Vitamins, Minerals - Supplements Essentials

[shelley]

Here's a first draft of the distilled-down essentials that everyone must know in order to take vitamins safely, wisely and effectively. Please do ask questions as that will help me with re-writes.

Vitamin and Mineral Basics

The fat-soluble vitamins (A, E, D) are stored for long periods of time and are easier to overdose on. You can only get them or utilize them properly if you have both animal and vegetable fats in your diet. The only known cases of overdose have come from synthetic vitamins. Some, like Vitamin E, are very complex vitamins, not just one chemical. So it's not at all a good idea to take Vitamin E as a refined vitamin. Fat-soluble vitamins are best taken as super-foods. D is an exception - it's hard to find a good super-food besides Milk for Vitamin D, and so if it's there in your calcium supplement that's a good thing.

Best source of Vitamin A & D: Cod Liver Oil and Eggs and Whole Milk
Best Source of Vitamin E: Cold-pressed wheat germ oil.

They antagonize each other, so alternate the days you take them (A on one, E on the other). E antagonizes C, so take C if you take E.
A needs Zinc. You only need a teaspoon a day. Butter is a great source of A too, and having both cod liver oil and butter in your diet will give you a young heart and beautiful skin.

Water-Soluble Vitamins

The all-famous B vitamins are water-soluble, as is C. You can take large doses of these vitamins without overdosing. C has what's knows as "bowel tolerance." It will cause diarrhea if you exceed your bowel tolerance.

The B vitamins that usually need supplementing are:

Biotin - Kal's 1,000 mg lemon lozenges
Folic Acid - 400 mcg
B12 - take as Kal's Methylcobalamin, the most active form of B12, at 1,000 mg. B12 is is essential to red blood cell health, healthy nervous system and brain function, etc. B12 is only found in animal foods. Herbivores eat millions of insect eggs and their own feces in order to get B12 from microbial activity. Human vegetarians probably won't want to do this, so they should supplement.

The rest of the B's are best gotten from food, particularly Nutritional Yeast Flakes, Brewer's Yeast, or Eggs. B's help with digesting food, so if you're not eating you don't need a lot of B's.

C is best taken as Kal's buffered, sustained release 1,000 mg, or Emergen-C, or Ester C.

Co-Enzyme Q10 is often helpful for migraines, kidney and heart issues, etc. It's good to keep on hand at 60 mg doses and test once daily with kinesiology to see if you need it.

Minerals

Minerals are essential to building enzymes, keeping blood, cellular and intra-cellular pH balanced, and working hand-in-hand with vitamins to perform various essential functions. Some are not stored at all - if you don't eat them, you don't have them. Every protein chain has minerals in it. The body only absorbs a minute amount of the minerals we swallow, so frequent doses are essential.

The most commonly needed minerals are:

Zinc, because of depleted ground soil, alcohol indulgence, stress. Take 50 mg chelated as needed.
Calcium/Magnesium (they work together) especially if you don't eat dairy or if you eat a lot of sugar, processed foods.
Iodine - not highly prevelant in foods at all. Best taken as Kelp. Try Kal's Kelp, 225 mcg Iodine. Essential for gland and skin health.
Iron - an iron molecule is at the heart of every red blood cell. It is the only way the body can transport oxygen. Anemia will cause a heart attack faster than high cholesterol. Take Kal or Solaray's Iron Asporotate as needed.
Selenium - Essential for building anti-oxidants that scavenge the body of free-radicals. Take as 50 mcg.
and it's nice to have a full-spectrum mineral supplement on hand like Solaray's Mega Multi-Mineral if you're not juicing, making broths or eating yeast.

The rest of the minerals, including trace minerals, can easily be gotten from Nutritional Yeast Flakes, Liquid Concentrace, and foods like Sea Salt, especially eggs, meats, herbal teas, fresh-squeezed vegige juices, veggie broths, particularly from greens. Avoid most brands of colloidial minerals, they are too contaminated and not well regulated.

Essential Fatty Acids

Lecithin - is part of almost every cell in your body.
Choline - builds essential neurotransmitters. Can be found in Soy Lecithin.
Linoleic and Linolenic Acid - essential for heart health and reproductive organs and hormones, especially progesterone, which is probably why men have heart attacks twice as frequently as women.
Omega 3 fatty acids (includes the above)

Again, these are best found in foods rather than pills. You can take fish and salmon pills, but make sure they are pharmeceutically pure. You can buy Soy Lecithin - there's no soy left in it - and add to shakes, smoothies, salads, or eat off the spoon. Good sources are olive oil, coconut, palm, butter, Ghee, dairy and other animal products.

How to Take Supplements

Best taken with food. Some vitamins only help you to digest foods, so if you're not eating you don't need them. Don't lie down afterwards. Take whenever you test positive for via kinesiology, or if you're not comfortable with kinesiology yet, follow the timing guidelines in the FAQ.

If you're not using kinesiology, then go by your symptoms, study up well on the signs of toxic overdose, and stop taking them if in doubt.

DON'T EVER TAKE A ONE-A-DAY TYPE VITAMIN SUPPLEMENT. They are all crap. There's no way those tiny, enteric coated pills can nourish your body. They'll just give you expensive pee, making your liver and kidneys work overtime.

If you're not sure what you're doing and don't want to do a lot of reading, simply take the RDA for 30-60 days and then take a break. www.acu-cell.com lists safe therapeutic values for each vitamin and mineral and I've found the site to be very accurate.

It helps to alternate your minerals - calcium one day, iron the next, or morning/evening, as most minerals tend to share receptors. That means one mineral will cancel out the possibility of another mineral being absorbed.

Sometimes taking a lot of one mineral will mean that you actually start excreting more of another mineral. So that's why you don't want to overdose anything.

Some people prefer taking a broad-spectrum mineral supplement and simply trust the body to take in what it needs.

Vitamin C is a weird vitamin - some people need lots, some very little. What's improtant to know is we tend to easily shed excess, and the more we take the more we shed. So don't megadose - stick to 500 to 1,000 mg only unless you are trying to detox metals and such. Then you can do 3 days of 500 mg every 3 hours around the clock.

[the dog]

Nice post!

How about cod liver oil as a vitamin D supplement? At least my Moller cod liver oil has some D in it. I'm at work now so I can't check the exact amount.

[shelley]

Yep! cod liver has A and D, just lots more A. I'll edit it to reflect that.

[glowingsoul]

Hi Shelley

Regarding Vitamin C dosage; what do you feel is a comfortable level for daily intake?
I read a lot of different opinions on this; a lot of people advocate about taking a few grams a day for great results, while others think that a couple hundred milligrams should be the upper limit; one of Andreas book mentions how a friend of his developed swelling in his kidneys by taking 2g vit c as a daily dose and mentions a study relating vitc overdosage with heart problems.

I currently take a couple packets of emergen-c daily, but I am looking to shift towards whole food vit c
Any comments on this?
Thanks

[shelley]

Hi glowing soul!

Vitamin C is one of those things that no one can predict for you. We all have very different tolerances and needs depending on our body type and our diet and exposure to environmental toxins. It's a lot like alcohol and carbs in that respect. Blood type O's tend to need much less than other people, etc. etc. etc.

The only way to ever know for sure is to test via kinesiology. I test positve for 1,000 mg a day, sometimes 2,000 mg. And I make sure to test for the other nutrients that Vitamin C antagonizes - forces out of our system. For a list of antagonizers visit www.acu-cell.com. That site lists every nutrient, what helps us absorb and retain it, and what takes it out of our body. be sure to read my recent post on how to take vits and supplements, the last part describes my kinesiology routine, which I highly encourage everyone to adapt so they can be empowered to make the choices that are right for them, the choices no one can predict accurately.

[michael515]

Shelley,

Terrific website. I've spent a week reading all the info on FAQ and all your posts in the Candida Forum. I have to say that in all my 10 years of research in alternative health you are by far the most helpful.

I won't get into my health much but I will say this. I have been on antibiotics 5 times in the past. The third time was a continuous cycle of different antibiotics to "treat" acne for 8 YEARS!!! I pray that God forgives the ignorance and inability of my doctors for allowing me to do this without knowing the ramifications.

I weaned myself form them 5 years ago but I haven't come close to conquering what I believe to be candida. I thought my diet was pretty healthy but with your information I am making immediate changes.

The biggest of which is not to kill yeast as much as focusing on digestion, cleansing, and replacing the good friendlies. The tips you give on spice and how to eat food is priceless. It makes complete sense and yet I've never heard it. I will get into more about my plan of attack another time. But here's my specific question...

Regarding supplementation... I'm a bit confused about how much of a supplement to take and, more importantly, how often to take them and for how long.

I currently rotate all my foods and try my best to never eat the same food for 3-4 days to create balance. I know I have deficiencies and need to target specific areas like my liver. I ordered some books on kinesiology from the library and will get soon. I really don't want to supplement longer than neccessary but rather transition to whole foods again once I'm better.

For supplements in general is there a protocol for how often to take supplements? For example, I feel like my liver needs to be targeted because my eyes are bloodshot and I have dark circles under them. I bought some Liv.52 and will get it in a few days.

I could be wrong but this is what I'd assume the options to be...

With products like Liv.52 that target specific needs. I'd assume the protocol to be a bit more intense and a shorter time span:
1. Take them heavily in the beginning like 2 pills a day (or whatever "heavy" means for that product) for a week and then taper down for 1 a day for another 3 weeks or so and then one every other day.
2. Hit it hard for 2 weeks, off 2 weeks, on another 2 weeks and then off for three months like herbs.

With supplements like NYF (Nutritional Yeast Flakes), cod liver oil, where I'd take them throughout the year as staples in my diet. Treat them like other foods and only take them every few days so as not to develop an allergy:
1. Take one teaspoon every day for a week or two at first and then once every 3 days or so.
2. Take one teaspoon every 3 days or so right from the start.

With more broad spectrum vitamins and minerals like C, Cal-Mag, Zinc, digestive enzymes:
1. Take them every day in the beginning while I am deficient but then as I get stronger to make the transition to whole foods by slowly tapering down the dosage and frequency.

What about a product like colostrum to boost the immune system? I've been taking it every day for 2 weeks. It's derived from cows and I assume it to be more of a food derived supplement. How often would you suggest taking a supposedly powerful supplement like this?

I ask these questions because you mention that having too much is worse than having enough. Any comments or feedback would be really helpful Shelley. I plan to learn kinesiology but I'd still like to know if there are any general guidelines for supplements with different functions like these.

Thank you tremendously in advance.

Michael

[ivana]

Welcome to the site/forum, I'm glad it has such an impression on you.

ok let's see.

First of all you should cycle when supplementing. When you learn how to use kinesiology you'll be able to know what you're body needs.

1. Liv 52 is ok. It has milk thistle, so it will do what you need to have done - it will protect the liver from damage as the body excretes heavy metals. To actually excrete them, you have to take in oils and plenty of fluids and you have to also sweat. Some exit via bile (liver), some via the kidneys, and some via sweat glands.

2. NYF can be taken every day, cope of times a day. Now I'm taking them and plan to go with it for at least two months and than I'll make a short break.

3. Like I sad cycle. But I would take a lot of C's (esterC or EmegenC) to release more toxins.

4. Take Colostrum - it's a fantastic immune system strengthener.

Hope this helps,
ivana

[beachbuminthecountry]

Shelley do NYF's have the same B's as eggs.