Photo: Veer
My mother has been bugging me about taking vitamins since I was still in the chewable Flinstones stage, and I’ve taken them…..sportatically.
A few months back, my friend Sunni told me that she’d started taking an assortment of vitamins and could feel the difference. I vowed to do the same.
I lasted for about a month and then slowly tapered off as I forgot or neglected to take the pills. When cleaning my office of the weekend I found my stash and decided I’d better start up again.
On the list? A daily (diet support, whatever that means), Calcium, C, Flax/Fish/Borage and a B-12.
How about you? Do you take daily vitamins? How do you ensure that you take them every day? Why are they so HUGE?
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a problem with getting and staying in habit of taking them. I have a large jar of multivitamins that I just stare at and always forget to take.
I don’t. I took a multi-vitamin for women several years ago and after a while I began to notice that about 20 minutes after I took it I’d be nauseated for like a half hour. It was unpleasant so I stopped. Plus I never really noticed any positive side benefits like more energy. But the BF takes this fish oil pill (or something) and he swears by it. He got me some for xmas but I just ignored it.
I’ve been really good about this for the past few months, ever since finally getting my iron up to decent levels (via supplements). I didn’t want to keep taking crazy amounts of iron every day, but I did want to maintain healthy levels…so I bought a jar of Flintstones chewables. Just finished those and decided to go for a more grown-up vitamin, but I always have trouble with the huge pills…so I bought some gel-type capsules. They are much easier to swallow and less stinky than your typical adult vitamin, but still HUGE!
Oh and yeah, the weird fish oil pills? HUGE. which I hate.
I always try and remember to take a daily. I like the ones with green tea extract for added energy. However, sometimes I don’t get around to taking them because without enough food in my stomach I get so nauseous and I often run out of the house without breakfast. Other than the daily, I like flaxseed oil capsules, 15 mg zinc pills and an additional B complex.
i’ll keep checking back for suggestions on how to remember to take the damn things. i used to be super into homeopathics (which i loved, when i could afford it) but would always have trouble remembering to take the shit. now that i’m trying to make a behbeh it’s a constant struggle to remember the pre-natal. i keep one bottle on my bedside table and another in the kitchen, i leave myself post it notes, ask the hubbs to remind me ( yeah, right). i will get on a roll and take ‘em three or four nights in a row and then nothing. but i’m like that with flossing, too.
I am also a chronic forgetter of vitamin taking although I profess strong devotion to the things. When a family member was seriously ill and couldn’t get the pills down but really needed the nutrition I bought an expensive (35$) bottle of liquid vitamins from my local health food co op. I liked it so I ended up buying myself a bottle. IT tastes fine, slightly medicinal but not bad, kind of like a super concentrated version of that green superfood juice you can buy. You only need a spoonful or two and I find it easier to want to take. You can also hide it in smoothies and milkshakes and stuff which makes it more fun. I like to take it and follow it with a shot when I am drinking. It is also all sourced from plants and herbs so you get your basic range of vitamins but you can actually recognize the ingredients. I believe based on no evidence that this also makes it absorb better.
Pretty much the only thing my dad has ever nagged me about (he’s an ER doc) was to take daily vitamins. He even nags my husband to nag me to take vitamins, because I suck at it. I can’t take them in the mornings, because they tend to make me nauseated on an empty stomach, and I often forget anyway. Now I keep them on my desk at work and take one every day when I get back from my lunch break.
I just take a women’s multivitamin, but if I’m feeling like a sickness is coming on, I add vitamin C and echinacea supplements. One thing to keep in mind: there’s no “more is better” thing when it comes to vitamins. 100% of the recommended intake is all you need, and taking more doesn’t make it any more effective since you pee most of it out.
Also: try to get 15 minutes in the sunshine each day so you can get your vitamin D– the kind you make yourself is much more efficient in your body than the kind from supplements, and vitamin D has recently been found to play a role in heart health.
@funnyface: Bah! I have a thing of Vitamin D I haven’t partaken of in ages, and I stay as far away from the sun as is possibly in southern california. Right now I’m hiding in the shade of my apartment and drinking rum and cokes. And yes I know it’s just now passed three in the afternoon!
Bah! I say!
I also get very sick to my stomach if I take vitamins in the morning without food….I might need to just keep them at work!
Long-time lurker speaking up! Like funnyface I take my vitamins at work. I take fish oil capsules as my therapist recommended it for maintaining healthy seratonin levels. I also take chelated zinc tablets – I had a body part pierced and was recommended zinc to assist with healing and skin repair, and it totally works! I ran out a few weeks ago and my face broke out like never before. I am on day four of the new bottle and my skin has improved 110%.
I just added vitamins to my routine – because they’re at my desk I take them with my cup of tea in the morning.
Thanks for the great blog!
No multi, but I take omega-3 (the fish oil ones) and B-complex every morning (with yogurt and granola or whatnot to avoid getting nauseated). I notice a huge energy drop if I forget to take them. The way I started remembering to take them was by keeping them in the medicine cabinet next to my BC and anti-depressant- I take them all at once and ta da! no babies, no sads, and an energy vitamin cocktail all in one fell swoop. ;)
PS: Even if you don’t remember to take them every day, try taking Vitamin B complex when you have a hangover, it seriously helps!
I take vitamin D, not every day but a couple of pills every few days. It’s especially important (imho) to keep your vitamin D levels up during winter – which depending on where you live, can be very tricky indeed!
hi penny! just found your site via jezebel’s SNS and i am amazed! it is lovely! i want to add that i take the vitamins and for the first time i always remember b/c 1) i take an antidepressant that i CANNOT forget (not taking it makes me feel like im on heroin or something) and 2) ALWAYS take it with milk. so i throw a huge handful of all my pillz (effexor, minocyclin for acne, vitamin b complex from trader joe’s thats AWESOME but makes you pee highlighter, acidophilus, valtrex, and spirulina b/c i never eat greens) and take them in a big gulp with milk. that way i dont feel sick and i can get them all down (most of the time– if not i just take another swig of milk and keep swallowing). it has made me have more energy and i feel healthier.