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What Supplements Should I Take Every Day?
Introduction
If you’re a completely healthy adult, what should you take on a daily basis in terms of supplements, is the question put to me several times a day. Well my friends, that should focus on keeping your blood pressure down, by definition.
Disclaimers
This is all humble opinion. I have a Masters in physiology, and I am a general practice physician that believes in a constant mantra of patient heal thyself; which includes stem cells. So, based on those scientific biases, I believe what I believe. You do your own research, and watch for intolerances even to the safe things I describe below.
Discussion
The following is recommended to keep you healthy, which by definition mostly means to avoid high blood pressure, a condition that exacerbates every known disease group. And we now know why! If you have high blood pressure, then all of your vascularity is compromised. And if any or all of your vessels going to any of your organs are compromised, then those organs are not getting their fair share of nutrients, including oxygen, and nature’s mother/healing cells, the stem cells that your body produces routinely to keep it well regenerated and healthy. That’s right. If you have blood pressure problems, then your vessels become compromised, and your body’s own stem cells can’t get to where they need to go.
First, a little more about stem cells and hypertension
Many factors are involved when you’re considering how to get stem cells (practically synonymous with long term health) to the end organ tissues that need them the most. Vessel size is a huge factor. As vessels narrow, the access of blood borne nutrients and oxygen (and nitrous oxide we are now finding) and the stem cells and all of the nutrients in blood of course, diminishes. So, your vessels absolutely must remain open and healthy.
And in healthy people, by the way, cholesterol is just not the exciting factor the big Pharma companies want you to believe that it is. In fact, nitrous oxide, currently available in over the counter gum, is a bigger factor! But that’s another story altogether. And weight loss – another huge factor for vessel health; yet another story as well.
So, here, I discuss the best supplements to take on a daily basis. That will of course very from age to age.
Vitamins? No.
If you are a child, the focus is growth. If you have cancer and are losing weight, the focus is growth. If you are a pregnant woman with a baby inside of you, the focus is growth. If you are in emaciated elderly man that has lost his appetite, the focus of your care is growth. If you are a premature baby, the focus is growth. All of these conditions require vitamins. In all of those conditions, vitamins are cool because they cause individual to grow.
So, let’s get back to the healthy adult. The healthy adult does not need to grow. That’s called obesity which is bad in and of itself, but it also compromises vessel integrity. So, the healthy adult does not need supplementary vitamins. If you choose to take supplementary vitamins in good health, make sure you are not gaining weight. Because that would be a clear indication for stopping them.
So now that I’ve told you what not to take as a healthy adult, what should you take.
Fiber
Psyllium used to be available as a liquid slurry, a.k.a. Metamucil. It’s now not only generic, but it’s available as crackers (which kids like by the way) and capsules. If these are well tolerated, I recommend three capsules per day. If you are trying to ward off a high blood pressure risk or a family history of colon cancer, you need to take at least an extra one a day for each one of these risk states. If you are an opiate dependent American, you need to take an extra two of these per day, and usually no less than four per day. If you find you are gaining weight, lower your dose or discontinue this. So, you could end up taking anywhere between one and six of these per day. Or none, of course, if they are not well tolerated because of weight gain.
Fish oil
Much of the current literature recommends two of the 1000 to 1200 capsules daily. Remember folks, this is every day of your life. Even on vacation. Day trips to the beach, whatever. All of the supplements discussed here are for every day use.
Aspirin
The current medical literature on this is odd. Non-enteric coated, low-dose aspirin is recommended for every American adult that is healthy. That’s 81 mg. Repeat, non-enteric. That’s with the medical literature says. Unfortunately, the only thing that is easily available over the counter is the enteric coated. So, for now, just take one enteric coated 81 mg aspirin per day.
Acidophilus
The gut is filled with two types of bacterial flora, good flora, and bad flora. It’s healthy to have mostly good flora. The acidophilus that you can purchase over the counter is good flora. So, your minimum daily supplement of it should be anywhere between 1-3 billion count per day. If you are on antibiotics, you should double this. In the elderly, this goes up to 6+ billion count per day. So, you titrate it according to your age. But it’s every day folks. Unfortunately it’s not cheap. Oh, and yogurt does not cut it. You’d have to eat a case of yogurt a day to equivocate what you get from a daily single capsule of 3 billion acidophilus. Sorry!
The gut it turns out is like a second brain for your body. While your brain governs voluntary actions and all higher level function, your gut governs metabolism and weight control. The gut fortunately is very easy to please. It only wants two things to be completely healthy. It wants to be completely empty regularly. And it wants a higher ratio of good to bad flora. By taking acidophilus, you can always keep your good gut flora up.
And, the gut also wants to be completely empty regularly. Completely. By doing a colonic every 1 to 2 months, available without a doctors prescription at many reputable clinics, you can achieve this goal easily as well.
Colonics are good for you right? So you can bet that insurance doesn’t cover them. And they don’t. Fortunately, colonics are fairly affordable. These clinics run 65-$85 for a colonic. They have to be staffed with a physician. This is very reputable stuff folks. Get with it. Many patients find great health from this and do a colonic monthly. Most end up doing it every six months. You can lose between 2 and 16 pounds of stool on that day, so be ready for a surprise. For a clinic near you, just do an Internet search with your ZIP Code and the word colonic.
+/- Non-sedating anti-histamine
Now we hit the more optional things. If you have seasonal allergies as many of us do in many states in many regions of the United States, a daily nonsedating antihistamine (loratadine or Allegra) is advisable. Pitched as a nonsedating antihistamine, sir Tech is actually quite sedating. And I don’t really believe it should be in this class. So, I do not advise Zyrtec or its generic equivalents. This is a dirty drug. In addition to the sedation causes, it leads to brain dysfunction because it is significantly anti-cholinergic (remember the brain is cholinergic because it’s mostly acetylcholine receptors? So Zyrtec is anti-brain! Not good right!). It also leads to obesity.
I recommend if you’re going to do something on a daily basis, loratadine. The men especially like this over Allegra because a daily Allegra or it’s generic equivalent can contribute to erectile dysfunction. Women seem to do well on either a daily loratadine or daily generic Allegra. These nonsedating antiistamines do not contribute to any brain dysfunction or weight gain. And they are great for most allergies. Now, you can use Zyrtec for a few days in a row if your allergies really flare up, just don’t live on it for months on end.
Preventative allergy care for a healthy future
Preventative allergy care is important not just to feel better that day, but for the future. Yes. It has been proven that if you don’t take care of your allergies today and block that cascade, your allergies won’t just be bad that day, they will get worse in the future! Daily allergy prevention is key. Avoid the allergens of course. But, take your daily nonsedating allergy medicine, preferably loratadine if you are a guy, either loratadine or generic Allegra for the ladies.
+/- Lactase enzyme
Lactose intolerance is very common. If you do a daily supplement first thing every morning, you can have all of the dairy products you want for 24 hours. Turns out that the brand-name, Lactaid, is now cheaper than the generics. This is happening with a lot of brand-name over-the-counters by the way. So do the price matching.
+/- Blood pressure medicine
The new blood pressure guidelines are out. It is no longer 140/90. It is now 130/80. That’s right. If your blood pressure is equal to or greater than 130/80, either the top number or the bottom number, you have high blood pressure.
Lots of good news on blood pressure prevention. The super safe medications that treat blood pressure also prevent blood pressure from ever going up. Yes. A lot of people are currently recommending that you take daily blood pressure medicine at low doses, the safest medicines you can choose from, to prevent blood pressure ever going up. So, yes, you should be on blood pressure medications even if you have fairly normal blood pressure. My blood pressure for example is 80/40 because I’m a runner, swimmer, biker. Despite that low blood pressure, I take a daily Bystolic, super safe beta blocker. I have been on a daily Bystolic for about a decade. Let’s not talk about how old I am.
Conclusion
The above recommendations, again, are for super healthy adults. Watch for intolerances. But this is what I would start with, making adjustments downwards or upwards only if there are problems.
Stay well. That’s the plan right?
