In my teen years, my mom was a vitamin freak. Health nut. Herbal cleanser. You name it, she embraced it. And forced it on me. I remember taking the 15+ pills, vitamins, herbs and supplements each morning wondering if all of them were, at some point, canceling each other out and just filling my belly and the bank accounts of the companies that produced them. I took most of them until I was into my early 20’s before stopping the madness altogether. I figured a well-balanced diet was a much better solution.
Fast forward 20 years later and I’m now approaching my mid-40’s and wondering if I need some sort of supplements to take each morning. I’ve never been a big pill person. Even when I need them, I really don’t feel the need to shove tons of pills down my throat on a regular basis. I don’t have an adversity to swallowing them… years of practice took care of that concern. It’s just seems pointless.
But, a recent visit to Wild Oats (now swallowed up by Whole Foods) when I was fighting a bad cold a couple of months ago, I’ve gained some minor interest in adding a few natural products to my morning ritual.
My visit to Wild Oats was Sudafed-induced, which I was taking several a day, just to try to feel better. The only problem was that I felt like I had done multiple lines of coke, walking around with jitters and that odd state of wondering who was watching me.
After trying to comprehend what the nice girl at the natural solutions counter was trying to tell me, I ended up getting a bottle of Grapefruit Seed Extract tablets.
It was “suggested” to me (since they are not FDA or medically certified, they can’t give specific advice) that I stop taking the Sudafed and start with 6 of these tablets each day until my cold symptoms start to go away.
Five days later, I was pretty much back to normal, could let people in the public look at me without feeling threatened and felt that relief of pressure with my head being much clearer. It was pretty amazing that something like this could help.
So now that I take 3 of these a day, adding to the Prilosec that I take each day (an OTC that has really helped), I’m starting to see the benefit of taking some sort of supplements to help my aging body keep up with my busy life.
I don’t think I will be reaching the 15 pills a day for a while (at least until I’m in my late 60’s), but for now, adding a few pills a day, combined with eating balanced meals, will help me both mentally and physically.
UPDATE: In the last month, I have added another pill to take as a supplement: Hyaluronic Acid. After reading up on it, and talking with a friend that had growing issues with leg cramps and back pain, I decided to add one pill a day to see if It would make a difference in the minor aches and pains I feel (which I’m sure is mostly from not exercising on a regular basis). In the last two weeks, I’ve noticed less pain and aches and as I start to add regular exercise to my week, I’m sure that the hyaluronic supplement will only help in the process to keep me healthy.