Thursday, January 29, 2009

Vitamins and Minerals

I'm still plugging along in my book Food for Fitness by Chris Carmichael and I've come across some more good info. I always like to think that we can get all of the vits and minerals we need from food, but often times we don't eat the right way to ensure that this happens. If you KNOW you're one of those people I would recommend a good supplement. Here are a few tips to getting a quality pill to pop.

Vitamin E: look for the "d-" form instead of the "dl-" form of "d-alpha tocopherol" which is the name of the natural form of the vitamin.

Vitamin A: supplement should contain no more than 5,000 IU because it is a fat-soluble vitamin and can become toxic with excessive supplementation.

Calcium: pick a supplement with chelated calcium instead of calcium carbonate as it is a more absorbable form of calcium. Also, be aware that taking calcium and iron together can inhibit absorption of the iron and other minerals. (Cocoa also decreases the absorption of calcium...causing me to think twice about Hot Chocolate that has "just as much calcium as a glass of milk").

*"GMP" or "cGMP" on the label means current Good Manufacturing Practices.

*When looking ofr chelated minerals, which are more absorbable than non-chelated minerals, the industry leader is Albion.

*"USP" on the label indicates that the product has passed minimum standards on how fast it dissolves.

Next time I'll tell you more about these Vits and Mins, what foods deliver the goods, and other great things.

1 comment:

Betina said...

Okay Kelly, I am back! I avoided your blog during the last months of my pregnancy because I felt like nothing more than a big fat camel.

I am 4 weeks post pardom now and ready to start getting into shape! I've been doing yoga and hope to start running soon.

Inspire me!

ps - i am signed up for a half marathon at the end of June. Do you think this is realistic?