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".