Take your vitamins

You are what you eat, and today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s birdcage liner.

Both axioms are true. What you ingest becomes the building blocks of tomorrow’s cells. But what goes in must come out, too, so today’s dinner is tomorrow’s compost.

Whether the vitamins I take so religiously are building a better body or populating the sewer system is not entirely clear, but I take them anyway.

So I swallow a handful of vitamins every day. Even if it’s only the placebo effect, vitamins make me feel better. If you’re not a fan of vitamins, don’t read any further. But if you are, check this out. I heard a healthy living speaker the other day recommend five indispensable vitamins and minerals for women:

1. A multivitamin. Mine comes with iron.
2. Fish oil. I take 1,200 mgs a day, but the pundit I heard recommended 3,000 mgs a day.
3. Vitamin C.
4. Vitamin D.
5. Calcium, preferably calcium citrate. I eat cheese, yogurt and milk, too, but extra calcium can’t hurt. Calcium shouldn’t be taken at the same time as iron and calcium can help you sleep, so I take my calcium at night.

I also take magnesium because I’ve read it good for one’s muscles, and I run frequently.

For my money, I don’t buy vitamins in any place that also sells pantyhose. That rules out Walgreens and the big box retailers. I get mine from Shaklee. I’m a big fan of direct selling companies because I believe the products are higher quality when the company has to depend on salespeople standing behind products they’re selling to their neighbors. I’m not unhappy with low quality paper towels, but I value my body too much to dump low quality vitamins in it.

You are what you eat after all.