We all have heard you need to take your vitamins, but do we actually do it? For the most part I think a lot of us assume we eat enough fruits and vegetables to get the right amount. The truth is we really don’t. We should all be taking a multi vitamin and mineral for that matter. Micronutrients are just as important as macronutrients.

I’ve come up with some top tips on how to choose the right ones.

1. Quality Ingredients: You want to find a vitamin that actually comes from a whole food form. A few steps to find out if in fact it is from a whole food source are:
   1. Does it say 100 percent natural? If it doesn’t it may not be because the fact is companies can list it as natural if only 10 % is truly natural.
   2. Look for actual foods listed like vitamin A from carrots for example. If they do not list the foods out it may actually be synthetic.
   3. Look for additives on the label that may be there to keep it stable for longer like : acetate, bitartrate, chloride, gluconate, hydrochloride, nitrate and succinate. Most of these always end in -ide or -ate so be on the look out these are more then likely synthetic forms of the vitamins they have listed.
2. Choose one with the Savvy Seven: these are the top vitamins and minerals that we all tend to be low in and need a little extra help with.
   • vitamin D
   • Magnesium
   • Calcium
   • Zinc
   • Iron
   • Folate
   • Vitamin B-12
3. AVOID poor ingredients: Sometimes companies will ad in fillers in their vitamins that you should look out for. We want nothing but the vitamin that our body needs. Somethings to avoid are:
   • Artificial Sweeteners, flavors or added sugar
   • Fillers – Fillers help increase the volume of the powder in your multivitamin but they may cause GI distress or decrease absorption.
   • Dyes – Dyes are sometimes added to supplements to alter their color, avoid any extra coloring or dyes that may cause issues.
   • Inactive ingredients
   • Coatings on the capsule​
   • Gluten, dairy or soy – If you suffer from food allergies it’s best to find supplements that are considered hypoallergenic to prevent these issues.

Some brands I like and each one is a link you can click to view them:

MegaFood Multi

Garden of Life My Kind Multi for Women

Biotics Multi Plus

New Chapter One a Day

Garden of Life Vitamin Code

These are some great considerations but always remember you should start with a healthy diet full of color and flavor to be sure you are getting the most of your vitamins and minerals through diet.

Healthfully Yours,

Krystal Goodman