EAT-- What I Take

Here is another post from the WW blog, this one from 4/12/12:


This post is about nutritional supplements, which is just a fancy way to say vitamins! I am taking quite a few these days, most of them on the advice of doctors for various reasons. I take six pills and two gummy vitamins every day. Every morning when I take my pills I am reminded of when I was a teenager and my mom would take her vitamins. She didn't take a multi-vitamin, she had one bottle of every letter--A,B,C,E, etc. She was ahead of her time, since this was the 70's and the idea of taking all those pills was a foreign concept to most everyone. She kept all of her pill bottles in a wicker basket that she kept on the kitchen counter. Looking back, I do think they helped contribute to her good health.
So anyway, the wicker basket that used to hold my mom's vitamins now sits on MY kitchen counter, full of the supplements that I take! I love that I get to carry on the tradition, Mom would get a kick out of it! So here is what I take: Iron, Vitamin C, Red Yeast Rice, Flaxseed Oil, Calcium/Vitamin D, blood pressure meds, and Chewable gummy multis.
--Iron. About 9 months ago it was discovered that I was severely anemic. Probably has to do with the giant periods I had been having. My ferretin level was 8, the bottom of the normal range is 16. Today my level is 26, hooray! I no longer want to take a nap at my desk in the afternoon, that is a good thing!
--Vitamin C. Was told to take it with the iron because it helps the body absorb iron better. Of course there are other benefits too. I can tell you that during this winter cold season, I never got the bugs and viruses that were going around the office.
--Red Yeast Rice. My doctor told me to take this to help lower my cholesterol. I had never heard of it, but I went to the store and there it was! I am hoping that between my new way of eating and taking this, that my cholesterol numbers will be low enough that I won't have to go on medication.
--Flaxseed Oil. I take this to lower my cholesterol as well. I know that Fish Oil is more effective, but I do not like the fish burps, yes I have tried the good ones that say there are no fish burps, I still get them.
--Vitamin D/Calcium. I told my doctor I get really mopey in the dark of the winter and I don't want to clean my house. I asked her if there was a pill I could take that would make me want to do my dishes, and she told me Vitamin D! And that I should take it year round, since evidently we do not get enough light up here in the Northwest. It sort of works, I do my dishes more often and sit around less, although it is getting to be spring and that happens anyway.
--Gummy Multivitamins for Adults. I like the chewables because I just don't want to swallow another pill. They are not really sweet like a gummy bear, they taste more like a Sunkist fruit snack, kind of mild. And I think that because it is a chewable, that the vitamins get into your system faster. I take them before work, and by the time I get to work the B vitamins have kicked in and I'm all "WOOOOOOO! LET"S WORK!!!" My co-workers think I am crazy, I think I am healthy! I also take a prescription blood pressure medication. Hypertension runs in my family, but I hope that as I lose weight, I can lower the dose. And while I typed this, I took my pills! Have a great day!!


I still need to take pictures of my bike and talk about that, but this week is very busy for me.  I have Bunco at my house this Thursday and have a LOT still to do.