vitamins

A few people have asked me about my vitamin regimen, and here it is. This was mainly to help me recover from my 1999 illness, and the steroid treatments after that. I was deficient in glutathione, thiamine, zinc, and a few other things. You may not need as many of these as I do, and I note the things most people probably won't need.

You can order these things from iherb.com. If you could, mention in the notes of your order that I sent you!

Udo's Choice Probiotic Flora and/or Yogurt
The first step is to make sure your intestines are healthy. If they're not, any vitamins you take won't be absorbed fully. Healthy intestines rely upon intestinal fauna in your intestines being able to fight bad bacteria and prevent "leaky gut". To keep this fauna flourishing, it needs FOS' such as acidphilus and bifidus. You can take a supplement or eat yogurt. DO NOT EAT LOW/NON FAT YOGURT. Get regular yogurt, preferrably without fruit mixed in -- the acids from the fruit can kill the very bacteria you are eating the yogurt for. I prefer Brown Cow Maple yogurt or Vanilla and Strauss European Style.
Greens+
This is a mix of greens in capsule form. I take 6 of these every morning, and another 4 at night. The greens contained here are more focused on immume system, liver, intestinal, and cardiovascular health. You can order them on the greensplus.com web site, which is very prompt in delivery. If you only take one supplement in this list, this would be the one I suggest.
Twinlab Dualtabs
Dualtabs are slow-release multivitamins that are most effective once you're intestinally healthy. You should always have at least a piece of fruit or bread before taking one, or else you risk being nauseous. These are hardcore vitamins and you shouldn't double them up or take more than directed on the bottle. If you take only two supplements in the list, it should be Greens+ and these.
Udo's Choice Essential Oils
Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are called such because your body needs them to survive but cannot create them on it's own. They must be gotten via diet, and thanks to modern science you can't find many of them in everyday foods. The EFAs are Omega-3, Omega-6, and Omega-9 fatty acids. Two things to note: 1) NEVER heat or cook these kinds of oils -- it totally changes the structure of their chain making them more like saturated fats. 2) Try to avoid partially hydrogenated oils and fried foods on the day you take these supplements. Partially hydrogenated oils (aka Trans-Fatty Acids, which are bad for you anyways) interact with EFAs, turning them into TFAs which are extremely bad for you. If you buy another brand, make sure they are EXPELLER PRESSED oils and not extracted with hexane chemicals that ruin the fats.
Syntrax Radox
A nice general antioxidant supplement. May give you headaches or upset intenstine when you first start taking it, but that goes away once your system starts getting cleaned out. The sources they use for the ingredients aren't great, so if you want to move up a notch, take the Source Naturals version of each individual ingredient.