Vitamins

I like vitamins by Multibionta (for hectic lifestyles) and Immunace (to boost the immune system).

i take One A Day Womens vitamins. That's a pretty reliable brand and should be a good overall multivitamin.

I use a women's pack that includes:
1. Fish oil
2. Calcium
3. Hair, Skin and Nails
4. Daily Multivitamin

I get them off this website: It's perfect!
www.aeunlimited.net
Search for "women vitamin"

After looking at all the vitamins, I settled on Centrum for my multi-vitamin. I think it has the best stats for the money. However, I use a store brand version called Century. I'm cheap! :laugh: Costco makes a good multi too but I haven't got a Costco membership.

One thing to be careful of: many vitamins marketed to women have a lot of calcium in them. But, that's a good thing, right? Not really. Calcium and iron compete for the same receptors and calcium always wins. So, if your multi-vitamin has more than around 400 mg (give or take) of calcium, it might as well not have any iron because none of it will end up absorbed in your body.

Also, the calcium in most multi-vitamins is a cheap kind that is not well absorbed. You are better off getting a multi with as little calcium as possible and then taking your calcium, preferably in calcium citrate form, separately, at least two hours away from whenever you take anything with iron in it.

Calcium is also one of those micro-nutrients that has a threshold. You generally want to take around 500 mg at a time because only around that much is absorbed at once. So taking 1000-1200 mg in one dose is wasting your money especially if it's calcium carbonate (and, if it's a chewable, it's most likely calcium carbonate).

Finally, most people in North America are Vitamin D deficient. That can cause fatigue and inhibit your weight loss. So taking a Vitamin D3 (not D2) pill is also a good idea. You want your Vitamin D to be at least 55 on your labs not the 30 that most labs show. 30 is the old limit before they figured out that taking a lot of Vitamin D lowers your risk of certain cancers and that it's a lot harder to get toxic levels of Vitamin D than they used to think. The new daily value for Vitamin D is either 1000 or 2000 IUs depending on who you believe.

But a cool thing about Vitamin D is that it's fat soluble. So you can take 50,000 IUs once a week instead of having to take it daily. Less pills! Whee!

I consider the multi, at least 1000 mg of calcium citrate and Vitamin D3 to be the basic vitamins that all women should take. On top of that, there are other vitamins that some people find important.

These include the omega fatty acids (omega-3, 6 and 9 aka fish, flax and borage oil) which can improve your cholesterol numbers, a B-complex (low B12 can cause fatigue and the Bs are good for your heart), extra iron (if you tend to run anemic), Co-enzyme Q10 which gives your cells energy, and anything else your labs show you are low in. I get full labs done at least once a year to make sure I'm taking the right vitamins in the right doses.

I take my multi, 1500 mg of calcium (osteoporosis runs in my family), 50 mg of Co-enzyme Q10 and 2 Omega complex capsules a day and 50,000 IU of D3 once a week. I also buy the Benefiber with "heart healthy" vitamins in it though I don't think I really need it. My B12 levels are fine, for example.

often times multivitamins pass right through you completely undigested

I've heard that before but I don't believe it. First of all, if they passed through undigested, I'd see them in my poop and I don't.

I know my supplements are being absorbed because I see the changes in my labs. My vitamin D went from 32 to 71 once I started supplementing and my good cholesterol got up into the healthy range (it was low before) as a result of taking the Omegas. Those are just two examples.

It's great if you can get everything you need from food but lots of us don't, especially while dieting.

If you take your supplements with food, they are better absorbed, btw. I take mine at Breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner.

when is there a better time than "while dieting" to eat fruits and vegetables? full of nutrients and high quality calories and low in badness; that's a perfect way to eat and get healthy!

It's not healthy to eat nothing but fruits and vegetables though. You need protein and fat. There are essential fatty acids and essential amino acids that your body can't make. If you are only eating 1200 calories a day -- as many people who are on a diet are -- there are only so many nutrients you can get into your body even if you eat the healthiest you possible can for every single morsel entering your mouth.

Plus, when it comes to vitamin D, our bodies are designed to make it from sun exposure but now we all go around slathered in sunscreen whenever we go out for extended periods. (And, as an aside, it's not true that our bodies can make all the Vitamin D we need in just 10-20 min. of sun exposure a day, at least not in the latitudes most of us live in.) It's pretty hard to get all the vitamin D we need from food no matter how well we eat. There are other micro-nutrients that are scarce in the modern diet as well.

Not to mention no one is talking about taking crazy supplements of questionable quality. People are talking about things like Centrum and One-a-day and GNC vitamins. I completely disagree that these "often pass right through you."

P.S. if you don't want to come off as rude or jerky, just state your opinion without all the "I don't mean to be rude" interjections.

Where did I say you did? :laugh: The point is: when you eat lower calories, there isn't always room for everything. Plus, there is often a lack of variety because you tend to stick with what works for you. Taking supplements can fill in the gaps. It's a kind of insurance.