Dietary
Supplements –
When is the best time to take them?
When do you take your supplements? Do you have a
logical pattern to your consumption or just whenever you can fit them in. Many people have
trouble taking their supplements due to their busy schedule. With some people, supplements
make them ill depending upon when they take them. Still others take so many pills that
they have to spread them out throughout the day.
However you take them, the most important thing is that you take them. If you
forget to consume sufficient nutrients because you could not follow the directions and
take them at a certain time, then you would have been better off to have taken them
anytime. Nutrients are not drug products and can do little harm if taken incorrectly
(within reason).
There are some things to keep in mind when taking your supplements. If you are having
digestive ills when consuming your vitamins, try taking them after you eat or even in
the middle of eating between portions of food. Whenever experiencing a sensitivity
problem with consuming vitamins, try changing the routine, like try taking them before a
meal, spread out over three meals, or at bedtime. Also be aware that in rare cases,
individuals have allergies to some nutrients. In this case it may not matter what routine
you try – see your health practitioner.
If you have difficulty in swallowing some supplements, try some of the following:
| for capsules, pop them into your mouth after you
have placed a small amount of liquid in your mouth, then follow with a full gulp or more
of liquid (the capsule will glide down much smoother after it is wetted) |
| for any supplement having an unpleasant taste or odor, pop them into your mouth after
you have placed a larger amount of liquid in your mouth, then follow with a full gulp or
more of liquid (the supplement taste or odor will not be as bad and will not stick to the
inside of your mouth) |
| the liquid you use to take supplements with can be very important:
try liquids that are denser than water, such as milk
try fruit juices with a lot of flavor, such as orange, pineapple
try vegetable juices, such as tomato |
| if the supplement you are taking is too large to swallow comfortably, see if you
can make the tablet smaller by breaking it in half (do not break a coated tablet since
there may be a reason to keep the product whole) |
Remember that in order for a vitamin or nutrient to be utilized by the body, it
must be absorbed first. Some vitamins are soluble only in fat or oil. These include
vitamins A, E, and D. To insure absorption of these vitamins, they should be taken
with some food that contains at least some fat so they can be better dissolved into
the digestive system. Still other minerals are desorbed by certain foods. This
means that the minerals react with food and become insoluble so that it no longer can be
absorbed from within the digestive tract. For example, coffee and tea bind up iron so that
if taken at the same time, the available nutrient will be greatly reduced.
You will probably find that certain ingredients affect your system at different
times. Most are meant to be that way, such as herbal stimulants for day use or herbal
sedatives for nighttime use. Occasionally, you may be sensitive to an ingredient,
especially in high amounts, and you may experience slight side effects such as
irritability or drowsiness. By careful observance, you should be able to consume the
particular supplement at a more opportune time or spread out over the day to lesson the
affects.
Note that many supplements are designed to work best at certain times. You
should be aware of these characteristics from the type and reason for the supplement. For
example, Diet Therapy™ is designed to
maximize weight loss by triggering the eating condition that makes you feel full. In
addition, the product affects how fats are metabolized when consumed with the herbal and
vitamin combination. Therefore, the product works best when taken just before meals, about
thirty minutes up to one hour before eating. The time lapse allows the tablet to dissolve,
be absorbed, and to react with the eating sensation at the time of eating. Properly timed,
the full feeling will occur while eating, reducing caloric intake, your metabolism of the
digested food will be beneficial and you will leave the table a little slimmer every time.
Naturally, the product has less of an effect if taken at bedtime.
There are as many theories about taking supplements and when is best to take
them as there are different kinds of supplements. Above all, remember they do no
good for you if you fail to take them. As far as when to take them, use judgment as to the
intended purpose of the supplement and if you have any trouble taking them. Experiment
with what time is convenient and what conditions may have produced stomach distress. Until
you become a hard-core serious supplement consumer, emphasize convenience and lack of
distress when you take your "nutrient medicine".
