My Philosophy on Vitamins, Multivitamins, and Fish Oil

If you ask me, I would say only use the supplements you have a direct need for, and you should test them first. After all, if one was to take a supplement for every need out there one could easily end up to be like Mr. Kurzweil, busy taking pills instead of food in the search for everlasting life.

However, there are a couple of supplements that even doctors recommend:

• Multivitamins
• Fish Oil

I’m not sure exactly when a multivitamin became a recommendation (and a mild one at that), but I remember my doctor of a number of years suggesting Fish Oil, probably in reaction to my stopping the use of Statins (I don’t like being short-term stupid, and I was seeing that at work).

As it happened, I started taking both multivitamins and fish oil soon after starting with the Glucosamine and Chondroitin. Not sure exactly why, but I’m guessing that, at some point, if you’re already taking a supplement for a specific item, it’s easy to start thinking that the food you’re eating isn’t quite up to speed, and that you’ll need either a multivitamin…or a bunch of pills, one (or more) for each vitamin.

Personally, I believe that one should be able to go without a vitamin or multivitamin supplement. You should be able to get what you need from your food without having to add something specially formulated to fill in for everything.

I do take Multivitamins, Fish Oil, and other supplements. Mainly because I have knees that seem to need extra Glucosamine and MSM (and probably Chondroitin, although I’ve yet to experience lack of THAT)…and I suffer from Gout in my feet that suboptimal doses of certain plant products combat…and my eyes once got to the point that I was wearing shades even when it was cloudy out…(It’s not neverending, but you get the point).

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Multivitamins

I was originally of the idea that a one-a-day was the best. After all, why mess with multiple pills when one pill does it all?

At a certain point, however, I began to wonder about how people supplement themselves. After all, it’s not like most people go around eating a potato chip and soda-pop diet (maybe for a day or two when younger – as I did during College), and since it’s likely that people who are taking vitamins have some interest in their health, it’s very much likely that the full dose of multivitamins is likely to overdo some of the vitamins you’re already getting enough of from your food.

So I shifted my strategy to finding a multivitamin that requires a few pills to take for the full supplementation … and not take the whole dose.

My present multivitamin is a 6-a-day, and I only take two – one for the morning and one for the afternoon. That way I’m supplementing what’s coming in from the food.

Vitamin C and D Extra Supplementation

Another good thing about doing my multivitamins the way I’m doing is that I can pinpoint extra supplementation where it seems needed. And while I believe that one need not supplement as if one’s eating only chips and sodapop, one CAN add in extra supplementation where needed.

One location is with eyes – that will be its own post. However, I have added in extra Vitamin C and D to help, and am doing so right now.

Both these vitamins help out with immunity, and with the Novel Coronavirus going around it doesn’t hurt to amp up the immunity. There have been studies on these vitamins, and they seems to help out with the response. I also occasionally take an extra Zinc for that reasons – since Zinc seems to get in the way of the Covid-19 docking with the various cells.

Fish Oil

I have had issues with Low Density Lipids and High Density Lipids. Namely an excess of LDLs and a lack of HDLs.

I tried Lipitor once for a few months, back when they were the latest in preemptive medicine. Soon I found that I was running with short term stupdity, forgetting stuff that I should never have been able to forget.

When I mentioned that I was stopping the Lipitor, he suggested that I try Fish oil. (and Krill Oil). Soon I found my LDL levels dropping down to acceptable levels, and he agreed with me that I should continue said regimen, which I have done for the past ten or so years.

They also had a drug that was supposed to amplify the production of HDLs. It was successful in making HDLs, but it turned out that the HDL that were produced in response to the drugs ended up not doing their job. Both me and the doctor were saddened by that fact.

I’m still running low on HDLs, with my numbers just on the good sign of “the line.” Hopefully there’s a way to improve on the HDL numbers naturally, meanwhile I’ll continue with what I’ve been doing.

(This is Volume 1 of “Supplements I’ve Found Worth Taking,” looking at the two (at least two of four) supplements considered necessary if you’re taking them)