What Vitamins and Supplements to Take

I’ve had a bad reaction to a couple of multivitamins (most of them contain soy derivatives), so I don’t take a multivitamin. Beware of prenatal vitamins too. If you end up being extremely sensitive, steer clear of either. Just so everyone knows, unfortunately, none of these reactions are caused by low vitamins or minerals.

I had all those checked out first. I was particularly wondering about B12. But, alas, it’s a much more complicated problem than that.

I’ve done vitamin testing recently and my B vitamins were a bit low (other than B12). Possibly a microbiome problem. Other than that, nothing was out of the ordinary. When I was a kid, I had depleted zinc and vitamin D3. I’ve listed vitamins we don’t react to,  and ones that have limited additives.

Currently, we’re able to take:

Minerals: 

Magnesium L-Threonate – Lots of people are low in this. It’s the most absorbable type of magnesium (avoid magnesium stearate) and has no rice flour in it.

Zinc – I take 25mg because I was low in zinc as a child. Do not take on an empty stomach.

Vitamins:

Vitamin B complex – I take this and tolerate it well.

Vitamin B12 – This is a high dose of vitamin B12. Check with your doctor to find the dose, but I suspect you’d only need a drop. Dad’s taken this before and it’s fine, I haven’t, my B12 levels are high anyway.

Vitamin C – it’s possible that high doses of vitamin C are really good for people. Dad thinks they might help during the reactions, I haven’t tried high doses yet.

Calcium Citrate – (Most easily absorbable and digested). Doesn’t really have a taste. I took this during my pregnancy. Mixed it with sparkling water so it tasted even less!

Vitamin D3 – Not something you get from the diet but very good to have. I generally take 5000 IU but studies (1, 2)  show you can take a lot more safely.  We live in Canada so we’re missing quite a bit of Vitamin D for most of the year.

Vitamin K2 – Modern-day diets are extremely low in this from lack of organ meat. This isn’t derived from soy like most vitamin K is and is safe to take.

Other:

Charcoal – Cheap version, but still high quality. Good for detoxing if you eat something wrong. (If your stomach starts getting upset, just take a tablespoon of this stuff with water and it helps right away.)

Diatomaceous Earth – Didn’t really notice any positive effects

L-Glutamine – I take this on an empty stomach in the morning. One level scoop (comes with a scoop). It seems to make me feel better digestive wise. It’s also supposed to be good for gut healing. If you mix it with sparkly water it’s more enjoyable… assuming you enjoy sparkling water.

MCT Oil – I put this in tea. This actually makes tea much more satisfying. I use a tablespoon. Good to get extra calories in this way too. I do this at least once a day and more like twice.

Dad gets vitamin infusions (not that he’s low, but it can’t hurt so…), He doesn’t bother taking anything other than vitamin C anymore. He does use charcoal from time to time though when he suffers from a reaction. We’re going to try krill oil in the future to up our omega’s as well.

Obviously, it’s best to get your vitamins tested first to see what you need. This diet didn’t deplete either of us in any way (even though it’s so restrictive) and we’ve been on it since 2015. I only started taking vitamins during the pregnancy just in case.

When you get your vitamins tested,  check the actual values. Sometimes people are low and should supplement even if the test values come out in the “safe” range (especially vitamin B12). Check with your doc for actual values! (Or naturopath).

If you’re looking for a specific supplement or vitamin, comment below and I’ll try to find one that isn’t loaded with additives!

UPDATE: 2023 – I’ve launched fullerhealth.com and will be producing more and more supplements without additives. 6 years later and they’re still hard to source so I decided to do it myself.