I personally take a whole food multivitamin Mega FOOD Women over 40, Omega 3 Nordic Naturals Omega D, Mega food Thyroid support, and at my TOM Mega Food Blood Builder. ANd I take Calm Magesium (powder in a drink) and D3 Drops in the drink.

If you are taking a prenatal with dha, why the extra folic acid and biotin? Aren't those covered in your prenatal? other than that, the CLA and fish oil...usually those don't come in something else unless it's a "diet pill" or "energy supplement".

I hope not to sound dumb but why are you all taking prenatal vitamins? I only took them when I was pregnant and could barely stomach them. If this is something I should take I will try again. Just curious

well I take D3, fish oil, biotin, chromiun, garcinia, B12, calcium, glucosamine, multi gummy, and maybe one or two others... I have not been sick in years, my allergies have not bothered me in years either Some people may say that it is too many .... i feel great!!!

I take a handful of supplements every night and have for years...just made it a nighttime ritual and don't think much about it now. The resource I used was "Dr. Atkins VitaNutrient Solution" which was very helpful in identifying areas I was lacking, and also complements a lower carb diet extremely well. The book was published in 1999, and is still in print, although you may get lucky and find a copy at the Goodwill or another thrift store.

I tend to take them based on a web curve.

I Google. I mentally note the amounts that I find from many sources. Where the numbers cluster is what I call the sweet spot.

For example the range for Vitamin D3 is 4,000 units to 115,000 units daily. The 60,000 to 115,000 units daily are what one US med school trained MD uses to cure MS with a 95% success rate per his Youtube info. So the 115,000 units and the 4000 units info gets clipped by me and I run with the 5000-20,000 daily. I have the family on 10,000 units daily and I am doing 20,000 until the end of the month then I go to 10,000 because I have been down in the 22-28 level range for the last two years and I am pushing to get to the 70-75 level by my next physical.

By the way a white person wearing no sun blocker and a good level of cholesterol on a beach in FL in the summer for 20 minutes between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm will produce about 20,000 units of vitamin D3 per most medical literature I have read for what it is worth.

I do not recommend these number or even taking any vitamins because I am not in that business. I do recommend using Google to find info on any subject of one's interest and read the literature and to watch Youtube videos of health care professionals speaking to peers in medical conferences. Due to the health care training that the wife and I have we are fine for calling the shots in our home but not the homes of others on vitamin usage.

Folks all the info is out there. One just has to be careful as to what is valid into and someone trying to sell products, etc.

GaleHawkins wrote: »

I tend to take them based on a web curve.

I Google. I mentally note the amounts that I find from many sources. Where the numbers cluster is what I call the sweet spot.

For example the range for Vitamin D3 is 4,000 units to 115,000 units daily. The 60,000 to 115,000 units daily are what one US med school trained MD uses to cure MS with a 95% success rate per his Youtube info. So the 115,000 units and the 4000 units info gets clipped by me and I run with the 5000-20,000 daily. I have the family on 10,000 units daily and I am doing 20,000 until the end of the month then I go to 10,000 because I have been down in the 22-28 level range for the last two years and I am pushing to get to the 70-75 level by my next physical.

By the way a white person wearing no sun blocker and a good level of cholesterol on a beach in FL in the summer for 20 minutes between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm will produce about 20,000 units of vitamin D3 per most medical literature I have read for what it is worth.

I do not recommend these number or even taking any vitamins because I am not in that business. I do recommend using Google to find info on any subject of one's interest and read the literature and to watch Youtube videos of health care professionals speaking to peers in medical conferences. Due to the health care training that the wife and I have we are fine for calling the shots in our home but not the homes of others on vitamin usage.

Folks all the info is out there. One just has to be careful as to what is valid into and someone trying to sell products, etc.

If only I lived in Florida! North UK pretty rubbish - I am looking at D3 supplementing to help with sleep problems - these have improved on Keto, but I am still dreaming of a perfect 7 hours!

Um- I don't take vitamins...at least not yet. I am being monitored by my doctor as I go through my weight loss/different eating plan and my blood work so far is fine. As long as you are eating a variety of foods you should be ok. You are wasting your money if your body doesn't need it because your body will not absorb all of the vitamins and you will pee the rest out. (Said from my doctors mouth lol)
So if you medically need the pills then I'm not sure what to tell you lol!
BUT if your doctor hasn't said you need them then I just wouldn't take them to be honest. Blood work will tell you if you are deficient in anything and that is hard to do unless you just avoid a lot of nutrient rich foods completely. And if you are worried about being vitamin D deficient try to get 15 minutes of sun a day at minimum this will boost your vitamin d levels and it's free! (I know this last part is hard in the winter because I live in Maine and I don't want to be outside in the winter time, but I suffer through with lots of layers lol! Good luck on finding your answer!

totaloblivia wrote: »

GaleHawkins wrote: »

I tend to take them based on a web curve.

I Google. I mentally note the amounts that I find from many sources. Where the numbers cluster is what I call the sweet spot.

For example the range for Vitamin D3 is 4,000 units to 115,000 units daily. The 60,000 to 115,000 units daily are what one US med school trained MD uses to cure MS with a 95% success rate per his Youtube info. So the 115,000 units and the 4000 units info gets clipped by me and I run with the 5000-20,000 daily. I have the family on 10,000 units daily and I am doing 20,000 until the end of the month then I go to 10,000 because I have been down in the 22-28 level range for the last two years and I am pushing to get to the 70-75 level by my next physical.

By the way a white person wearing no sun blocker and a good level of cholesterol on a beach in FL in the summer for 20 minutes between the hours of 10 am and 3 pm will produce about 20,000 units of vitamin D3 per most medical literature I have read for what it is worth.

I do not recommend these number or even taking any vitamins because I am not in that business. I do recommend using Google to find info on any subject of one's interest and read the literature and to watch Youtube videos of health care professionals speaking to peers in medical conferences. Due to the health care training that the wife and I have we are fine for calling the shots in our home but not the homes of others on vitamin usage.

Folks all the info is out there. One just has to be careful as to what is valid into and someone trying to sell products, etc.

If only I lived in Florida! North UK pretty rubbish - I am looking at D3 supplementing to help with sleep problems - these have improved on Keto, but I am still dreaming of a perfect 7 hours!

I have moved from about 6 hours to 8+ and the weight loss is starting up again better than in months. My overnight weight losses are fractionally higher as well. Before Keto took away most of my arthritis pain after 6 hours I was hurting so bad I had to get out of bed. Now I need to quit the internet cold turkey so I will get more sleep.

hkaiser350 wrote: »

Um- I don't take vitamins...at least not yet. I am being monitored by my doctor as I go through my weight loss/different eating plan and my blood work so far is fine. As long as you are eating a variety of foods you should be ok. You are wasting your money if your body doesn't need it because your body will not absorb all of the vitamins and you will pee the rest out. (Said from my doctors mouth lol)
So if you medically need the pills then I'm not sure what to tell you lol!
BUT if your doctor hasn't said you need them then I just wouldn't take them to be honest. Blood work will tell you if you are deficient in anything and that is hard to do unless you just avoid a lot of nutrient rich foods completely. And if you are worried about being vitamin D deficient try to get 15 minutes of sun a day at minimum this will boost your vitamin d levels and it's free! (I know this last part is hard in the winter because I live in Maine and I don't want to be outside in the winter time, but I suffer through with lots of layers lol! Good luck on finding your answer!

While I agree with the sentiment for the most part (though, arguably, the fat-soluble vitamins wouldn't be discarded), this does highlight one of the big problems with the US medical industry:

When was the last time you (general) had all your vitamin/mineral levels tested? Or, for that matter, when was the last time you had any of them tested?

I don't know about anyone else, but the only one I've ever been tested for is iron, and that's because a) I give blood, and b) I had issues with anemia in the past.

In my experience, getting a conventional doctor to test things for the sake of getting a baseline measurement, is often like pulling teeth. You might get lucky and get a progressive doctor willing to at least humor you, but very often, they'll tell you there's no medical reason to do so and no do it. This isn't entirely their fault -- insurance hoops for non-medically-necessary thing are a *kitten*, and they probably got (or heard horror stories of) people who had to pay for the tests out of pocket and got mad -- but it's still an issue.

You pretty much have to present with the symptoms of a deficiency to even get tested without too much resistance. For some vitamins, that means you'll be half-dead or have sustained permanent damage already.

Did you know that Metformin leeches B12 from the body as the dose and time on it goes up? Want to hear something really appalling? Most doctors won't tell you that, nor do the manufacturers supply B12 supplementation in the medication. You know what B12 deficiency results in? Neurological issues. Infertility. Immune issues.

What's even better? Some studies show that B12 deficiency rates may be as high as 40% of the population -- even those under 60.

Would you believe it's possible to be deficient in sodium on a fairly typical, or even "healthy" diet in the US? It is.

Vitamin A? Carnitine? Zinc? Yep. Yep, Yep.

This is the issue my son has had for the past few years. And no, he's not some kid who has some rare genetic disorder. He's a typical kid in a typical family. He got vaccinated when he was younger, and he got antibiotics when he got ear and sinus infections, just like millions of other kids in this country. In fact, most people would consider him and his diet just about the pinnacle of "healthy" -- he loves things like peppers and carrots and strawberries. He doesn't eat a lot of sugary foods, and for while, he wouldn't eat much meat (vegetarians would rejoice).

However, no one ever thought to consider what so many rounds of antibiotics were doing to him, or why he was getting sick every six weeks or so (unfortunately, as a first-time parent, I didn't have an frame of reference at the time to realize that something wasn't right, and the doctors never showed any indication, either). As a result, his gut flora got nuked and who-knows-what-else has gone on with his gut, which made it hard for him to digest meat or produce lactic acid (he had no lactobacillus as of the test that was run), and he became deficient in all sorts of areas, to the point it started affecting his behavior and development.

Diet should be enough (and that's what we hope to get back to), but you have no way of knowing unless you've been tested. So yes, I agree that it's kind of a waste of money to take a bunch of supplements without first finding out if you're deficient -- ideally through blood tests, but symptoms can be enough to justify until test results come in -- but the more important thing, I think, is to get a doctor that is willing and get tested to begin with.