I know I do. I can't afford it. Prices have leaped in the last 2-3 years. Just can't.

Liver has LOADS of b vitamins and that includes chicken liver. More than some random hunk of muscle meat. I once ground a pound of chicken liver into chili and it was really good. Didn't taste like liver.

Liver is also one of the highest sources of Vitamin A which is good for the eyes.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/2...-in-beef-liver/

Liver has 6,000 times more Vitamin A, than carrots.
Look at the percentages below:

Vitamin A is found naturally in many foods:

cod liver oil (30000 μg)
liver (turkey) (8058 μg 895%)
liver (beef, pork, fish) (6500 μg 722%)
liver (chicken) (3296 μg 366%)
dandelion greens (5588 IU 112%)[18]
sweet potato (961 μg 107%)
carrot (835 μg 93%)
broccoli leaf (800 μg 89%) – According to USDA database, broccoli florets have much less.[19]
broccoli florets (31 μg 3%)
butter (684 μg 76%)
kale (681 μg 76%)
spinach (469 μg 52%)
pumpkin (400 μg 41%)
collard greens (333 μg 37%)
Cheddar cheese (265 μg 29%)
cantaloupe melon (169 μg 19%)
egg (140 μg 16%)
apricot (96 μg 11%)
papaya (55 μg 6%)
mango (38 μg 4%)
pea (38 μg 4%)
milk (28 μg 3%)
tomatoes
Seaweed

Note: Data taken from USDA database.[20] Bracketed values are retinol activity equivalences (RAEs) and percentage of the adult male RDA, per 100 grams of the foodstuff (average).

Conversion of carotene to retinol varies from person to person and bioavailability of carotene in food varies

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_A

Nancy pointed us to an excellent video a while back:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=449865

I highly recommend watching it.

My next door neighbor has a diagnosed B12 deficiency to the point that she has serious memory problems. She lives on processed meat and processed prepared foods. She doesn't eat anything fresh ever. She's proud of the fact that she doesn't waste time cooking. It's so sad to see her decline but I find it impossible to reason with her. She just wants to take a pill for it. At the rate her memory is going, though, I fear she won't even remember to take them.

According to that video, a lot of Alzheimer's cases are mis-diagnosed B12 deficiency. It's worth supplementing. I buy the sublingual drops.

For those who can't afford red meat - do you have cable TV? High Cell Phone bills? Smoke? Gym membership?

I'm not pointing any fingers because I definitely don't know anyone's personal situation.

But I did know a person who said he couldn't afford red meat, but had at least a $200/month cable bill, and an iPhone with an expensive carrier plus he ran over his voice/data/text allotment every month (there was no "impress others" factor with Metro at $50/month unlimited).

To me good health is priceless - it's the most important priority. But other people have different priorities. With my old acquaintance, it was better to look good than to feel good.

Bob

Red meat isn't the apex of B12. Liver is though. Save up your money for some chicken liver (cheap), or pate ($$).

Ribeye steak (100g)
Vitamin B12 1.8mcg 29% is 3oz of red meat.

Chicken thigh (100g)
Vitamin B12 0.5mcg 8%

Chicken liver:
Vitamin B12 16.6mcg 276%

Beef liver is probably even better, but I'm not crazy about the taste.

Not true.

So after my second blood clot two years ago I'm horizontal and a Dr. shows up. He has trouble with his veins and I had seen his partner about 4 months earlier. We are going over the possible causes (trauma, sitting for a long time, liver disorder, etc.), we were able to eliminate most of them and then he asks, "Do you take a multi?" and the answer is yes. He asks, "Does it have a lot of B12?" and I didn't know. I guessed so because it was the GNC male multi vitamin and they put lots of excessive concentrations in each dose. He then tells me that excessive B12 is known to cause varicose veins to the point that competitive body builders take it to make themselves look better. Since then we've eliminated all the known causes and I'm left with the most likely (and I mean that in a Bayesian probability sense) explanation that it was in fact the B12 that was at least the trigger if not the primary cause.

I figured B12 in a multi would be useless anyway since you probably can't even absorb it that way. Anyway, everything I've read says they're harmless. The worst effect is they give you expensive and brightly colored urine.

You might be right. I ran into this:
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/can...n-b12-6060.html

High doses and only in some people.

I have a history of blood clots. It turned out that I have a defective http://www.chla.org/site/c.ipINKTOAJsG/b.7714619/k.3954/Genetic_Clotting_Disorders__Blood_Clot__Veins__Arteries.htm#.VNlsAvnF_zI gene.

My husband was tested for Elevated Homocysteine, because he's at risk from his MTHFR mutation. He's fine, but such a thing is treated with B6 & B12.

So perhaps the moral is figuring out our nutrition, and hope we can get it from food. I bought a big roll of grass-fed butter because it's the most cost-effective way to get K2 and CLA.

Lots of people can't absorb B12 from the food they eat or pills they swallow. That's why the delivery B12 in shots, or to be absorbed by the capillaries in your mouth (sublingually).

I have one gene for Factor V(5) Leiden. That puts me at a 29% risk of having a blood clot. My brother must've gotten 2 genes for it, because his risk was 50%. And he did end up getting one. So did my mom.