Vitamins

[dancerjodi]

RE the calcium thing I mentioned yesterday: my doc asked how I was getting calcium into my diet. I told her I take a multivitamin each day and drink 1-2 glasses of milk (plus various cheese and greens have some have calcium). She suggested I drink either one more glass of milk or pick up some fortified OJ. She said that most multivitamins only have 200 or 400 mgs and needed for me would 1000-1200 per day. Well, this morning I checked the label on my multivitamin. Not only does it have 1000 mg of calcium (100% of the dv, according to the label) but its got at least 100% of everything else. Most often its more than 100%. They are women's daily vitamins from Trader Joes, that read "Survival of the Fittest" on the label. Neat!

I'm still trying to eat good amounts of things in real food, but it makes me feel good that this whole time I've been getting what I needed. I picked them up *last* year after my checkup, when she suggested I get something for women that had folate (you know, just in case). :)

Nephew's birthday dinner tonight, farm share tomorrow and Ozzfest (fscking Maiden, man!) on Friday. Whoot!

Comments

[knome.livejournal.com]

Whatever you do .. please don't take Soy Isoflavones, no matter what -anyone- says.

Also, Kale has alot more bioavailable iron and calcium than spinach, and the type of calcium in it is more beneficial than the calcium in pastuerized milk, and almost all multi vitamins. It's a great addition to the diet, in soups or lightly braised.

--T's tip O' the day.

;-)

[legitimatelove.livejournal.com]

please don't take Soy Isoflavones

Care to elaborate?

[gospog.livejournal.com]

"Not only does it have 1000 mg of calcium (100% of the dv, according to the label) but its got at least 100% of everything else. Most often its more than 100%."

Be careful with this! Manufactured vitamins have more than 100% of a part of a vitamin. Taking massive doses of part of a vitamin or a mineral makes your body deficient in the other parts.

The best example of this is Ascorbic Acid. You ask someone what Ascorbic Acid is and they will say "It's vitamin C". Wrong. It's one part of Vitamin C. There are five other "parts" to it. When you take 1000 Mg of Ascorbic Acid, your body needs to find 1000 Mg's of the other parts as well.

Where does it find them? It pulls them out of your body! This can lead to other health issues and sickness.

The bottom line: taking vitamins is no substitute for eating real foods. Eating organic, whole foods is best. And be careful with vitamins, as they can really hurt you. (I was taking them for years)

If you take any supplements, Whole Foods supplements are best. The most reputable maker of those is Standard Process.

Sorry to stick my nose in. I know you didn't specifically ask for advice on this, but I screwed my own health up enough with this sort of thing. If I can point you towards some good information on this, that would be awesome.

I will now get off my soap box. ;)

vitamins

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"The bottom line: taking vitamins is no substitute for eating real foods. Eating organic, whole foods is best."

That's what we're trying to do. The farm share is a big help in this :)

"And be careful with vitamins, as they can really hurt you. (I was taking them for years)"

I'm just taking a multi for women (as my doc recommened last year). The next time I'm there I'll be smart and actually bring in the bottle so she can check the label :)

Soy Isoflavones

[dancer.livejournal.com]

I don't imagine they'd put these in a regular, run of the mill multivitamin, would they? I'll have to check when I get home.

I did find this: http://www.berkeleywellness.com/html/ds/dsSoy.php

I tend to not take medicine unless I can't avoid it, so I'm not ingesting these unless their hidden somewhere. The multivitamin was based on doctor's suggestions last summer.

oh, and

[dancer.livejournal.com]

"If you take any supplements, Whole Foods supplements are best. The most reputable maker of those is Standard Process."

Trader Joe's comments along these lines here (thought you may find interesting): http://www.traderjoes.com/products/brochures/vitamins.asp

[knome.livejournal.com]

http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/onewoman.html

Just one example, but there are many, many more. Let me quote one part of the exposition:

"I came upon a web page that linked thyroid problems to soy intake and the conspiracy of soy marketed as a health food when in fact it is only a toxic by-product of the vegetable oil industry. "

People say "Asians eat a lot of soy and they dont have problems" Not true. Asians eat very little UNFERMENTED soy. Soy was always, always just a cover crop which was absolutely fantastic at bringing up nitrogen from the soil, and was used as green manure in China for millenia, but it was not until it was discovered that soy became tasty when fermented that it became a food product in Asia.

Its the flip side of being able to buy herbal supplements. Good ones exist that can handle health problems of many ypes, avoiding the expensive allopathic methods people commonly use to fight off systemic problems. But, agro business is free to market things as supplements too.. things that are definitely not good for you, even though some study they paid for seems to show it IS good. Beware that..always seek independent verification, or the evidence of 1000 years of tradition.

[knome.livejournal.com]

Forgot to mention.. fermented soy doe snot carry the problems of unfremented soy.. the fermentation destroys the problem components.

Re: Soy Isoflavones

[knome.livejournal.com]

Well.. please read the article I quoted above. It, and many more like it, have convinced me to never, ever eat unfermented soy if at all possible. And you would be amazed at the fact that absolutely NO bread in shaw's, except in the gourmet section (two brands) were soy free.

Re: Soy Isoflavones

[knome.livejournal.com]

Here's another section, so you dont have to dig for it:

http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/index.html