Hello! I'm starting off my health topics on nutrition. We'll be camping out in this topic for the next week or 2.
First of all, be sure to check with your doctor or nutritionist before putting yourself on a vitamin & supplement regimen. I am going to focus on how I like to organize my vitamins & supplements, but the topic of which vitamins & supplements to take is a huge subject, and so individualized for each person & their health needs, so please seek your professionals for such advice.
I'm busy. I'm guessing so are all of you. I have days where I feel like I'm really on top of everything, and other days where I forgot to take 1 multivitamin! I take a lot of vitamins and supplements, at least I feel like it's a lot. I must admit though I really feel at my best when I remember to take them all. So, I have figured out a system to keep them organized and to remind myself. I have fallen off the wagon of this system once or twice, and found myself feeling sluggish and run down, and I seem to get more prone to illness as well.
The Pill Organizer:
I use a weekly pill organizer with dual slots for am & pm. I put a few vitamins in the morning slot, a few in the afternoon slot. Every Sunday is my refill day. I get a lot of stuff prepped for the week on Sundays, so my vitamins are easier to remember amongst my prep activities. I try to space them out and take them with my meals and snacks. I have trouble swallowing pills, so I am not someone who can just gulp down my vitamins in one swoop with a bunch of water. I love the following organizer. If anything ever happens to my current organizer, I will get something like this. However, I like to make use of what I currently have, so this one will have to wait. I love how this breaks it down even further into morning, noon, evening & bedtime.
There's also this option from Magellan's. It's especially great if you travel a lot and the pouch is great to just wrap up and throw in a purse or bag:
The Checklist:
So, you figure, great! I organized my pills! That was the easy part. Remembering to take them is often the hard part! I keep a checklist on the side of my fridge listing out which vitamins & supplements I need to take every day. At the end of the day I run down the list and if I missed some, I take one or two before bedtime. The missing ones will also be visible in your organizer! If I missed more than that, no big deal, I just save them for the following week. When I am actively checking my list I am taking a whole lot more than without it, even if I miss a few. The checklist also helps with remembering vitamins and supplements that do not go in your pill organizer. I have some that need to be refrigerated. I have also found that I cannot keep my cranberry supplement pills in the plastic organizer or else they will dry out. They are a powder within a capsule & when the air gets to them they get hard and dry. If you are put on a new prescription, simply add it to the list. You can also make a daily checklist and physically check off the vitamins & supplements as you take them. There are also some great apps you can put on your smart phone/computer that can be used for this purpose. Just create a to do list in the category of vitamins/supplements and mark off as you go along.
Now comes my safety reminder: Please remember to keep your vitamins & supplements out of the reach of little ones! I keep ours on top of the fridge. Our kitchen is also blocked off with a baby gate. Locked cabinets and pill safes are also a great option. Medical lock bozes are also great and perfect if you are traveling with lots of pills and little ones.
Cheers to Good Health! Have a great week!
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