My current Supplement Routine
Let’s talk supplements! Supplements are hot right now, and for good reason. They are natural remedies to symptoms that we experience when we allow our bodies to get off balance. However, they will do nothing for us if we continue feeding our bodies junk and making poor lifestyle choices such as living under high stress circumstances, living a sedentary lifestyle, and not getting a good 7-9 hours of sleep every night. Living this way disrupts our hormonal balance and causes a cascading slew of symptoms. Supplements are helpful, but our hormones are stronger than any drug, which is why knowing they exist and working to keep our hormones balanced is so important!!
I am never on the same supplement routine consistently. I only add in what I need during a certain period of my life, and usually finish a bottle and then move on to something different. Just like a face cream, after a while they begin to become ineffective as your body gets used to them. Does that happen to you?! I have to switch it up every 6 months or so.
One more thing that I would like to add, is you must be careful where you purchase your supplements from. There are a lot of fake supplements being sold on the market, and I read that some sellers on certain websites will fill bottles with fake pills and sell them as supplements, or sell expired Probiotics, which only have a certain amount of time that they are good, (they contain live and active cultures) so when you get them they are no longer valid! Probiotics should always contain a sell by date, and try to buy supplements that are Third Party Verified, meaning they have the stamp of approval by another source rather than just that company’s source.
So here is what I currently use, and why….
Vitamin C: Also known as ascorbic acid, helps with regeneration of body tissues, helps form collagen, helps with immunity, and increases the absorption rate of iron. I started taking this as a booster for my iron supplement.
Iron: is what makes hemoglobin, which transports oxygen throughout your body so that your tissues can survive! I started taking iron, not because I was anemic or deficient in it, but because I wanted to increase the amount of oxygen going to my brain to help wake me up and give me more energy and mental clarity. I swear it works!! I take it in the morning with my other supplements prior to working out, and I have more energy when taking iron than if I just took vitamin B12 by itself! So if you are looking for more energy, start taking iron!
Probiotic: Our good gut bacteria is constantly under attack by toxins in our environment and food, as well as medications if we are them. If you are taking meds for anxiety, depression, antibiotics, or NSAIDS (ibuprofen, Tylenol, aspirin), then taking a probiotic is a must! These drugs harm our gut bacteria, and this is where 95% of our serotonin is made. It’s kind of crazy that we take anti-anxiety drugs to help with anxiety and depression, and in return we just harm our happy hormones even more! Anyway, I take a probiotic to help protect my gut and immunity by adding to my good gut bacteria.
Nootropic: These are cognitive enhancers that improve executive functioning, memory, creativity, and motivation naturally rather than using prescription pills like Ritalin and Adderall. It’s a blend of natural herbs and substances such as tyrosine, L-theanine, rhodiola rosea, ginkgo biloba, citicoline, and ashwagandha, which are more subtle and slower acting then per say Ritalin, but also without all of the side-effects!
NR+: This stands for Nicotinamide riboside, which is converted to NAD+ in the body. NAD+ is a coenzyme found in all living cells, and decreases as we age. It supports mitochondria function, which give our cells energy and turn certain genes on or off to help with anti-aging. I don’t want to get too “science-y” here, but it also helps lengthen our telomeres (the end caps of our DNA) which are associated with longevity, another hot topic right now!
B-complex: I started taking these to increase my energy. They contain 8 B vitamins such as B-1 (thiamine), B-2 (riboflavin), B-3 (niacin), B-5 (pantothenic acid), B-6 (pyridoxine), B-7 (biotin), B-9 (folic acid), B-12 (cobalamin). B vitamins help prevent infection, enhance cell performance, healthy brain function, and of course energy levels.
Vitamin D3: Also known as the “sunshine vitamin” because it is literally produced in our skin as our body absorbs sunshine. It helps us to absorb calcium and phosphorous which are important for bones and teeth as well as immunity. This vitamin has more recently been proven to help regulate mood in people with anxiety and depression, and help boost weight loss because it has an appetite suppressing effect.
Zinc: This is the magic supplement that helped clear my “mask-ne”! Oh my gosh, I had worst jaw line acne for about 4 months straight through last fall and winter. I had read a study that said people with acne also have a zinc deficiency, and as I learned more about it, I found that zinc, an essential nutrient that our bodies need, is not produced in our bodies, we need to get it from our diet. Therefore, with our “Standard American Diet”, most of us are probably deficient in zinc! This nutrient boosts immunity, clears skin, accelerates wound healing, and decreases inflammation.
Zeolite: These are natural minerals from the earth that contain aluminum and silicon compounds, that help remove heavy metals from the body and eliminate them through your urine. They are known to help treat cancer, autism, herpes, hangovers and help balance you PH levels. ***side note*** Cancer thrives in acidic PH environments, so you should aim to keep your body more alkaline. Some studies even show that a more alkaline environment makes chemo drugs more effective and less toxic. You can test your saliva or urine to see how alkaline or acidic your body is, by buying over the counter PH strips. The scale runs from 0 (very acidic) to 14 (very alkaline). You want to keep your saliva neutral at 7 or slightly higher, but not too high.
Ashwagandha: a known adaptogen that reduces stress in the body, helps reduce anxiety and depression, lowers blood sugar and cortisol levels, and helps fight inflammation and tumor growth. This was one of the first supplements I started taking, to help reduce anxiety, and then found so many more benefits after taking it, such as promoting the death of tumor cells!
DIM plus: (Diindolylmethane) is an estrogen regulator that metabolizes out the bad estrogen, balancing your hormones, relieving PMS, and protecting you against female cancers! It detoxifies and clears your body of excess estrogen and has been proven to reverse menopause, clear acne, and revive libido! My skin got clearer as soon as I started taking this supplement. By one week in, I was sold!
Ok! I know that’s a lot of supplements, but I wanted to share their benefits in hopes that they will help someone else who may be interested in healing your mind, body, or skin naturally! Let me know in the comments what you have tried and loved or if you plan to try any of these! I linked where I purchased all of my supplements throughout the text.
With Love,
Aubree