Vitamin Cabinet Raid!

Hi hope you all had a wonderful weekend..mine consisted of a lot of good food and a LOT of "Walking Dead" episodes. We're obsessed and surprisingly I've only had one nightmare so far (if only I was joking).

I got this idea for a vitamin cabinet raid after watching those beauty tutorials on youtube where the girls go through their makeup bags and show everything they use and all that. I refuse to watch them anymore because I usually end up wasting my whole night trying to do some impossible hairdo or eyeshadow "look" and end up scaring my husband...(if only I was joking about that too)

Anyway.......supplement time!

A quick summary on what to look for in a supplement:
1. Purchased from a health food store (independent, non-chain health food stores will most likely have the best quality as well as Whole Foods) NOT from the drugstore (see post below)
2. For vitamins and minerals: a whole foods based supplement. Meaning the vitamins and minerals were derived directly from food sources as opposed to synthetically produced in some factory *cough*drugstore*cough* ;)
3. Probiotics and liquid essential fatty acids/flax/fish oils should be in dark containers and refrigerated for optimal freshness
4. Look at the ingredient list and aside from the ingredients used to make the actual capsule, there should be no weird additives.
Ingredients such as this are okay: plant cellulose, gelatin, glycerin
These ingredients are not okay and could be very harmful to your health: Colors such as red #33 or any other artificial coloring, titanium dioxide, methyl paraben, soybean oil-found in some fish oil supplements


So here's a little look into my "medicine cabinet"
Don't be alarmed, I don't take all of these every day! The ones I do take almost daily are my Omegas 3-6-9, multivitamin, b-complex and vitamin D-3

Top from left
Biogest by Thorne: a digestive aid. If you find you have trouble digesting your meals (ie: burping, bloating, acidity) this helps aid with digestion by providing more enzymes since the enzymes in your body may need a little boost.

B12 by Advanced Series: I learned I had low B12 levels a few years ago. This can also be taken if you need an energy boost as it is nearly impossible to have too much B vitamins as they are not actively stored in the body.

Whole body defense by Gaia: I usually just take this around cold/flu season to boost my immune system

Bottom, from Left:
Probiotics by Flora: Supports the healthy bacteria in your gut which is responsible for breaking down food, keeping bad bacteria in check thus helping your immune system.
Taken occasionally- mainly if my stomach hurts (my stomach is really out to get me -more on that in a later post)

Fish Oil with Vitamin D by Nordic Naturals: Love this brand mainly because I know it is pharmaceutical grade and because I never get that gross burping that sometimes occurs with fish oil

Tension Release by Megafoods: I cannot live without this. From time to time, just like anyone else,I feel stressed or annoyed, etc...also kind of runs in my family :p
This formula is amazing and works pretty fast and makes you feel really good.

Women's One Daily by Megafoods: My multivitamin. After this is finished I will probably get a iron free one since I just recently learned that iron competes with some vitamins for absorption, therefore should be taken separately

Balanced B-Complex: Extremely important since B-vitamins do not get stored in the body, they either need to be consumed or supplemented regularly. Many times the b-vitamins are lost in the cooking process and deficiencies are pretty common (like my b12 deficiency)

Vitamin D3: Many studies have concluded that Vitamin D deficiencies are becoming more and more common, especially since now in the 21st century, we spend much less time outdoors. Aside from that, sunblock inhibits vitamin D absorption from the sun and some darker skinned cultures have much higher deficiency rates than others. (Like me, for example- had very low vitamin D levels when I got them checked a few years back). D-3 is the best form for our bodies.

Udo's 3-6-9 by Flora: Wrote an entire post below on how awesome it is! Provides all the essential fatty acids which our body cannot make but absolutely needs.

All of these brands have VERY good reputations and I highly recommend them to anyone! Start off with a good multivitamin and a 3-6-9 Omega fatty acid supplement and go from there. If you feel that you have specific issues and need more advice, look for a local Naturopathic Doctor or a Holistic Practitioner who can give you insight into what you can do to support your body.