Thursday, January 29, 2009

Experiment: Changing Supplements

According to several sources I've read about, adequate vitamin D ingestion can help support your immune system.  I tested as being pretty low on vitamin D so I started taking supplements of 1000 IU of D3 per day, which I increased (based on feedback from my naturopath) to 2000 IU per day.

In addition to this, I have stopped using hand sanitizer.  In fact, the last bug I caught was after using hand sanitizer so it occurred to me that it might be removing good bacteria as well as the bad stuff.

So here is my experiment:

1.  2000 IU of vitamin D3, in supplement form, per day.  (In case you're curious, I'm taking this SISU brand product)

2.  Hand washing.  I wash my hands almost as soon as I get home and before I start to work with food or do anything, really.  Back and front, using a natural soap if I can (it usually ends up being the fruit and vegetable wash liquid).

3.  Switched brands of vitamin C to the SISU brand as well -- I suspected that the Genestra product (C-1000 with bioflavinoids) I've been using for years was no longer quite doing the trick. One a day (1000 mg) of vitamin C.  This one has Ester C.

4.  Ran out of my normal calcium, so I started using the SISU brand of that as well.  It's a coincidence -- honest!  I'm taking 4 pills (2 with lunch and 2 in the evening) per day.

5.  My usual B-12 folic acid supplement in the morning when I remember to take it.  That one isn't SISU -- at least not right now!

OH!  I just remembered one other change I've made ... I'm drinking boiled water from the kettle at work rather than using (and re-using) either my stainless steel water bottle or plastic bottles.


Let's see how it goes ... fingers crossed ...