As we move into the second month of 2021, hopefully, your health and wellness goals for the year are still inspiring you to work toward your best self. Here at cbdMD, we offer all sorts of wellness blogs to help you along your journey to wellness. And today, we’re covering vitamin supplements, mineral supplements, the benefits of CBD, and how they all work together to help you achieve your goals.
Fair warning: none of this is meant to replace your doctor’s advice (for obvious reasons), but it can help you plan your own personal, well-rounded goals for your optimum health.
What Do Vitamin Supplements Do?
Millions of Americans get up each morning and take their daily regimen of vitamin supplements. For some, it’s a quick multivitamin – one and done – and then they’re off to start their day. For others, there’s a handful of various supplements, a carefully concocted green drink for breakfast, tincture drops, and a good, thorough workout before work.
Most of us fall somewhere in between. We think about vitamins and minerals, hear about the CBD benefits from our friends, don’t know a whole lot about any of it, and have lots of questions.
Most of us are taking some kind of vitamin supplements, whether it’s something we read about online or heard about from our doctor. In my case, my mom had a few “recommendations” and then showed up with some she “just picked up” for me at the store. (Thanks, Mom!)
In short, vitamin supplements are taken by a great many people as a way to help our bodies to get all the good and healthy stuff they need. So how much is too much? What should you take? Will it make you sleepy or mess with your other medications? There are so many questions!
Vitamins play a very important role in your overall health – in fact, lots of roles. Each vitamin and mineral has a specific purpose in the body and will support certain bodily functions, prevent deficiencies, and provide support to your organs, tissues, and cells.
Vitamins and minerals help your body perform hundreds of natural functions from the cellular level to larger systems like your nervous system or immune system. So yes, it is important to consider vitamin and mineral supplements as our diets have evolved and foods may not provide the levels our bodies need.
Imagine how well your car would run if you decided, “I don’t think my car needs oil.” Or maybe you put way too much oil in your vehicle and keep driving it. Without question, your car isn’t going to run properly in either of those situations.
Each car is different. Even if they were all made the same year, in the same plant, by the same workers, each engine, with even small differences, will operate a little differently than another. The same is true for your body – even if you and your sister and all your aunts look exactly the same and all have similar health histories, you won’t need to take the same vitamin supplements in the exact amounts to keep your bodies functioning at their best. It is a very individualized thing.
So, how many vitamins or minerals does your body need, and what types of vitamins should you take? It depends. I know that’s not the answer you were looking for, exactly, but there are so many factors when it comes to vitamin supplements.
- Weight
- Age
- Health and family health history
- Your diet
- Current health status
- Recommended daily amounts
- Absorption (some vitamins need other vitamins in order to better absorb into the body)
- Potential interactions with other supplements or medications you are taking
The bottom line: ask your doctor, other trusted healthcare professionals, and do what research you can on reputable sites about each vitamin supplement you are considering taking.
What About Mineral Supplements?
Mineral supplements, similar to vitamin supplements, ensure your body gets the right amount of nutrients. Minerals are more elemental, and some of them are crucial to your body’s performance: calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, magnesium, iron, zinc, iodine, chromium, copper, fluoride, molybdenum, manganese, and selenium.
Harvard Medical offers this comprehensive list of vitamin and mineral supplements as a reference and vitamin guide. Guides like this help you to learn all about vitamin B12 or vitamin K and what they can do for your body.
Benefits of CBD Oil Supplements
If you are interested in CBD benefits and how CBD works in your body, you are likely doing a lot of research. And you’re running into many questions about incorporating CBD into your fitness and wellness program.
CBD falls in the same camp as vitamins and minerals. Even more interesting, our bodies naturally interact with cannabinoids from hemp via a complex endocannabinoid system, which functions as a receiver and processor. This system works much like a doorway with a processing scanner. Cannabinoids, like in CBD oil, show up at the door, blip through security, and then are off to the organs, to the bloodstream, or the cells.
Our bodies have a process for CBD already! And if you’re on the fence about how CBD can support your wellness goals, just take a little time looking at CBD oil reviews. There’s a lot of passion out there about CBD from loyal CBD oil product users who have found it to be useful in a myriad of ways.
Is CBD a Supplement Like Vitamins and Minerals?
CBD is best thought of as a supplement. Chances are unless you are using CBD gummies or another ingestible, you are likely not getting any cannabinoids in your diet. So, to receive the benefits of CBD oil, you have to incorporate CBD into your supplement regimen in the mornings or evenings or take it at intervals throughout your day, depending on the strength and type of CBD oil product you opt to use.
How to Use CBD Oil
First, decide what type of CBD oil product you’d like to use based on how quickly you want it to interact with your body and at what time of day you’d like to experience CBD benefits. Then you can select the type and strength you need.
- CBD Oil Tinctures: Squeeze out of a dropper under the tongue, hold for a few seconds, then swallow. Take it once or twice a day.
- CBD Gummies and edibles: A tasty and convenient way to take CBD, though slower-acting than a tincture.
- CBD Topicals: Topicals are lotions or creams that contain CBD for external applications and localized support.
- CBD Vaping products: CBD can be used in vaping form for absorption through the lungs.
Secondly, begin a CBD daily regimen, starting with a small amount and gradually increasing until you find the amount you’re most comfortable using. Make sure to discuss with your doctor and add CBD oil to your list of daily supplements you take.
How to Know What Supplements You Should Take
To design a daily regimen of vitamin supplements, mineral supplements, or CBD oil products you want to incorporate, you can talk with your doctor or a reputable dietician and collect data from online sources backed by science.
Ask your doctor about vitamins, minerals, CBD oil, and other supplements, but your doctor may take a broad approach to advise you. Some wellness products are approved by the FDA, but many are not. As a result, some doctors could be hesitant to recommend those that are not FDA-approved. Others are a bit more open with their opinions on the benefits based on public usage, historical uses, and applications.
Let your doctor know you want to use a whole-body approach to health and wellness, and work with a doctor you trust to develop a routine that addresses all of your concerns. Discuss the benefits of CBD or any other supplement you wish to take, inquire about any interactions with your current medications that may arise, and ask for guidance on how much of a supplement your body may need.
A dietician can work within your doctor’s recommendations, design a diet that works for you, and help you incorporate supplements where your body has a greater need, or your diet is insufficient. To choose a reputable dietician, make sure to review their credentials and reputation, and be wary of anyone making outlandish health claims or who tries to sell you a cure-all fix that only they can provide. With a little effort, you can find a highly reputable dietician to work with you and help you design a wellness program that works from the inside out.
Factors to Consider
When considering any supplement, there are factors to consider that will help determine how much of a supplement will help your body and mind achieve optimum health.
- Weight, sex, and age
- Medical history
- Your health goals
- Your current medications and supplements
- Your daily lifestyle, physical habits, and how much money you want to spend
Health & Fitness Involves Your Whole Body and Your Mind
Any health and wellness lifestyle will involve all of the smaller decisions you make about your health, from how much water you drink every day to what types of daily physical activities you do. There are many aspects to your health that should be addressed with wellness goals in mind for overall optimum health.
- Diet: All of the things you eat and drink, including dietary supplements, medications, and CBD oil products.
- Exercise and Activity: How much, how often, and what types of daily physical activities you do to support physical health, keep your heart and other muscles healthy, improve mobility, and help to make your body less susceptible to minor injuries.
- Mental Health: Taking a proactive and honest approach to mental health, stress management, and even your attitude are important aspects of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
- Intellectual Stimulation: Your brain needs intellectual stimulation to stay sharp and function at its best. Giving your brain some “workout” time can help with your cognitive ability and memory processes.
- Social Wellness: Humans need interaction with other people. Ensuring your social needs are met will help you have a more satisfying life and work to keep you more active.
- Sleep: Our bodies are designed to need reparative and restorative sleep, and enough of it each day. Prioritizing your sleep schedule and getting good sleep is important to any wellness lifestyle.
- Spirituality & Purpose: Humans are curious and seek purpose in their lives. Exploring curiosity and finding meaning in our lives can guide us, provide fulfillment, and help us keep a positive focus in our lives.
Fitness, Wellness, Healthy Lifestyle & CBD
CBD benefits address several different aspects of a whole-body-and-mind wellness lifestyle. Cannabinoids work within your body’s natural processes to sustain overall optimum performance, mood, and the body’s ability to rest and get quality sleep. These are all biological functions of the body that need to be in the best working condition for those vitamin supplements to be most effective: for the workouts you put your time and sweat into to pay off and for the restorative sleep your body needs to be most helpful.
People who use and swear by their CBD oil products are people who know that many aspects of wellness come from within, and all our body’s systems work together to keep us well. The benefits of CBD and your vitamin and mineral regimen benefits all work together as part of your overall fitness to make you the best you can be.