I have been taking supplements (fancy word for vitamins, herbs, and minerals) for many years now. It seems I do not stick to the same routine for very long because:
1) I really am not sure if the current regime is doing much for me
2) I read about a new supplement and feel I must try it
Since I am nearing the big 4 0. Yes I will be forty on March 12. I feel extra pressure to take certain supplements because women need more/different nutrients as they age than let’s say someone in their 20′s does.
Now as I said I have been experimenting for years. I have been lucky enough to have a plethora of supplements available to me in the past when my husband worked for his parents nutrition company (www.omnitrition.com) for 15 or so years. I tried most of their products as well as other lines of products. Some things made me feel good for a short time (giving me energy) and others helped me lose weight ( I lost about 15 or so pounds).
Since I do not have the variety of supplements at my disposal anymore I really am picky as to what I take on a daily basis. Let’s face it, vitamins, herbs, and minerals are not cheap!
So this is what I take:
multivitamin
vitamin D, magnesium, calcium (in one pill)
vitamin B-12
probiotic
vitamin E and primrose oil
melatonin (at night)
I really have to say I am not sure any of this is doing anything for me except for maybe the probiotic. I also supplement all this with Airborne tablets in my water because I am a school teacher and constantly live in fear of getting sick.
Now I also add in my morning shake, amazing grass super food (www.amazinggrass.com) and just recently started bovine colostrum.
I LOVE AMAZING GRASS! That I know works for me. It is a keeper.
Not sure of the other things.
What about you? What do you take? What do you think we need other than a healthy diet?
“I LOVE AMAZING GRASS!”… ’nuff said!
Early last year I saw some research supporting the idea that even mild multi-vitamins can cause all kinds of problems, including cancer, because the body is just not designed to process high concentrations of any nutrient.
We have a veterinarian neighbor who developed a successful nutritional supplement for dogs and then made millions with a version for humans. For the last eight or ten years, he’s been slowly dying of liver and kidney problems. I know better than to rely on anecdotal evidence but this example is just too compelling to ignore.
I just noticed that you have melatonin on your list. A while ago I mentioned to another neighbor, a doctor, that I was going to try melatonin as a sleep aid. She replied, “I thought they took that off the shelves because of some serious permanent side effects.” (I forget what the side effects were, seizures or some other mental degradation.)
And Airborne brings up a funny story I heard from another doctor. The common cold has been one of medicine’s great mysteries for a very long time and millions have been spent researching cures. Are we really to believe that a 2nd grade teacher did a little studying and put together the cure that had been eluding all of mankind?
It must be obvious by now that I’m a bit of a skeptic!
Anyway, I’m currently reading a great book called 1491 that discusses how healthy the large Indian civilizations were compared to their contemporary Europeans. I don’t know if diet had much to do with it, but it’s hard not to think of the Indians’ lack of alcohol, bread, lard, and salted meats. Anyone know where I can get some maize?
Once again the most boring answer seems like the best to me. A varied diet with reasonable quantities of unprocessed foods seems to get us 99% of the way there – don’t want to gild the lily!
That said, I have a long way to go before I’ll feel justified in commenting on someone else’s diet. In my life, doing things “exactly right” seems to be the distraction that keeps me from gaining the huge benefits of implementing “good enough.”
Listen to this and you may give up microwave popcorn for good: http://twit.tv/kiki1
OK Kalli this is just toooooo weird!
I am only to the part of this post where you said you will turn 40 on March 12th….
MY birthday is March 12th, I will be 45.
And I also see that you live in Ventura… I’m in Orange County.
ok… I’m off to read the rest of the post now.
)