Experiment 2: Vitamins and Supplements
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The most vitamins or supplements that I have ever taken was a daily multi-vitamin and cod liver oil. In recent years I’ve seen contradictory research that suggests vitamins are both worthless and beneficial, I’ve heard some people laugh at the idea and others swear by them. After coming across a very interesting infographic which actually provides scientific evidence for which supplements work. I thought I would test it out for myself.
After looking at the data and consulting my doctor to make sure I wasn’t creating a cocktail of reacting vitamins (is that even possible?), I decided to test the following supplements/vitamins for my March life experiment:
1. Probiotics
2. Niacin
3. Zinc
4. Creatine
6. Rhodiloa
7. Vitamin D
8. Tyrosine
I went to Amazon and bought most of the products, except for the Probiotics which I purchased from my local grocery store. One benefit of the Activia yogurts is that they contain 12 grams of protein. My last experiment involved trying to consume 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up, which I found difficult to do. However, having the Activia Greek yogurts has made this much easier and I’m now easily consuming over 30 grams of protein which is helping me stick to both challenges and keeping me full and satisfied all day.
Results
It’s only been 30 days so I may be premature in coming to conclusions, however during this time I have already seen some results, most of which have been negative. After taking the supplements, on more than one occasion, I’ve felt nauseous and one time I was actually sick which is never a pleasant experience.
I’m normally a happy and optimistic guy, but during the last 30 days, one thing I have noticed is that my mood has been both quite high and low . My meditation has helped with the low moments, allowing me to be more self aware and helping me not to dwell. I realize that these feelings are only temporary, which is good, but it’s still not a great feeling, reducing my productivity and overall feeling of well being . It might be a coincidence but today is the first day I have stopped taking the vitamins and I feel really motivated and a lot better then I did yesterday.
Going Forward
In order to eliminate the variables, going forward, I am going to continue to take the following supplements:
1. Probiotics
2. Zinc
4. Vitmin D
As well as adding some extras:
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Green Tea
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Coffee
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Dark Chocolate
It will be interesting to hear form anyone else who has used these supplements and if you had similar or different results, it would be helpful to compare.
Reminder: If you are going to try a similar experiment, remember to seek the advice of your doctor before doing anything.
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