Author Topic: Vitamin supplements - making a difference?  (Read 7211 times)

Maladict

Re: Vitamin supplements - making a difference?
« Reply #25 on: 03 June, 2008, 09:03:07 pm »
To be fair, when I was vegetarian I did notice my fingernails becoming weaker, amongst other things.

I eat a more balanced diet now.  ::-)

Re: Vitamin supplements - making a difference?
« Reply #26 on: 04 June, 2008, 10:42:14 am »
I take some pills to help with my memory, but can't remember what they're called. ::-)

Chris S

Re: Vitamin supplements - making a difference?
« Reply #27 on: 04 June, 2008, 12:00:20 pm »
We switched to brown rice a long time ago. There were complaints at first, but eventually we became accustomed to it, in just the same way as I did when I stopped taking sugar in Tea/Coffee, and when we switched to wholewheat pasta.

Now - on the few occasions we might have white rice or pasta, we all agree they're not so nice.

It's twenty years since I had sugar in tea (used to have three teaspoons  ::-)) - I tried it the other day and was almost sick.

But - I do take vitamins. One 1000mg delayed release Vitamin C a day, and 150mg of CoQ10. The latter is a whim. The former - I'm a firm believer in the work of Linus Pauling, even though he got DNA wrong and was madder than a box of frogs in his latter years.

Re: Vitamin supplements - making a difference?
« Reply #28 on: 04 June, 2008, 12:42:07 pm »
1000mg Vitamin C (with 10mg of Zinc).
1000mg Glucosamine Sulphate and 800mg of Chondroitin Sulphate.

The Vit C was recommended by my dentist to help my gums after some major dental work. The Zinc is there for another reason.

TBH I haven't noticed any difference with the Glucosamine/Chondroitin, but then it may be keeping the effects of 1000km a month cycling at bay. Who knows how it affects *just me*?

A healthy and well balanced diet is one thing, but many people think they're eating a healthy and well balanced diet when they actually aren't.

When I first started doing a food diary it took me up to half an hour a day of scribbling down info from the side of a packet/tin, looking through notes, searching for info on the web/etc, to work out exactly what I was eating.

For example, would you think the following is a "healthy and well balanced diet":-

Breakfast: 3 weetabix with 125ml of semi-skimmed milk
Lunch: Baked Beans on Toast. (Two slices of Hovis Granary bread, whole tin of Saino's Reduced Salt, Reduced Sugar Baked Beans).
Afternoon snack: An apple and a banana.
Evening: A 400g portion of vegetable curry made with a large sweet potato, 3 medium sized parsnips, one large red onion, one courgette, 4 small tomatoes, 2 large carrots. Sauce was a 500g jar of Patak's medium spiced Balti sauce. Served with Saino's brown rice (50g of grains).
4 litres of water drunk throughout the day, plus 2 x 440ml cans of 4.0% ABV Peetermann Artois lager.

Major exercise during the day was 2 x 30 minute commutes on the bike (250kcal each). Low activity during the day, my job is mainly sitting at a desk but I do get up for a 5 minute walk every 45 minutes or so. Pedometer claims 10,000 steps throughout the whole day though. Evening meal at about 7pm with maybe a potter around the garden afterwards and light work there. My BMR is about 2500kcal.

So, once you've looked all of that up on the web, and scoured the sides of the packets for nutritional information, do you think that:
I got enough or too much Vitamin E, D, B12, protein, calcium, magnesium, etc?
Am I eating too much salt?
Is too much of the fat coming from saturates instead of poly/mono-unsaturates?
Is there anything I'm missing/deficient in?
If that was a typical day would I be, in general, running a calorie deficit, is it about right or will I be slowly putting on weight?

In other words, is it representative of a healthy well-balanced diet?

Do I think you need to worry about it that much, or in that much detail? No, but keeping an accurate food diary really does make you notice what you're putting into your body.

It's just not as easy as thinking "I don't eat crap/junk therefore I must be eating a healthy balanced diet."
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Vitamin supplements - making a difference?
« Reply #29 on: 04 June, 2008, 12:47:55 pm »
I work on the absurdly simple premise - or possibly just 'absurd' - that the less packaging I have to throw away the healthier my diet is.

Re: Vitamin supplements - making a difference?
« Reply #30 on: 04 June, 2008, 12:51:21 pm »
I work on the absurdly simple premise - or possibly just 'absurd' - that the less packaging I have to throw away the healthier my diet is.

You are Mr Trebus and ICMFP

Re: Vitamin supplements - making a difference?
« Reply #31 on: 04 June, 2008, 01:21:20 pm »
I work on the absurdly simple premise - or possibly just 'absurd' - that the less packaging I have to throw away the healthier my diet is.

You are Mr Trebus and ICMFP

To borrow Mr Larrington's phrase: "Git!"  ;)

Wibble

Re: Vitamin supplements - making a difference?
« Reply #32 on: 09 June, 2008, 12:33:23 pm »
Always amuses me to see comments of 'You're throwing your money away' etc.  Seems to come from peeps that pay £££ for premium organic veg  :P