Have you ever tried a diet plan that you felt needed supplementation for vitamins?

As many of you know, I’m switching diets each week so temporary imbalances aren’t necessarily a problem.  In fact, that is the strategy.  I’m constantly keeping my body guessing about what’s coming next rather than allowing it too compensate.

However, it has occurred to me that as I settle in on a few diet plans that work well for me (based on the data), that I may want to supplement with vitamins… or protein… or fat… or carbs… or minerals.

I don’t currently take a multi-vitamin because I know that most multi-vitamins contain a lot of stuff that isn’t even organically available in the form given.  The oils (vitamin A and E especially) are often rancid and useless (or worse than useless).

Most nutritionists agree that you should get your vitamins from the food you eat.  That seems obvious and has been proven in study after study when looking at the bio-availability of those vitamins.

Why then would we want to pop pills?  The answer is convenience.  It is really nice to be able to just take your vitamins in the morning (or with each meal) and be done with it.  It’s nice to not have to control each meal to make sure you are getting the vitamins you need.

OK; is there a middle ground?  Is there a way to get your vitamins from concentrated foods which is almost as convenient as popping some pills?  It is possible to have those concentrated foods be concentrated enough that the vitamin supplementation doesn’t end up constituting an entire meal?  Is it possible to have them in a form that you can tell is not rancid and is bio-available?

Sure.  There is an entire industry devoted to giving just that.  Unfortunately, like the pill popping vitamin industry… it has a spotted reputation.  Some companies are creating elixers that contain the same old rancid oils and forms of vitamins and minerals that aren’t even bio-available.

Can you simply create your own from real foods?   That was the question I asked myself recently.  I found some good answers that I will share with you.

The best source of vitamin A and D that I found was cod liver oil.  I know.  You are thinking… YUCK!  That is perhaps because you took cod liver oil as a kid and it was smelly and tasted awful.  The smell is actually undesirable rancid fish oils.  Modern distillations of cod liver oil do not have the smell or the awful taste.  I found some mixed with lemon oil and it tastes completely like lemon with no fish smell or taste at all.  One tablespoon gives much more than the US RDA of both vitamin A and vitamin D.

The best source I found for the B vitamins is nutritional yeast flakes.  A heaping tablespoon mixes easily into a morning protein shake or broth.  That heaping tablespoon contains much more than the US RDA of all of the B vitamins.

Ground acerola berries was the best source I could find for concentrated vitamin C.  The powder is tasty (although tart) and can be easily added to fruit juice or just taken in a puckered mouth.  It can also be added to the same shake as the yeast flakes.  One tablespoon gives much more than the US RDA of vitamin C.

Wheat germ oil is a great source of vitamin E.  One tablespoon once again exceeds the US RDA with ease.  It can be taken directly or mixed in a vitamin shake with all of the others.   It’s also great to drip onto the top of a hearty soup.  Many four and five star restaurants use it that way.

Those are all of the major vitamins.  You can get all of them with just four tablespoons of bulk.  That’s not as convenient as popping a tiny little multi-vitamin, but it comes close… and is certainly giving you more vitamins that aren’t rancid and are very available to your body in their semi-natural food form.

-James D. Brausch