday 30 December 2011

              Wasting food

              A study from Great Britain shows that people throw away 28 % of all the food that they buy.

              Swedes throw away about 56 kg (about 120 pounds?) of food every year! For our whole country that equals 1.9 million ton carbon oxid per year which is the same as it would be for 700 000 cars for one year.

              Advice:
              Use all of the vegetables - for example, use the stemp of the broccoli, use the "leaves" (?) from beets, carrots etc - they contain so much more nutritions than the actuall vegetable! I'll come back more about that later.

              I believe this is very important, however I wish my dad doesn't read this post because he takes it to the extreme and would eat anything even tho the food is clearly way too old! :)

              Wednesday 28 December 2011

              Essential fatty acids


              The fatty acids omega 3 and omega 6 are essential to us because we can not produce them ourselves in our bodies. When we eat these, they can transfer into other fatty acids that our body also needs, but we need omega 3 and 6 as a starting point for this. The ratio between these are very important for our health and normally we eat too much omega 6 so it is important to eat a lot of omega 3, however you do need both.

              Here is a list of benefits of eating the essential fatty acids:


              Reduces inflammation Lowers cholesterol
              Lowers triglyceride levels
              Promotes weight loss
              Promotes healing
               
              Reduces pain
              Improves skin
              Increases joint mobility
              Improves vision
              Reduces soreness after training
              Reduces risk of heart disease
              Provides relief  inflammatory bowel diseases
              May slow tumor growth
              Eases the effects of Alzheimer’s disease
              Improves brain function 
              Stabilizes mood
              Eases depression

              Tuesday 27 December 2011

              A few things...

              First I want to let you know that I have not forgotten to read about those hormones in milk products. I looked through them a little today but from what I saw, it didn't say what those hormones do in the body, but more how much and what hormones they found etc.. I will look through them more carefully later on but my mind tells me to give it a break so it will take a little while.


              Today I worked my last day for this time at Arlanda. I really really can't understand all those people who can start 4 or 5 am so many days there.. It was still fun to come back but I'm glad it was only 2 days. I will now work at my dads company a few days instead.


              I got an article today about why plastic is bad (the chemicals in it etc). It's not an advanced article but I have wanted to write here on the blog about plastic as that topic is getting bigger and bigger here and people are starting to realize that we need other solutions. I will look through that this week and write a summary.

              Monday 26 December 2011

              Back again

              I thought, or hoped at least that I was done with working at Arlanda this summer. But I was a bit "tempted" to go back a little now to see everyone again and get some shifts done now when there's not much in school.

              Let me say it like this, as soon as I started working this morning 5 am, it felt like I had never left which is not a good thing because I couldn't wait to finish last time. It was fun to see some friends I haven't seen in a while and tomorrow I'll meet some more but how could I forget how much I hate going up 3.20 am??? I really hope I find another job for the summer.. I can't stand those hours anymore after doing that for a few years.

              A weird thing about today, when I drove to work 4 am, it was 10 degrees outside, which is about 50 fahrenheit. And when I went home in the afternoon it was 5 (40) which it is now but now next night it will be 10 (50) again.. when did it ever happen that it was not only warmer during the night then the day during the winter, but also THAT warm in the end of december in Sweden?? That is just ludicrous but I don't complain because the last 2 winters were so extremly cold and hard and it never wanted to end, so I'm happy that we are getting a mild winter so I could also continue running outside.

              I long for the day when I move to a country where its summer and nice weather more than just 3-4 months a year :)

              Sunday 25 December 2011

              Friday 23 December 2011

              Updates again

              The last weeks has been quite stressful. I had my exam two days ago and I was sooo nervous. I have to wait 2-3 weeks for the result but I'm pretty sure it went really well, but it will depend on how they correct it.

              I'm actually going back to Arlanda to work two days next week. I have enough work in my dads company during the christmas break but I thought it would be nice to get out of the house and meet some friends so it will be fun. Going up 3.15 am two days will NOT be fun tho.

              9 days left for Italy today. Will be so great to go with only girls! And also to go to a country I haven't been to before, that will be really great! Last years it has been a lot of England and America, which is awesome but I've always wanted to go to Italy so I'm really excited.

              Merry christmas everyone!

              Tuesday 20 December 2011

              Books


              Two of my books for the spring semester arrived today. Basic microbiology with food applications and Food sience. They seems to be really good books which makes me excited for the next course to start! But first I have to be done with the exam tomorrow.. I feel quite prepared but obviously the day before an exam is never a fun day. Back to the metabolism, calcium, acid-base balance, hydration, vitamin C, antioxidants etc etc etc.....

              Monday 19 December 2011

              Balance

              Something I have thought about the last weeks.. I believe it is so important to be in balance, and now I'm thinking especially on food/exercise/health. It's so easy to be rather extreme in both ways - not being healthy at all and don't care or never allow yourself to eat anything unhealthy/ get anxiety if one day goes by without working out.

              Health can mean many things but for me it means to have a balance with eating the right things, working out to the point it's building up my body and still be able to eat unhealthy things at birthdays/holidays or any other special occasion and don't neglect that food is also something social!

              Health is not about appearance. It is not about being super skinny. I read the other day that it's more dangerous to weigh 1 kg to little than tens of kilos too much. I also have a friend whos best friend died a few weeks ago when he was running a marathon. The guy was only 25. I'm guessing it was something wrong with his body because people normally don't die during a marathon but it still made me think; why do people (me included) want to work out to the point that it's being unhealthy? I also read (or heard somewhere, can't remember) the other day that elite athletes live shorter lifes and that they loose about as many years on their lifes as obese people do - that both are really dangerous.

              All of this has made me think about the balance in all of this. I really really like to run far, but I know that it's only positive for the body up to 5-10 km, so why do I sometimes run further and why do I want to run a marathon one day? I'm not saying it's bad if you want to run a marathon and I'm also not saying I will never do it (even though I'm considering not to). But I also think that as I want to be a role model in health and teach about it, then maybe it's even more important for me to be in balance and show what real health is without making it extreme?

              One of my favourite bibleverses when it comes to this is:
              Col 2:20b-23 ... as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. 

              It says in my swedish bible that those things are of no value and that it's only there to satisfy the flesh/the mind. So if we choose to run a marathon, then it's only good for our mind as we feel that we have accomplished something, but it's not healthy and it's only breaking down the body.

              I have also been thinking about this when it comes to food. One of my biggest passions are baking. Due to health problems and allergies, I can not eat everything as normal people can, but I think I have still given myself too many rules. I stopped eating red meat - something my health problems doesn't restrict. I stopped because it isn't healthy and I still believe that - but at the same time, it won't kill me if I eat meat at christmas (or once in a while) so that's what I'm gonna do.

              That's my thoughts, and also my lack of dicipline (as I shouldn't blog but study for the exam right now!!!!!!)

              Sunday 18 December 2011

              Christmas break for my swedish students!

              Me and Whitley made a lingonberry/gingerbread-cake for the swedish class

              We had our last swedish class tonight for this semester. I got two more students (but they seems to be pretty good in swedish already :)) and one more new will start when we start again in January. One will go back to the states so this was the last time for him but I think I will still have about 10 students when we start up again. They were so cute and had even bought me a christmas gift!

              Now I'm off to bed so I can study as much as I can two more days. I can't wait to wednesday evening when the exam is done! I'm having a few friends over that night so I will cook and hopefully bake - if I have time. I miss cooking and baking so much..

              Saturday 17 December 2011

              Israel


              A few times a year, I go through periods when I think about Israel a lot. I'm in one of those periods now. It is for sure my favourite place on earth and I have a hard time thinking or talking about it without crying. I have never felt such deep love for a place or for a people like Israel and the jews. I pray to God that he will bring me there in the future!

              Last time I was there was 2007. Every year I say that I will go there but it never works out. I have talked to my university about doing an exchange year there but unfortunally they are not connected to any of the universities there. So my plan, or my thoughts has then been about maybe going there to write the long paper you have to do the last year, but as I'm still thinking about going to America the whole last year, then that wouldn't work. My other thoughts have been to go a summer course there. I have now emailed a university that I know have summer courses in english to see if this would be possible. We'll see what they say but I really really really really really hope that it could work.

              Friday 16 December 2011

              Candy waiting on me since march


              I must admit. Candy has been on my mind quite a lot lately... well, at least twice a day. It's not because I want to eat any but more about that it's only 2 weeks + 1½ days left on my sugar fast I've had this year and it feels weird that its almost over.

              My friend came to visit us from London in March and she brought us lots of things, including candy from Harrods. It has been waiting for me since then.

              From 1st of January I "can" eat sugar again. 4.30 am on that day, I'm leaving for Italy. I am planning to bring one or two pieces of the "harrods-candy" on the trip to eat on the flight - to break the fast. I'm really excited about it haha!

              We also have knäck that me and Whitley made last weekend waiting in the freezer. For you who never tried knäck - it's the best candy in the whole world. If you live in another country and I come visit you - tell me to make some for you.

              I have learned more about nutrition than ever before this year... and it makes me not want to eat bad food so I will try to continue limiting my sugar consumtion to family birthdays and big holidays after this fast.

              Health behavior and mortality

              Copied by permission from S.Bengmark

              If anyone knows how to change my website so it looks better when I have bigger pictures - please tell me! I try to keep them smaller but it was hard to see the result of this studie when it was small so I kept it big.


              This study shows the effect of avoiding these 4 negative points above; eating fruits/vegetables less than 3 times a day, exercise less than 2 hours a week, smoking and last drinking more alcohol then 112 grams for women or 168 grams for men per week. The study also shows the mortality for those who kept for example 1 of these or two etc as you can see. Let me know if it's hard to understand.
              For one example, you can see that after 20 years, about 85 % of the people that had been unhealthy in all these 4 points was still alive compared to about 96 % for those who avoided all these 4 points (exercised more than 2 hours per week and so on).
              I feel that this explanation is going on to long so I will stop now :)

              Thursday 15 December 2011

              Perfect student food and a green smoothie


              This lentil "soup" might not look that great but it is actually one of my favourite foods. It fulfills all the criterias a student may have. It is nutrious, taste good, is cheap and hardly take any time to make (but a little time for waiting for it to be done). If I remember right, I found the original recipe from Anna Skippers website. I make this several times a week because it taste really great and when I have a lot to study it's perfect as it only takes about 3 min to prepare and then I can continue studying while it's boiling and then its done!

              1 dl of red dried lentils
              3 dl water
              salt, pepper, bouillon powder/broth

              Optional:
              Onion, garlic, chili, olive oil

              Boil all in low heat with a lid covering it for 30 min. If you are adding olive oil, add it when the meal is done so it doesn't get destroyed.





              I also tried to make a green smoothie today. And with green, I mean that I had green vegetables in it. It turned out black/brown tho. These are extremly healthy and there is so much you can do. It doesn't taste great but I personally think it's worth it. Today I added kale (grönkål), parsley, spinach, blueberries, raspberries, flax seeds, water and spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and carnation (nejlika).

              Filling up with endorphines

              Started off the day with an hour long run before breakfast in the dark. Feels great to fill your body with some endorphines before a looong day of studying :) It's less than a week left to my exam and I'm planning to get just as good results as last time.. Gonna do my best and try anyways.

              Speaking of endorphines; here is a list of foods that will give you endorphines and make you happy (not saying that all of these are healthy foods):

              • Cocoa - Dark chocolate
              • Carbohydrates such as pasta, potatoes etc
              • Cheese
              • Meat, fish and legumes with high protein
              • Peppers, especially those containing capsaicin - like chilis

              Wednesday 14 December 2011

              Lucia concert

              I totally forgot to post pictures from the lucia concert yesterday. Here is a few of them. It was a really great concert and I will defently go again next year.



              Tuesday 13 December 2011

              Trying the cocktail


              Here it is, the "cocktail" from my last post today. I skipped the turmeric as I already eat a taplespoon of that every day so I added a half teaspoon cardamom instead. It is really really strong! I had to add water and it's still really strong! Next time, I'll take a bigger glass and add much more water because this is ludicrous.

              Stig Bengmarks turmeric and chili cocktail

              I found this recipe on Stig's powerpoint that I wanted to share with you. I haven't tried it yet but am planning to do so this evening.

              ½ glas of fruit juice such as apple, pineapple...
              1 heapful tablespoon turmeric
              1/4 teaspoon chili (cayenne) pepper
              1 teaspoon cinnamon
              1 tablespoon apple cider vineger
              1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

              Mix and drink once or twice a day!

              Monday 12 December 2011

              Light treatment

              First - I never had time to read through the hormone articles this weekend and now I'm focusing on my exam next week so we'll see when I get time to read them but I'm going to do it hopefully before christmas.


              The hospital shirt

              The last months, I've been going to light treatment at the hospital three times per week. I burned myself in the sun about 7 years ago which made my skin itch everywhere and it would look like long mosquito bites. I've been taking medicine for it for a few years which makes it go away but as I wanted to get rid of it totally so I wouldn't have to take any medication, I got to try this light treatment. Unfortunally it hasn't really worked. Today was the last time I was going and you have no idea how happy I am it's over! It took so much time to get in to the hospital for this several  times a week. And I don't really care about that it didn't work... at least I've tried that now.

              Me and some friends went on a lucia concert at the cathedral yesterday. I will post pictures of that tomorrow. It was a really great concert!

              Saturday 10 December 2011

              Saturday



              It feels pretty good when it comes to the upcoming exam. I have studied quite a lot on it already so I decided that I will NOT study today (even though I'm a few hours short on my goal of 8 hours per day). It feels weird.. a whole saturday without studying! But I think it's a good decision as there is so many other things that needs to get done.

              I started off the day with running - with some extra socks it actually works pretty good still even though it's getting colder. The rest of the day will consist of cleaning, fika with a friend, cleaning, cleaning (planning to go through some in the kitchen to prepare for christmas and throw away old foods, something that I've looked forward to for a while) and working on a cookbook I was suppose to be done with in March!

              And also - a girl asked me more specific why the hormones in milk products are bad. I think that's a great question and I couldn't answer it as I wanted to. The professor (Stig B) that I got the information about the milk from, has now emailed me a couple of articles concerning this so my plan is to hopefully go through those today and write here on the blog about it.

              Thursday 8 December 2011

              My life right now...

              ... contains of reading, reading, reading and reading. My eyes hurt and I feel nauseous. Tomorrow we are having a seminar about B vitamins and I'll tell you, it is not easy to remember what fact belongs to what of the 8 B vitamins. I really just want to be done with it so I can continue focusing on our next exam which is in less than two weeks. But now I'm done with studying for today (finally!!!) and will clean my room - something I have looked forward to since yesterday morning. And cook lunch for tomorrow. Oh yeah, and listen to christmas music obviously! Tomorrow night I will try to be social and have a girl-movie-night and we are going to make falafel.

              Wednesday 7 December 2011

              Walls for an adult

              It was about time for me to take down a few things from the walls.... 

              Before




              After


              The effects of a mediterranean diet - study on americans

              Taken by permission from S.Bengmark

              Tuesday 6 December 2011

              This food will make you happy and tired

              You have probably heard before that you should drink milk if you can't sleep. The reason for that is that it contains a lot of the aminoacid tryptophan which pretty much turns into a hormone called serotonin in the brain.

              Serotonin regulates the sleep (make you tired), your ability to concentrate and it will also make you happy, calm and satisfied! If your serotonin levels are too low you can become depressed, get anxiety, aggressive and so on.. You can also get cravings for fast carbs. On the other hand, a high level has an antidepressive effect.

              This is one way of effecting your mood from the food you eat!

              Here is a list of foods with a lot of tryptophan:

              • Free range turkey
              • Flaxseed/ flaxseed oil (linfrö)
              • Buckweat
              • Wild fish and sea food
              • Whey protein
              • Bananas
              • Free range eggs
              • Sour cherries
              • Dark chocolate
              So instead of milk you can maybe eat a banana if you can't sleep.. Speaking about bananas, eat the green ones - they turn into less sugar in your body compared to the yellow ones.

              Can wrong diet cause cancer or is it all genes?

              Taken by permission from S.Bengmark


              I saw dr Oz this morning. It was about obese children and their parents. One parent said that it's in their genes to be fat.. I will show you more studies later on that shows that this is not true but it's about how you play the genes you have. You've got sooo many genes and they can be turned on and turned off. For example, above is one study when it comes to how big part cancer has to do with genes. Under the subtitle, you see the reference to the study if you want to read the whole thing.

              As you see, only 5-10 % has to do with genes and 90-95 % has to do with different environmental things.
              Diet plays the biggest roll of the environmental causes, 30-35%. Obesity that normally comes from eating bad foods is 10-20 %.

              Monday 5 December 2011

              Read this! Why milk and all other dairy products are bad

              The national food aministration are telling us that milk is GREAT because of its protein, low fat and vitamins.

              Milk also contains a lot of other things that are quite the opposite than great. These negative aspects outweigh the positive. This is why.. 

              80 % of the milk you drink are from pregnant cows. That means that they have a lot of hormones (see list below) in their "cow-bodies". Hormones "get stuck" in the fat and therefore get transfered into the milk, yoghurt, butter, cheese, cream etc etc. These hormones will then go to your body if you eat/drink it (obviously). To make cheese, you need 20 liters of milk for 1 kg of cheese - that means that the hormones will get more concentrated and the same with other products like butter.

              If we take estrogen for one example. High intake of estrogen increases the risk of cancers. 60-80 % of the estrogen that we get from food is from milk and other dairy products (mjölkprodukter). Here is an example of how much the free estrogen (E1) different products contains:

              Whole milk      3,7
              Skimmed milk 20,2
              Whey             3,6
              Cottage cheese 34,9
              Butter           539,4

              Different studies has shown a risk for a number of diseases when it comes to bovine milk (nötkreatur). They are: allergy, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, chronic constipation, coronary heart disease, diabetes type 1, malabsorption, ovarian cancer, parkinson disease, testicular and prostate cancer...

              Our milk has also been heated up so that AGE and ALE has been formed (read past posts about AGE/ALE). Milkpowder is worst - look at the ingrediences on packages and avoid milk and cheese powder.

              The dairy consumption for individuals (kg per year) (year 2008) looked like this:

              Finland 180
              Sweden 138
              Denmark 134
              Norway 114
              UK 102
              Germany 92
              USA 80
              Italy 42
              China 10

              (I have a list of 24 countries so let me know if you want to know another countries average intake)


              So how can something like milk be so dangerous? We have to remember that a long time ago, a cow produces about 1,5 liters of milk per day and today they produce about 30 liters per day. No wonder the milk contains all these hormones today.


              Hormones: PRL, GH, TSK, FSH, LH, ACTH, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone (and more steroid hormones), TRH, LHRH, GnRH, GRH and many many more!

              Saturday 3 December 2011

              So worth going!!!

              I'm so glad I went on the health day today even though that meant less study time which I will have to push over till next week. I think my school is great in many aspects and it gives a "good" foundation in many things - but it is not up to date with new studies, or at least not what I've heard this far and therefore I think it gives a narrow perspective on things. That's why I want to go on these other lectures with other professors and researchers outside of school so I can get a broader knowledge and an even stronger foundation to continue building on.

              Enough said with that.. For you who haven't read my blog since yesterday, I went away this weekend with dad to listen to Stig Bengmark in Falköping where he was teaching for 4 hours today. Stig is 83 years old, doctor and also working at the university of London. He spends 8-10 hours per day at looking at new research. If someone would know things about food and health - that would be him. Still no one knows everything but I have huge respect for what he says.

              The best thing about the whole trip was that I got his whole powerpoint with me home (dad asked him :))!!!! It's over 300 slides and tons and tons of what different research has shown. I will start sharing a lot of that in the future here on the blog, at least once a week but hopefully more.

              You have no idea of how excited I am about this because I really believe that people get inspired and wants to change when they know WHY they should. And with that I mean, not only knowing why you should eat for example fish, but also why and what it actually does in your body. I know myself that since I've started to learn more on a deeper level a few months ago exacly what "foods are doing in your body" - it has been easier to make more good changes.

              What you eat matters so much. It matters so much for your health but also for the environment. We can therefore take care of both our bodies and our planet in the same time when we choose the right things to eat.

              But remember! Changes doesn't come over night so don't give up but take one step at a time and also remember to enjoy the food you eat! It is not only nutrition but so much more.

              I know I said I will write a summary of the lectures but because I actually got his powerpoints, it will come some bit by bit in future blogs.
              And also, I'm tired now and have to get ready for tomorrow because I'm going to Stockholm with some friends on a christmas market and more. Good night! :)

              Friday 2 December 2011

              Stig Bengmarks lectures on youtube!

              If you know swedish you can listen to Stig Bengmarks lectures from earlier this year on youtube (links below)

              If you know english, you can still watch it and look at the powerpoints as most of them are in english and there's a lot of results from different studies. I really recommend it and it's so interesting!

              It is in three parts:

              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8ibMm4g6hc

              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F872uRfl_sk

              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCLRYybx18Q

              Falköping today-tomorrow

              Dad is going to Falköping which is a city 4,5 hours south from here to listen to the professor Stig Bengmark on a half day thing he is having there tomorrow about health/food. I decided today to join him so we are leaving tonight as it starts tomorrow morning.
              I've talked about Stig before and he is one of those I would say I listen most too when it comes to food. I am very excited and I will try to get some time to ask him some questions!
              I will post a summary of the lectures hopefully tomorrow evening.

              Thursday 1 December 2011

              Vitamin B1 - Thiamine

              All B vitamins are water soluble which means that the body doesn't have big storages of these but for most of them (everyone except from B12), the body will get rid of the extra intake. This also means that you need to get an intake of these every day.

              The B vitamins act as coenzymes in the metabolism. All B vitamins also influence each other in many ways. 

              You can find thiamine in (examples) fruits, vegetables, meat and fish, sunflower seeds, wheat germ, brazil nuts, dried soy beans and pork. Sifted flour are enriched (sweden) with many B vitamins and thiamine is one of them. About 50 % of the vitamin get lost/destroyed while boiling vegetables and up to 40 % whily baking bread. Different factors in coffee and tea will inhibit the vitamins bioavailability.


              The vitamin is very important for the metabolism as we've already mentioned. If you have a higher intake of carbs (example if you work out hard and eat extra carbs), then the need for thiamine will also increase. 
              The vitamin is also important for the brain and the nerv cells indirect (from the metabolism) as the brain only can use glucose as energy source. Indirect it is also needed for synthesis of DNA and RNA.


              Alcoholics often suffer from vitamin B1 deficiency due to several reasons; alcohol inhibits the absorption in the intestines, alcohol is a diuretic (urindrivande) so losses increase, alcohol increases the need for the vitamin and alcoholics usually also eat a more one-sided and inadequate diet.

              There are also many people that has a hidden deficiency so this is something that needs to be thought of by many. One reason could be that the food loose so much of the vitamin when we heat up food.

              People that has a higher need of vitamin B1 are (more than physical active ppl with increased intake of carbs and alcoholics) older people, pregnant and breastfeeding women. Women that are taking birth controll pills are also having a higher need of vitamin B intake.


              Thiamine is not toxic in higher intakes - it has been used as a supplement for many years without any reports of serious side effects.