Beyond the Bottle: The Shocking Truth About Vitamins & Minerals You Weren't Told About

Just a quick heads-up before we dive in: I'm not a physician - I'm a personal trainer. Everything I share below is just my own personal experience and anecdote, not medical advice. Please do your own research and, most importantly, work with your own doctor before making any changes. With that out of the way, let's get into it!

So in my last blog, I share a bit about my health journey for the last few years. I wasn't much of a supplement taker as I believed that what I ate was sufficient enough. The more I listened to highly educated and researched individuals in their field of health and wellness, I realized that supplements have their place and should not be substituted as food.

I began my own supplement journey, learning how to understand how each affects the body and what the body actually needs. I thought taking a multivitamin was the key. But upon my own research regarding it, I realized that there were plenty of contradictions. If specific vitamins and minerals hinder each other's absorption when combined, why do multivitamins include those exact conflicting nutrients in one pill? This led me to ask: Is there a best time to take specific vitamins and minerals, and should I be taking every single one out there?

So I did a little vlog of my research of every vitamin and mineral. You can check it out in my playlist here: Vitamin Series What I learned from my research brought me to these 3 conclusions: 1 - Certain vitamins and minerals are best absorbed when combined together. 2- Certain vitamins and minerals decrease the viability of the others when it is taken together. 3 - Certain vitamins and minerals are best taken in the morning, afternoon or evening.

It wasn't until I had my first incident back in October of 2024 did my Vitamin Series become handy. My lab work revealed that I was deficient in B12, D and iron. As mentioned before a botched root canal was the culprit. Due to the ongoing infection and inflammation, my body was using its resources to combat it. Unfortunately, due to the nature of my job, I was also adding stress to my body by my continual workouts. Stress increases cortisol and if you exercise it utilizes the cortisol by sending signals to the brain that it is beneficial thus releasing endorphins, serotonin and dopamine, but if you do not provide enough nutrients the body metabolizes faster than it can replenish. It is a vicious cycle that eventually catches up. Which is exactly what happened in my case.

So here I was being thrown a ton of supplements which I was told to take according to the bottle. Unbeknownst to me, would cause some gastrointestinal issues due to the impact of combining the various supplements all at once.

I created this chart for myself to help me understand that certain medications do not play nice with my supplements. Knowing when to take it was just half the battle as much as I needed to learn what not to take it with and how much I should have. So this is when speaking with a pharmacist was helpful cause they know what medications can affect the absorption issues or cause GI problems. I also found the internet helpful too. I had to do a bit of juggling to figure out what would work best for my schedule, but I believe what I discovered for myself helped my body absorb what it needed better.

This is a general chart so it isn't for everyone, these just happens to be pertinent to my situation.

After fine combing through my labs, I realized that I did not need to take as much of certain vitamins and minerals, as I knew my body would absorbed them through the food I was taking. Once I figured out which ones were a must, I adapted my schedule accordingly.

What I discovered is that iron + Vit C were best taken by themselves on an empty stomach and alternate your days as it can cause constipation. Vit. D3 every afternoon was taken once a week as I was taking a large dose, which had to be prescribed. I took selenium with it each time. I took a smaller dose of Vit. D2 for a short period time alternating my days. So for example I took Vit. D3 every Wednesday, but took Vit D2 every Monday and Friday afternoon.

My regimen looked something like this:

Morning - hormone pills

M/W/Friday afternoon - Vit. D2/D3/Vit.D2 + Selenium

T/Th 2hrs after hormone pills - Iron + Vit. C

T/Th lunch meal - B12

Evenings - Magnesium glycinate

So far all my numbers have come up, but one of the things I wish they (medical system) checked was my copper levels as I learned that can affect ferritin (iron stores) from decreasing. Instead of taking another supplement, I try to incorporate foods that contain it such as shitake mushrooms, cashews, lentils, sesame seeds (Tahini) , tofu, avocado, almonds and quinoa.

This is probably the best way to figure out what is essential. We do not have to live on a supplement lifestyle, but if your labs reveal to you what you are deficient in, this can be the best way to identify what your body actually needs rather than wasting time taking multiple supplements that might not be benefiting your body or you could be creating a toxic environment without realizing it.

When I had my labs done I did not have insurance at the time so I used an independent lab, Ultalabs to figure out what my minerals and vitamins looked like. Then working with a nurse practitioner and holistic doctor, we worked on developing a plan that worked for me. Each individual is different, not every vitamin and mineral will be necessary for each person, but your labs should be the first course of action to guarantee what is needed. Once I had insurance, I got retested through LabCorp to reassess whether my protocol was working. Once I saw that it was, I stayed on it because I want it to be at an optimum level, not just acceptable.

With so many supplements being thrown out at us in the media, it is best to use wisdom and discretion. Understand how your body is functioning, and once you see your lab results, then move forward towards optimizing the areas that you need improvements in.

I am not here to sell you any products, but to encourage you in your health journey and I pray that the research out there will guide you to finding answers that will heal you and make you whole.