What's the Ideal Supplement Regimen For You?

Supplements can be an amazing way to boost your overall health and wellbeing, but the specific supplements that you need will vary depending on your diet. 

For example, someone who eats meat will not require the same supplements as someone following a vegan or vegetarian diet to meet their daily recommended values of nutrients. The kinds of foods that you eat every day provide you with essential nutrients, and if you do not eat sufficient amounts of certain foods, you will need to take supplements to make up for the nutrients your diet is lacking. 

That said, let’s get into the different types of vitamins and supplements so that you can make an informed decision.

Do You Need To Supplement Your Diet?

Before starting a supplement regimen, it is important to figure out if you need supplements in the first place, and if so, which ones. 

Essentially, “dietary supplement” is an umbrella term for vitamins and minerals, botanicals, and other ingredients intended to enhance your wellbeing, and they can be extremely beneficial for people in high-risk groups, or for those with major gaps in their diet. 

For example, adults with osteoporosis can benefit from extra calcium and vitamin D on top of the amounts of these nutrients that come from their diet, and people who have a vitamin B12 deficiency, like people following vegetarian or vegan diets, almost always need a B12 supplement to make sure their nutritional needs are being met. 

That said, it definitely is possible to get all of the vitamins and nutrients you need just by eating a wide variety of foods, but this is not possible for everybody. Those with certain food allergies or other dietary restrictions can easily end up with gaps in their diet, resulting in insufficient amounts of certain vitamins. Supplements can be highly useful for filling these gaps, and they can enhance your health in many ways. 

Before starting a supplement regimen, especially if they are supplements you have not tried before, it is important to consult your doctor and make sure that the supplements you have chosen are actually a good idea for you. Taking too much of certain vitamins and supplements can have adverse effects, so making sure you actually need those vitamins is a good way to support your health.

On the flip side of things, changing your diet around a little bit can also help make sure that there are minimal gaps in your nutrition. If you are struggling to figure out what the best diet is for you and your lifestyle, our guide to different diets may be able to help you find some clarity. 

Additionally, knowing the right diet for yourself is important in order to avoid allergens and intolerances. If you frequently end up with tummy troubles as a result of food intolerances, avoiding those foods is generally a good step… but again, this can leave you with big gaps in your diet. Our Lectin Defense 100% All-Natural Herbal Blend helps shield your body from harmful allergies, and thus helps relieve gas and bloating while supporting digestive health.

Why are Certain Vitamins Important?

Understanding the roles that certain vitamins and nutrients play in your overall health and wellbeing can help you more easily identify what you may need more of. 

Vitamin D 

There are a couple of ways you can approach vitamin D, one of which is to get plenty of sunshine. That said, sunshine will not provide you with adequate amounts of this vitamin in most cases, especially if you live in a place where the weather tends to be cloudy. Because of this, most people actually do not get enough vitamin D, and might not even know it. 

Vitamin D is important because it helps your body absorb calcium, thus helping keep your bones strong and healthy. General recommendations for vitamin D suggest that people below the age of 71 should be getting 600 IU of vitamin D each day, or even from 800 to 1000 IU each day. Getting enough vitamin D can be very difficult because the only good food sources of this vitamin are fortified dairy foods or oily fish, thus, it is likely that you will need a vitamin D supplement.

Calcium 

Even if you get plenty of vitamin D, you still will not have healthy bones unless you are also getting enough calcium. It is possible to get enough calcium from your diet alone, but this can be tough. It is recommended that men get 1000mg of calcium a day, and calcium supplements are routinely recommended for women because women have a higher risk of osteoporosis.

Antioxidants 

Examples of antioxidants are vitamin E, vitamin A, beta carotene, and vitamin C, but antioxidant supplements generally should not (and need not) be taken unless you have certain medical conditions, like macular degeneration. 

B Vitamins 

B vitamins are important for a variety of reasons, but the most common supplement of this type of vitamin is for vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 can only be found in animal foods like meat and dairy products, so anyone following a vegetarian or vegan diet likely needs to supplement this vitamin. In fact, people on these kinds of diets almost always need a B12 supplement. 

Folate is another B vitamin that helps produce healthy red blood cells. Folate can be found in leafy greens, legumes, fruits, and meat, and in the U.S., all grain products are fortified with folate. 

Multivitamins

Multivitamins can be a fast and convenient way to get in all of your essential nutrients, especially if you are at a place in your life where there are multiple vitamins that need to be supplemented. That said, it is always a good idea to consult your doctor before you start taking any new vitamins, supplements, or even multivitamins to make sure that it will not be doing you any harm!

If you are looking for an easy way to amp up your nutrients, GoBiotix’ Greens Superfood Juice superfoods powder is packed full of over 20 greens, grains, sprouts, fruits, and vegetables, making it nutrient-dense and full of antioxidants and probiotics. Key ingredients include chlorella for healthier skin, moringa to promote detox, mint to aid digestion and satisfy cravings, and beets to support your energy throughout the day.

The Bottom Line

Supplements and vitamins are an amazing and easy way to make sure you are getting all of the nutrients you need, especially if there are gaps in your diet. That said, the exact supplements that you should be taking will vary depending on what foods you eat each day, so the ideal supplement regimen for you will consist of any vitamins or other nutrients that you are missing out on when it comes to your meals. 

Taking a closer look at the best food sources for certain vitamins, and then determining whether or not these are often included in your diet, can help you figure out which vitamins you are getting enough of and which ones you might need to supplement. When in doubt, it is important to consult a doctor in order to make sure your nutritional needs are met. 

Sources

Do you need a daily supplement? - Harvard Health

NIH News In Health. Should You Take Dietary Supplements? - National Institutes of Health

Supplements: A scorecard - Harvard Health