FitSugar

What to Eat to Get the RDI of Vitamins and Minerals

FitSugar — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 18:12:23 PDT

How much calcium should I get? What about vitamin B12? If you're curious to know how much you need each day of your basic vitamins and minerals, this chart is for you! It tells you the recommended daily intake (RDI) of each nutrient, and what you need to eat to obtain it.

Vitamin or Mineral	Amount	Eat This to Obtain RDI
Vitamin A	2,310 IU (700 mcg)	Two medium baby carrots: 2,758 IU
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)	1.1 mg	One cup oatmeal: 1.2 mg
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)	1.1 mg	1 cup cottage cheese: .4 mg 3 oz. salmon: .4 mg 1 cup cooked spinach: .4 mg
Vitamin B3 (Niacin)	14 mg	Half an avocado: 1.3 mg 2 large carrots 1.4 mg 3 oz. salmon: 8.6 mg 1 medium sweet potato 1.7 mg 1 oz. almonds: 1.1 mg

Keep reading to find out if you're meeting your RDI of the other vitamins and minerals.

DrSugar Answers: Timing With Vitamins?

DrSugar — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:30:04 PST

DrSugar is in the house! And she's answering your health-related questions.

Dear DrSugar,
Just wondering if there is an ideal time of day, absorption-wise, to take multivitamins and supplements. Specifically, upon rising, before retiring, or somewhere in between. Thanks!
- Vitamin Curious

Thanks for a wonderful question. As I’ve mentioned before, multivitamins can be a very important addition to your everyday life, as they can ensure you're getting all the nutrients you need to be healthy. However, as the Mayo Clinic states, if you are already eating a well-balanced diet, you may not even need a multivitamin and if you do take one as a "safety net," you should know that you may exceed what your body needs or can use. The very same article also discussed how the more you spend on vitamins does not necessarily mean that the vitamins are any better! So, today, we’re going to expand on the multivitamin topic. To learn the optimal time to pop your multi keep on reading.

Fit Tip: How to Squeeze More Out of Your Multivitamin

FitSugar — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 09:00:00 PDT

When it comes to taking a multivitamin on a daily basis, 56 percent of FitSugar readers are believers, while some take them occasionally to help supplement their diet or as a health insurance against colds and other viruses. For those that believe in the power of the vitamin, it is recommended that one should split it in half and take one portion in the morning and the rest in the evening. Doing this, Dr. Roizen of the Cleveland Clinic says, will maximize the benefits:

"You urinate out soluble vitamins in 12 to 16 hours, so this will keep the level in your body steady."

Seems like a pretty logical argument, but it makes me wonder why there's not a product on the market called, "Two-a-Day" so we can avoid that whole messy cutting bit. Will you give this tip a try?

DrSugar Answers: Are Expensive Vitamins Better?

FitSugar — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 05:50:15 PDT

DrSugar is in the house! And she's answering your health-related questions, like this one submitted in our Ask Anything group.

Q: Does it matter which brand of vitamins I take? Are the more expensive ones better for you?

A: This is a great question to ask because I'm sure many of FitSugar's readers, including me, have become perplexed and overwhelmed when at the health food store or vitamin store shopping for a daily multivitamin! I think it's great that you are taking a multivitamin, as vitamins have been recommended for years because they help you get the key nutrients your body needs if your diet is low on fruits and vegetables. To learn if high price equals high quality in vitamins, keep on reading.

Are You Down With Vitamin D?

FitSugar — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 07:00:01 PDT

D is for dairy, and for daylight, which also happen to be two good sources of vitamin D. Now that the days are getting longer and we're heading into Summer, it's even easier to get your daily dose of D. Just don't forget the sunscreen!

How much vitamin D do you really need, and where can you get it? Take my quiz and see if you can ace your D knowledge.

Take the Quiz

Check Your Sunscreen Labels For Vitamin A

BellaSugar — Tue, 25 May 2010 07:00:00 PDT

We all know that sunscreen is a tool to protect our skin against a host of ailments, including cancer and premature aging, but according to the Environmental Working Group, vitamin A derivatives retinol and retinyl palmitate, which are a popular additive in antiaging sunscreens, could speed the development of tumors when used on skin that's being exposed to the sun.

It's pretty common knowledge that vitamin A increases skin's sensitivity to light - anyone who's ever used Retin-A or Accutane gets a warning from their doctor about avoiding sun when they get their prescription - so this isn't surprising. It's the fact that vitamin A is being put into sunscreen in the first place that's weird. Why put a photosensitizing agent into a product people are buying expressly as sun protection?

I know that some people are going to blow this off as an "everything gives you cancer" story, but they shouldn't. The takeaway is really about connecting the dots, and finding out what's in the products you use. Do you use sunscreen that contains this vitamin, and if so, would finding out it had vitamin A in it make you think about changing brands?

5 Things I Learned From GOOP Today

BellaSugar — Thu, 13 May 2010 13:00:00 PDT

You might know that Gwyneth Paltrow's GOOP newsletters, while sometimes mocked by bloggers, actually do contain lots of great content straight from industry insiders. And whether you're a fan or not, you have to give the longtime actress credit for her efforts in trying to bring insider tidbits to the masses. Today's edition is one after my own heart, offering up some pretty cool hairstyle tips and tricks from her pals in the hair biz. See five of my favorites when you read more.

18 Foods to Eat to Fuel a Pregnant Body

LilSugar — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 13:01:58 PDT

What moms-to-be eat affects their growing babies. While they don't need to consume too many extra calories (300 per day) while pregnant, it's what one puts in her mouth that counts. Expectant women should keep all the vital vitamins and minerals that contribute to their child's development in mind when making meal choices. To make it easy, we've rounded up the recommended daily doses and the foods that provide the nourishment, but as always check diet specifics with your doctor.

Build Your Tot's Bones With Vitamin D

babysugar — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:05:16 PDT

Children may be the sunshine of our lives, but they are not getting enough exposure to the source itself. Following the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics to double lil ones' daily dose of Vitamin D a year and a half ago, a new study shows that few kids are actually receiving the recommended dosage. In this week's edition of Pediatrics, researchers found that only 1-13 percent of infants under 1 year old receive Vitamin D drops and that exclusively breastfed babies had lowest levels of the vitamin in their system (only 5-13 percent received the daily amount).

Scientists are urging doctors and parents to reevaluate their intake of Vitamin D supplements to reduce the risk of rickets, bone problems, heart disease, cholesterol issues, and diabetes.

Do you give your tot a Vitamin D supplement?

Keep Your Vitamins Out of the Bathroom

FitSugar — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:00:09 PST

If you down your vitamins with a little bit of tap water, chances are high you store them in your bathroom or kitchen. Unfortunately, a new study indicates that the watery elements of those two rooms make them the worst places to keep these pills. High humidity and high temperatures, often found in both the kitchen and bathroom, can degrade the potency and decrease the shelf life of certain supplements - even if the bottle caps are screwed on tight. Opening and closing the bottles allows humidity to creep inside, and that moisture can dissolve ingredients in the vitamins, decreasing their quality. The chemical changes are irreversible. It doesn't make your supplement unsafe, just less potent.

Check your vitamins and if you notice irregular brown spots, darkening, or signs of moisture in the container, you may want to replace them. And when you do, store your bottles away from the bathroom and kitchen. I keep mine on my desk at work. Where do you store yours?