Are You Taking Vitamins/ Supplements??

Hi Everyone

This Weeks Question is Are you taking supplements/vitamins to help boost you on your journey to be healthier?? If so what do you take??



Take Care,Dawn

Nope, don't take anything. In fact, I asked both my doctor and the weight-loss group leader, and they agree: if I eat all of my mandatories... both daily and weekly... I should have all the nutrients I need.

My doctor told me to take 1000 mg of vitamin C and a B12. My blood tests showed that my energy level or B12 was really low. So I'm taking 500mcg of the B12. I don't like the C I'm taking. It's chewable and really huge! And it's a 500mg tab, so I have to chew 2 to get the 1000mg.

I dont take any supplements except for everyonce in a while I will drink meal replacement drink to pick up the slack.
My goal is to get the nutrients fromt he foods I eat. Besides taking vitamins upsets my tummy.
Jody

Yes I take a half does of a vitamin supplement every other day. It took me a while to find one that didn't upset my stomach, but I found an natural brand, Country Life, that is working well for me. Why do I take them if I am supposedly eating healthy?

I am on a low calorie diet for weight loss. Meaning I am eating less than 2000 calories a day. The % of vitamins n nutrients on a food label is based on a 2000 calorie diet, since I am eating 5-6000 less than that on a daily basis, I can not use the RDA labels as my guide. True, if you eat your 3 milks, 4-5 servings of fruits n veggies, meats n all that your body should get all the nutrients you need. I can not fool myself and say I get all my food groups in every day and even if I did, I am still eating less calories than what the full amount would naturally come from.

What if my multi vitamin plus the foods I eat give me too much of a nutrient? Ummm well ... that's not likely to happen. Your body uses what it needs and with water soluable nutrients you well pee the excess away. Fat soluable nutrients your body can not elininate and those you do run the risk of getting too much in your system. Those are Vitamins A, D, E, K. The only vitamin I personally need to be conscience of is Vitamin A since my supplement is high in it, therefore I take a half dose.

What I looked for in my supplement: Natural ingreedients, one formulated for a woman's body, meaning it gives me the additional nutrients I need just cause I'm not a guy, one that includes all minerals since I drink purified water I am not getting minerals in my daily water. Mine also includes phytochemicals since my gyn mentioned it and thought I might want to give it a try.

So how'd I come up with this wacky combination? a nutritionist, a doctor, a little experimentation, and research. Also before I started taking the supplement I took it to my doctor and said, ok here's the one-a-day and here's what I want to change to, which should work better with my body. Then I went to the nutrionist and asked the same basic question. And here's the end result.

BSQ
don't ya just wanna sometimes go back to the days of good ol bugs bunny chewables???



note: I am neither a doctor nor a certified nutritionist. Just a gal who has taken waaaay too many biology and chemestry classes and finds the human body incredibly interesting. Above is what works for me with the advice of my own doctors.

I guess it's no surprise that I have too much to say on this one That's a great point, BSQ, about the % of RDA and the number of calories. I'm so glad you mentioned that. DietPower is letting me have 2000 calories now because I'm so large.

About vitamin C--like calcium, you can't absorb more than 500 mg at a time apparently. Even the Linus Pauling Institute (the guys who came up with the idea of taking a lot of C) are now recommending no more than 500 mg at a time). So you might have better results from splitting your dose up (if you aren't already).


What follows is what I mean to take and what my thinking is. These are not recommendations for anyone else (except the multi). My doctors know I take them, but I did the research on my own. And I guess I have a cast iron stomach because I don't seem to have many problems.


1. Multivitamin
For several reasons. One is because I'm not in control. Another, and the most convincing, is that, though they thought that a multi wouldn't help people with basically balanced diets, in fact, the massive longitudinal nurses' study is finding that taking a multivitamin, any multivitamin, increases your life and the quality of life. Especially as we get older (but also with the digestive changes of menopause, I suspect), we absorb less and less well, so the insurance of a multi apparently is worth it. I take one that offers 100% of the RDA of lots of vitamins and minerals. DietPower has shown me that even basically balanced eating doesn't balance nutrients that well. And 100% of nutrients plus diet isn't going to be too much because RDA is fairly low.

Like BSQ says the real concern seems to be vitamin A and iron in multis. It's better if most of the vitamin A is coming from carotenes (mixed or beta) and if the iron is low (it's an oxidant so more is not better--though obviously you need enough).

2. Selenium
Though in this case, I only take extra selenium if I don't have any Brazil nuts on hand. Selenium is a powerful antioxidant--so it protects against heart/artery disease and cancer. More important to me is that it's necessary for thyroid balance. It's essential for the conversion of T4 to T3 (synthroid to the effective form, in other words), and I really do think it makes me feel better. Because I have hypothyroid, I figure the RDA is too far below the recommendation of 200 mcg. And it's hard to get from diet unless you live where the soil is rich in selenium and you grow your own veggies (or eat two Brazil nuts a day).

3. Calcium Citrate
I actually don't take that much calcium. DietPower has shown me that I get a lot from my diet and you can get too much. So, I take a pill with 500 mg a day and check with DietPower at the end of the day to see how I've done. Calcium is now added to lots of foods, so Prevention etc. are warning about tracking the amount. Since this is for insurance, I do take citrate, which is absorbed better.

4. Magnesium
I try to take 600 mg of magnesium in addition to the multi. A guideline is that it should be half the level of calcium for calcium to work well. I take it because of what I've read about bone health. But even more, I clearly have deficiency symptoms, and estrogen creates deficiencies because the liver uses magnesium to process the estrogen. It's hard to get enough from an American diet--it's mostly in beans. This is a case where I clearly feel a difference. I start to get aches and pains without it. It clearly improves my mood (I suffer from severe clinical depression). Having gone on and off and on using it, I know it makes a difference.

5. An extra B complex
I take one where all the B's are 100% of RDA, so that each has the proper balance in relation to the others. And I take more than my multi again because estrogen creates deficiencies in folic acid and B6--and again I have so many symptoms of problems with these. Also, the puzzle over taking estrogen and whether it helps heart health involves homocysteine levels. And they lower homocysteine levels. So my personal theory is that the problem with HRT and heart health rests in part with the deficiency. Since heart problems are the health issue in my family, I take extra B's at night (multi in the morning). Also, they improve depression. And they are toxic only at extremely high levels or when out of balance for extended periods of time.

6. Evening primrose oil
If you're missing a particular enzyme, there's no real other way around it except EPO. And I'm clearly missing it. When I don't take EPO, I lose hair and I get excema. If I take EPO, I don't. It's also good for a lot of other things--like aches and pains and mood.

7. Natural vitamin E
400 IU is recommended. It's needed to make the EPO work well, but it also affects a lot of other things that ail me and is a powerful antioxidant.

8. Fish oil
If I haven't had salmon or tuna that day. Again, I started because it makes the EPO work well, but it's good for depression and hearts etc. Flax seed is no good because it also requires that missing enzyme, so, since I know the EPO works for me, I know that flax seed won't help me (besides it's way too laxative for me )

9. Milk thistle
Between being obese and taking oral estrogen, I have fatty liver intrusions. I read in the medical journals themselves what could be done to prevent liver function damage and even losing weight might not help. And in fact rapid weight loss makes it worse. There's actually been quite a few small studies on the active ingredient in milk thistle and the liver and that it prevents further damage.

What I don't take extra of--
Well lots, honest

But I don't take extra Vitamin D--it's in my multi, it's added to foods, and a small amount is in my calcium citrate. You can get way too much of vitamin D, which is a bad thing. AND vitamin D is actually a hormone and interferes with hormonal balance.

And I don't take extra zinc. It's another thing that estrogen creates deficiencies in, but it's easy to get too much and I have some in my multi. Now that I have DietPower, I track the zinc, and pop a small amount if it shows that I didn't eat enough to be over the RDA.

It seems like a lot, which is why I stop taking it now and then, but each piece fits a very particular health issue that I have. If I didn't have particular health issues, I'd probably only take the multi and calcium/mag.

Hi Trish,

I started taking vitamins about a week and a half ago. Since starting them, I have felt better (but it was about 2 wks after starting HRT so, was that just finally kicking in???). I am sleeping better and don't have as many emotional ups and downs.

I am taking a B complex that I notice is much higher than 100% in most of the nutrients. I read the pull down menu on vit recommendations, and since I was feeling so bad at that time, I went for the high end of the recommendations on most of the vits. Is this something that I should back down on?

I am also taking a good multi vit in addition.

Thanks for any advice!

Hi ladies....I am 3 mos. post op TVH and on Premarin 1.25. Sometimes I am so tired I can't get out of my own way. I did start taking LOTS of vitamins. I take a multivitamin, (energy) fish oil,(my son said its good for me since I don't eat fish), folic acid, (hair loss),Calcuim with Vitamin D, (bones) Vitamin E (skin), and cranberry supplement (no more bladder infections)every day. Each week gets a bit better and I seem to last a bit longer during the day. The only problem I have at this point is my back hurts all the time. I went back to work FT 4 wks post op. Don't know what I was thinking...LOL Last week I started a yoga/palotti class and I decided to start swimming. My gym has built an olympic size pool...so....even though I am not a strong swimmer, I figured it would at least get my heartrate up. I thought this would help my back too.

Hi Ladies

I started taking Womens One-A-Day almost 4 wks ago. The MD recommended just a multi vitamin with iron in general, but I chose the one for women.... who needs to take a generic one if its not meant for man or woman in particular. Before I started taking them I had no energy, felt tired all the time, and was basically a "homebody" Since I started taking them I find that I do have more energy, The pillow police arent after me all the time like they were after my first surgery, and I have found that my recovery from the hysterectomy has been great. I am able to be more active even though I do take short rest breaks..... I can walk more without getting tired easily.

Well, for years my DH and I have been taking:

A natural multi-vitamin; A&D (every other day); calcium/magnesium complex; hawthorne berries (did wonders to bring down our blood pressure); lecithin; Vitamin E/selenium; devil's claw (DH only); Vitamin C; B-50 complex (every other day), beta carotene, and during the winter, cod liver oil.

I'd been taking vitamins for years before DH started. He used to laugh at me, then he started taking them. Then he stopped. He noticed he didn't feel as good and started again and now won't be without them. We very rarely succumb to the colds and flus circulating amongst our coworkers, and this past year neither of us had been sick or even had a cold.

Our food is so genetically-manipulated, chemically-fertilized, picked when not even ripe (and once picked start losing nutrients immediately) that I believe any of us who don't have the benefits of our own gardens and orchards suffer from malnutrition.

Well, I'm off my soapbox!