Vitamins And Supplements Part 2: Beyond the Minimum

Vitamins And Supplements: Part 2 Beyond the Minimum

Some people are vitamin takers and some aren’t. My husband is not, which frustrates me no end. To get Rod to take any vitamins at all, I have to buy chewable Flintstones, although he likes the Pokemon ones, too. I wouldn’t mind if he ate healthily, but he has been known to slip his vegetables onto one of the kids’ plates when he thinks no one is looking, and is not above pouring chocolate syrup on his favorite combination of Peanut Butter Captain Crunch and Cocoa Puffs.

Ah, but we are sensible people here, and we’re trying to improve our health by a combination of eating a healthy diet, exercising, and taking appropriate supplements. We discussed what I consider to be the minimum vitamins and supplements that I think everybody should take in Part I of “Vitamins and Supplements,” which are a good multivitamin, extra vitamin C, a calcium/magnesium/zinc combination, and potassium. If you haven’t read Part I, I suggest that you follow this link and read it before you continue with Part II.

We’re going to move on now and discuss taking additional vitamins, minerals, and supplements to both enhance our dietary regime and our general health.

Cautions

I am not a medical professional, but have done quite a bit of reading on this subject. The opinions I express below are just that – opinions – and you should always discuss any changes in your vitamin/mineral/supplement regime with your own doctor and/or pharmacist. This article is meant to be a simple overview to point you in the right direction.

I will not recommend specific doses of the various vitamins, minerals, and supplements. It is up to you to do your own research, consult with your doctor or pharmacist, and decide what is the right dosage for you.

If you take prescription medications, it is wise to ask your doctor or pharmacist about any potential interaction between the prescription medication and any vitamins, minerals, or supplements you would like to take.

Be careful to buy vitamins, minerals, or supplements that have no added sugar, wheat/gluten, or milk products/lactose. All these things add carbohydrates to them and are unnecessary.

When buying minerals such as calcium and potassium, look for chelated on the label or in the product name. Chelation involves combining minerals with amino acids, and doing so improves absorption of minerals so that your body will more effectively absorb them.

Most vitamins, if stored tightly capped or closed in an opaque container in a cool, dark place, will remain viable for two to three years, but always check the expiration date on the container and buy the freshest vitamins that you can. I have heard reports from several low carbers who have recently bought vitamins and, when they got home, found that the expiration date on the container was already past!

Understanding The Labels

Vitamins, minerals, and supplements are manufactured in a variety of standard measurements, the most common of which are:

• IU = International Unit
• mg. = milligram
• mcg. = microgram
• g. = gram
• gr. = grain

In addition, it is helpful to know that:

• AMDR = Adult Minimum Daily Requirement
• MDR = Daily Minimum Daily Requirement
• RDA = Recommended Daily Requirement

Always read the nutritional analysis panel on any vitamins or supplements that you take.

Pharmaceutical companies and vitamin manufacturers often add additional vitamins, minerals, or supplements to their formulas, and you need to take all of the ingredients into account when you are formulating your regime.

What Should We Take?

What should we take? Well, don’t get mad, but I’m not going to tell you. I’m not a medical professional, and my goal here is to provide you with a vehicle that will help you do your own research and make your own decisions. (My kids hate it when I do this.)

I will tell you what not to do, though

• Don’t take a vitamin or supplement just because your neighbor does and swears by it. This obviously doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take it, but do your own research and make your own decision about whether it is right and appropriate for you.
• Don’t add a myriad of vitamins and supplements to your regime without discussing it with your doctor.
• Don’t spend more than you can afford on vitamins and supplements. We should be primarily fulfilling our dietary needs by eating healthy foods. Vitamins and supplements are meant to fill in the gaps, not be our primary source of nutrition.
• More is not always better. Do not exceed the recommended maximum levels of the vitamins and supplements that you choose to take!

Standard Reference Materials

I have used a number books as reference materials, but a good basic library can consist of very few books. The ones I have used the most, all available in paperback, are:

• Dr. Atkins Vita-Nutrient Solution by Dr. Robert C. Atkins
• Earl Mindell’s Vitamin Bible by Earl Mindell
• Earl Mindell’s Supplement Bible by Earl Mindell

Dr. Atkins Vita-Nutrient Solution

It sounds mind-boggling to craft your own vitamin/supplement regime, but it’s fairly simple if you just take your time and have the appropriate reference books. My favorite is Dr. Atkins Vita-Nutrient Solution.

Dr. Atkins has done a marvelous job with this book; it is a gold mine of information. There is an informative overview of the importance of the various nutrients to overall good health. Most importantly, though, there is an exceptional section (the bulk of the book) called “The Vita-Nutrients,” which discusses all of the essential dietary nutrients: what they are, what they do, how they affect us, what happens if we are deficient in them, and how they can affect various diseases and syndromes.

In the last section of Dr. Atkins Vita-Nutrient Solution Dr. Atkins gives us concise protocols for using vitamins and supplements to holistically treat various health issues, diseases, and syndromes. If, for example, you have high blood pressure (hypertension), there is a section that discusses those vitamins and supplements Dr. Atkins recommends. They are broken down into the “most important” and “moderately important.”

Earl Mindell’s Vitamin Bible and Earl Mindell’s Supplement Bible

I like both of Earl Mindell’s books as well. They’re easy to obtain; you can find them in paperback at virtually any grocery store, pharmacy, or bookstore. I use Mr. Mindell’s books as a safety net to “double check” my own self-prescribed regime before I show it to my doctor for his approval.

Mr. Mindell discusses the various vitamins and supplements in detail, but most importantly writes not only about the minimum daily requirements but also the toxicity levels of each. He outlines the symptoms of a deficiency of each vitamin and describes the symptoms of the toxicity levels of each one as well.

Where To Begin

The first thing you must do is your research, and decide what vitamins and supplements you feel would benefit you. Some of them will almost certainly be included in your multivitamin; others will not be. So how do you come up with an uncomplicated shopping list?

In Part I of Vitamins and Supplements” I provided a chart for comparing your own multivitamins with several national brands, and here in Part II I am providing two: one that is filled out to use as an example of what I do and a blank one that you can fill out yourself and print to take to the store as your shopping list.

Let’s look at the example chart first. It might be helpful to print this out so that you don’t have to be flipping back and forth between the article and the chart. Vitamin Examples

The chart is divided into sections. Column A is reserved for the names of the various vitamins and supplements. Column B contains the amounts of those vitamins and supplements that are included in the Atkins Basic 3 multivitamin. I filled in these two columns first from the information on the nutritional analysis panel on the vitamin bottle.

Now, for this chart I choose two aspects of general health at random: hypertension (high blood pressure) and depression. I wrote “Hypertension” at the top of Column C and “Depression” at the top of Column D. Then, using Dr. Atkins Vita-Nutrient Solution as a reference, I filled in the vitamins and supplements Dr. Atkins recommends for these health problems in the appropriate horizontal rows. If anything Dr. Atkins recommends is not included in the Atkins Basic 3, I add that vitamin or supplement to Column A and then put the recommended amount in the appropriate column.

Column D is for my shopping list. In it I put the amounts those vitamins or supplements that I want to take that are not included in the Atkins Basic 3 multivitamin. For those items which are not included at all, this simply involves moving the total amounts over, but you will often find that your multivitamin contains some but not enough of other vitamins or supplements.

When your multivitamin provides just a portion of what you want to take, subtract the amount provided by your multivitamin from the amount you want to take and put that number in your shopping list column. For example, in this fictitious chart, the Atkins Basic 3 provides 25 mg of vitamin B1, but I want to take between 150 and 300 mg of B1. By subtracting the 25 mg provided by the Atkins Basic 3, I can see that I want to find a vitamin B1 tablet that provides between 125 and 275 mg.

When you have filled in the “Shopping List” column, take it to your doctor or pharmacist to make sure that none of the listed items will negatively interact with any prescription medications you are taking. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to go out and get your vitamins and supplements with an easy checklist.

Are you ready to try this for yourself? Here’s the link to the blank chart that you can print out and use:

Blank Vitamin Table

A Couple Of Things To Consider…

You may want to shop around to see if another multivitamin provides more of the additional vitamins and supplements you want to take than your current one does. If you can find one that does, it will save you some money.

I also recommend that when adding vitamins or supplements to your diet you start with the lower rather than the higher amount that Dr. Atkins recommends. You can always add more if you feel that you need it, but vitamins are expensive, so see if the lower amount satisfies your requirements first.

Down To The Nuts And Bolts

So now you’ve done your research and decided what you want to take, you’ve filled out your chart and come up with your shopping list, you’ve had your list vetted by your doctor, and you’ve actually gone out and bought all the vitamins and supplements. Now all you have to do is start taking them, but….

Do you really think you’re going to open umpty-zillion little bottles every morning? Of course not! I strongly suggest you get several of those vitamin holders so that all you have to do in the morning is flip open the lid and dump the day’s vitamins and supplements out.

In fact, I strongly suggest you get several! I have four, and fill them once a month, and as I dole out the month’s vitamins and supplements I make a note of which ones I’m running low on. That way I have 4 weeks to get around to getting replacements, and I can take my time and look for sales to hopefully save a bit of money.

While these handy dandy vitamin holders are great for use at home, but I have found (sadly, from personal experience) that they do not travel well. One compartment or another is always popping open in the suitcase, making a mess of all my efforts at organization. Scooping all the vitamins and supplements out of the bottom of the suitcase and making a vain effort to sort them out is a pain in the patoot! But you can teach an old dog new tricks, and now when I travel I use snack-size Zip Lock bags.

Like Hansel and Gretel, I’ll never get lost in the woods. I may misread the roadmap, I may wander off the path into the forest primeval (and probably manage to tramp through a patch of poison ivy), but I’ll always be able to find my way home by following the trail of empty Zip Lock bags.