17 March, 2011

When and How to Take Vitamins Supplements

The human body operates on a twenty-four-hour cycle. Your cells do not go 
to sleep when you do, nor can they exist without continuous oxygen and 
nutrients. Therefore, for best results, space your supplements as evenly as possible during the day. 

If you take your supplements all at once, do so with dinner, not breakfast. 

The prime time for taking supplements is with or after meals. Vitamins are 
organic substances and should be taken with other foods and minerals for best absorption. Because the water-soluble vitamins, especially B complex and C, are excreted fairly rapidly in the urine, a regimen of with breakfast, with lunch, and with dinner will provide you with the highest body level. If after each meal is not convenient, then half the amount should be taken after breakfast and the other half after dinner. 
If you must take your vitamins all at once, then do so with the largest meal of the day. 

And remember, minerals are essential for proper vitamin absorption, so be 
sure to take your minerals and vitamins together. 

What’s Right for You 

Supplement needs vary depending on your sex, age, health, lifestyle, daily 
stresses, and dietary restrictions. Job changes, illness, physical and emotional traumas, all take a nutritional toll. With more supplements available today than ever before, and in more delivery systems than ever before, there’s no reason whyyou can’t reap maximum health benefits by selecting the nutrients you need in a form that works for you. 

If you’re unsure as to whether you’d be better off with a powder, a liquid, 
a gel-cap, or a tablet, regular vitamin E or dry, or taking supplements three times a day, my advice to you is to experiment. If the supplement you’re taking doesn’t agree with you, try it in another form. Vitamin C powder mixed in a beverage might be much easier to take than several large pills when you’re coming down with a cold. If your face breaks out with vitamin E, try the dry form. Also: 

Make sure you know all you should about your supplement. 

If you’re taking any medications, familiarize yourself with drugs that 
deplete nutrients as well as nutrients that may interfere with medications.