Taking Vitamins

EbrahimAlharazi

Is it OK if I take vitamin like Centrum? ?? I don't want to affect my diet program

dobbywocky

Most vitamins don't ave many calories if they have any at all, so should be fine. I would spring for a plant-based organic brand. I'm partial to Garden of Life, and there was another brand I used when pregnant, but don't recall it. These tend to have more bio-available ingredients than most vitamins you find at WalMart, GNC, etc. If you don't know what I mean, compare cyanocobalamin and methylcobalamin. Another interesting test is to bake your vitamins in the oven. All of our lesser-quality ones had black or brown goo oozing out, but not our Garden of Life ones.

Cait_Sidhe

Is there some reason vitamins would affect your "diet program"?

EbrahimAlharazi

Thanks ☺

elphie754

Speak to your doctor and have blood work done. If you have I deficiencies, a multivitamin would do nothing for you. If you do have deficiencies, you may need more of a specific vitamin than a multivitamin can give you.

While rare, it is possible to overdose on vitamins which can cause severe health problems, including death. Just because they are OTC doesn't mean they are without risk.

Kalikel

My diet is just not covering what I need on vitamins and minerals, so I take one Centrum a day as well as other supplements that I need. I began the vitamins before I began losing weight and have lost 85 pounds.

See your doctor, have a check-up, find out if you need supplements and ask about dieting. Maybe get a referral to a dietitian.

Supplements give what you need when you don't have it. They shouldn't stop you from losing.

Strawblackcat

I actually reccomend taking vitamin suppluments, especially if you're losing weight. On a side note, I also really reccomend some sort of fatty acid suppluments (like a high quality fish oil -- Nodic Naturals, Barleen's or something of similar caliber in quality,) if you're trying to lose weight. By definition, weight loss is achieved by maintaining a caloric deficit, which is basically just deliberate malnutrition reworded to make it sound a little more desirable. If you're maintaining enough of a deficit to lose weight, the. It oftentimes becomes hard to get all of the nutrients you need from food. That's when suppluments come in handy. The reason I reccomend the fatty acid suppluments in addition to a multivitamin is because fats tend to be one of areas where people really tend to cut back when losing weight, even though fats are needed for various metabolic and endocrine (hormonal) processes.

I second the post reccomending Garden of Life as a good brand of vitamins. I use a lot of their products (protein powder, probiotics...not just vitamins,) and study have all been wonderful. The company is also really nice to work with and takes care in educating sales associates about their products and giving samples of their products so that associates can build opinions on their products based on personal experience. I've gotten a lot of products from them in this way, and I've never been disappointed.

yirara

elphie754 wrote: »

Speak to your doctor and have blood work done. If you have I deficiencies, a multivitamin would do nothing for you. If you do have deficiencies, you may need more of a specific vitamin than a multivitamin can give you.

While rare, it is possible to overdose on vitamins which can cause severe health problems, including death. Just because they are OTC doesn't mean they are without risk.

Plus would like to add, taking a vitamin and then having blood work done might hide an actual deficiency. Plus many vitamins don't get easily absorbed in the presence of others: fat for vitamin C and D3, no caffeine for iron, etc.

elphie754

Strawblackcat wrote: »

I actually reccomend taking vitamin suppluments, especially if you're losing weight. On a side note, I also really reccomend some sort of fatty acid suppluments (like a high quality fish oil -- Nodic Naturals, Barleen's or something of similar caliber in quality,) if you're trying to lose weight. By definition, weight loss is achieved by maintaining a caloric deficit, which is basically just deliberate malnutrition reworded to make it sound a little more desirable. If you're maintaining enough of a deficit to lose weight, the. It oftentimes becomes hard to get all of the nutrients you need from food. That's when suppluments come in handy. The reason I reccomend the fatty acid suppluments in addition to a multivitamin is because fats tend to be one of areas where people really tend to cut back when losing weight, even though fats are needed for various metabolic and endocrine (hormonal) processes.

I second the post reccomending Garden of Life as a good brand of vitamins. I use a lot of their products (protein powder, probiotics...not just vitamins,) and study have all been wonderful. The company is also really nice to work with and takes care in educating sales associates about their products and giving samples of their products so that associates can build opinions on their products based on personal experience. I've gotten a lot of products from them in this way, and I've never been disappointed.

Only a doctor who has blood work on you and knows your medications should be suggesting vitamins. They can actually harm you.

CSARdiver

It won't harm your plan. Vitamins are deliberately regulated as nutritionals/OTC products due to the low level of risk; however to most they are a waste of money. Make sure you are drinking plenty of water whenever you take a nutritional supplement to help flush out the waste.

lalepepper

I'm going to also agree with the others who said there's no point in supplementation unless you have a known reason to supplement. If you are already getting appropriate nutrients, supplements can provide OVER nutrition in certain types of vitamins. Some vitamins, particularly those that are fat-soluble, are more dangerous to have too much of, as they get stored in body fat, rather than being excreted through urine. Other vitamins need to be in balance to best work within the body and be appropriately absorbed. Adding a supplement to the mix because you've heard its a good idea or think you need them is ill-advised.

Get a baseline blood panel done - this will give you an idea of how well your current diet is meeting your nutritional/health needs. I had one done when I started out and was suggested to take fish oil to increase my HDL, or "good cholesterol", as it was low compared to my LDL. I also took a high dosage vit. D supplement for 3 months to correct a deficiency (which made getting active a lot easier). I also was told to start taking B12 as my levels were very low. Follow up testing is just as important to see if those interventions are working.
A couple of years later I was baseline tested again as I'd lost about 90 lbs and became a frequent blood donor, and found that my iron stores were becoming depleted, so I'm taking iron supplements for now. I still take B12 and fish oil per doc instructions as these have helped me maintain the right levels due to a diet low in meat/fish.

Point is, you don't know you need them until you get tested. Supplements have been a game-changer for me, but it's all been as-necessary and with professional oversight.