Do you take vitamins or supplements?

well I just had my colonoscpy about 4 weeks ago and the Doc has never seen my insides look so healthy - I said it really must be all the anti-boitics - LOL

I take a multi that focuses on anti-oxidants. I don't eat a lot of veggies, and they supposely help the immune system and recovery from working out. Plus I drink a little green tea here and there.

What I'm wondering is...how much of a vitamin pill can your body actually break down and digest? How much of the nutrients are lost in processing/manufacturing? I'm sure your body isn't utilizing the amount claimed on the bottle.

Boomerang, that "supplement of the month" has basically what's in Red Bull. Taurine, B12, and caffeine. Mmmm...Red Bull. Not that the drink is any good for you.

That's why I always take a capsule over a pill if given a choice.

I take only those drugs prescribed by my cardiologists and nothing else.

I certainly agree that if you are under a doctor's care that you should only take the things they recommend!

Brandon sounds like he knows a thing or two about vitamins, unlike me, who just takes them out of habit - and that's why I asked the question.

I did recently start taking a new prescription and the doctor said to wait a couple of hours before taking vitamins because they (among other things) interfered with the absorption of the medicine.

The fact that the doctor assumed that I took a vitamin is interesting in itself......

Is THAT what Red Bull is!?

What about Rock Star?

I have a friend who is addicted to that stuff. I tasted it once and couldn't stand it so I've never been tempted.

The only beverage I drink that comes in a can is beer.

I've read that your body can't absorb more than 600 mg of calcium at a time, so I take 500 mg in the AM and 500 at night. I also make sure I get at least one serving of dairy per day. At my age, I should be getting 1500 mg of calcium a day.

I forgot to mention that I occasionally take Viactiv calcium chews. It's pretty much candy with calcium in it. They make multivitamins too.

Mac, That's my supplement of choice. I hate pills.

Yeah, I think they're really onto something. I really like the caramel ones.

You'd have to hide them from the kids instead of forcing them to take one.

This candy vitamin thing reminds me of the old diet-aid "Aids". Remember that?

It disappeared right around the time AIDS became something people didn't whisper about.

I think they have a new name now.

Oooh, I used to sneak and eat some of my mother's box of Aids. Baddddd girl!

Very bad girl!

Weren't they just laxatives?

Hmmm, I don't remember that part...

I could be wrong.

Maybe it was just speed.

It seems that back in the 70s and before, laxatives and speed were the only things going diet-wise.

Ayds? They were meal-substitute cookies, supposed to contain all necessary nutrients. Maybe they're still around under a new name - never tried them.

Yeah, Ayds. I'd forgotten the funny spelling.

The ones I remember came in a little sectioned off candy box and looked like chewy chocolates.

I take a daily multi and glucosamine-chondroitin for my knees. I also use flax oil in the summer and fish oil in the winter. Both are good sources of Omega 3s but the flax oil is a plant source and the fish oil is animal. I don't recall why fish oil is better in the winter but I read about it once and it made sense at the time.

I also swallow my multi and GC with low-sodium V8 every day. The lycopene in the tomato juice is a great anti-oxidant.

I get extra calcium but eating low-fat dairy throughout the day. Cottage cheese with tomato chunks and sunflower seeds (pepitas) are my favorite snack, particularly when I can get good tomatoes.

Calcium should be spread throughout the day and you should avoid taking calcium and vitamin C at the same time. Don't swallow your calcium supplement with OJ, it inhibits the absorption of the calcium.

Also, all mutli-vitamins are not created equal. The source of the nutrient is key to the therapeutic value you get from it. Also, the time it takes to dissolve matters on how much of the nutrients will be released before you digest the pill while still in pill form. I brought my bottle of 'One-A-Day for Women' to our local holistic medical center so they could review the label and give me an opinion. He basically said to throw them away. I bought the ones they recommended and went through the entire winter last year without a single cold or flu episode. I think that was a first! I got the idea from my neighbor who had done the same thing three years before. She hasn't had any viral illnesses in four years now.

Your coffee is on me today.

Put coin in slot
Choose your brew
Remove cup from dispenser
click on bottom line

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