Vitamins 101

 I have been trying to  have a healthy diet and now I am looking into vitamin supplements.  This topic is very controversial because many people swear by vitamins while others see no use for them. Today I will try to help you with this topic!


 Do you need vitamins?
Some people say that they don't need any vitamins and that they rather "eat" their way to a healthy living. That is a fair thing to say, however we must  look at how many people are able to eat a balanced diet.  According to the Mayo Clinic, while some may be able to obtain the daily recommended servings of nutrition's others may need help. People who are recommended to take vitamins (in general) are:


-Pregnant women
-Those who do not eat a balanced diet. 
- Vegan/vegetarians
-Those with medical reasons. 

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If you chose not to take vitamins, watch what you eat. Many foods lose their nutritional value after being cooked or processed.  The Mayo clinic suggests eating Whole foods.  These are more expensive but worth the price. I live in a town where there are no whole food stores (that I can find). When I am at home however, I can find stores like Whole foods and Trader Joe's who cater to organic living.  
Whole foods contain many vitamins in one and are worth investigating if you want some. During spring and summer months you may be able to check out your local farmers market. 


Should you take natural or syntheticc?
This part of my vitamin journey is what intrigued me the most. Many may wonder what the difference between the two, so here is a little breakdown:

Natural:  Contain known and unknown  Micro Nutrients (nutrients needed only in small amounts, and help the body function. )  According to the world health organization, not having them in your diet is very bad.  Vitamin B is a great example of this. Before 1925 many of the Vitamin B we have today were not discovered. If you had taken a vitamin B synthetic supplement, you would have been missing out own that other  "natural" vitamin B that  were already in natural foods, but humans had failed to find. 
Synthetic: Lack micro nutrients. Some say may work just as well as natural vitamins. Some work against "natural" vitamins. Vitamin E is an example of this. The synthetic version stops the production of any "real" Vitamin E that may come in.  They are more cheaper then Natural vitamins because of the chemicals they  use to make it. They last longer because of the coloring and preservatives put in them. However, these colorings sometimes works against your body  and stop the absorption of vitamins. 


For the most part I support Natural vitamins. I want my body to get the healthiest things possible, and I feel that taking Synthetic vitamins is counter productive to that. How can you tell which vitamin is natural or synthetic? Something simple I do is google all the ingredients. You can quickly see if its man made or natural. Something more easier than that is simply seeing if you know the ingredients. If you are taking calcium pills,  why would  yellow number 5 be something natural? if you are taking  omega 3, you should see ingredients like fish oil in your ingredients list. Knowing where your vitamins come from is simple and makes a big difference in your health.

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What/ how much  should I take?

Look for products that have the USP labels on them. This makes sure that the vitamins are pure and meet certain standards that are upheld by the United States Pharmacopoeia. You must however be careful: many vitamins are not approved by the FDA either. If this scares you talk to a doctor. And even  If they are approved,  Many vitamins that say that they are natural only need to be 10 percent natural. Likewise, those that claim to be organic don't have to be natural at all. They simply need to have one carbon atom. As mentioned before,  reading the ingredients list will help you a  a great deal when deciding weather or not to take certain pills. 

Once you have found the right vitamin make sure to check when it expires. This would be bad to be ingesting things not meant for intake for your body. In addition, get something balanced. Unless otherwise noted don't take something that has 500% of one vitamin and only 50% of another. Take something that has an overall health.  It should be noted however that taking too many vitamins is not only dangerous but unnecessary. For some vitamins, body only uses what it needs and gets rid of the rest through you peeing. This is why some say that vitamins are just expensive pee. Many people feel that they need to take more then needed and they will have "super strength." This  is not the case. for a precise accurate amount of how many vitamins you need and how many you have in your body has,  see your doctor.

Women: While many doctors encourage taking multivitamins to avoid overdose, some doctors according to live strong make two exceptions : calcium and Vitamin D. This applies heavily to women who are more prone to bone disease.

*vitamins not required to take: there are many vitamins and minerals that have not been approved by the FDA but many people find helpful. For Example MSM has been noted to strengthen joints in many and help relieve pain.  While the daily amount has not been set it is good to talk to a specialist if you feel that you may benefit from these.


Hope this helps everyone!  As always  your comments are helpful!

Health:roadblock

So I went to the gym today and I felt so  disappointed in myself. It's not that I didn't do anything, I just didn't have the "drive" that I did yesterday. I blame this on several things:

1. Not stretching. Or not enough. I usually stretch at home and at the gym before working out, yesterday, I didn't stretch at home. 

2. Lack of motivation. Because I didn't stretch as much I felt soar, and it quickly left me feeling useless. I usually love to "feel the pain," it feels really good to me, like I know that it's working, but today I just couldn't. 

My advice to those of you who are feeling this slump is to take it easy. Instead of just leaving the gym, I decided to make this a "cool-down day" instead. Of course, I made myself push through the abs workout, but spent the rest of the time in the weight room. Usually that's where i end my workout, but I decided to let that be my whole workout. I also felt like walking around the track. 

Here's a quick post hope you can get a bit more insight on how to get over your slump!

Fitness: Working out

Hello everyone! As the new year proceeds, many of us set goals for ourselves, today, I will be talking about one of then and how to achieve it. 

The  biggest thing about being healthy is eating right and exercising more I will focus on working out; especially if your goal is to lose weight, However many of us get caught up in where to begin. Alas, here are a few tips to help you out! 

1. Find a partner and push each other. It is very easy to think you have done enough when your alone. This way, you can keep taps on each other, and help each other stay on course. 

2. Break down your goal so that you have check points. For example: if you are trying to lose 50 pounds total, set a goal to lose 5 pounds each month, and have specific weigh ins. This leaves you with two months to maintain your goal wight. 

3. Set a schedule. This is something you must do for any goal you make. Time management is very important and if you are like me, you have to plan for things or you will be unorganized quickly. You should first pick days you want to go to the gym, and that fit in you schedule. Next, pick times and stick to it. Once you plan out when you want to go to the gym, plan out what you are going to do and for how long. 

4. find a personal trainer. For the college student, this might be a bit hard because of finical constraints. but you could take a fitness class instead. What I have written are only tips; I am no professional, so always seek that help. This leads me to my 5th point,

5. See a doctor. Many people think that the only time you go to a doctor is when you are sick but a doctor is there for your health and well being. If you are tyring to lose a few pounds, see a doctor to make sure that you are doing it in a healthy way. they can give you more specific health tips and signs designed for your body type. its important to get the low down form someone professional. 

Hope this helps all of you! Happy New year