9 Key Ways to Work Supplements into Your Daily Life

Many people are told by their doctors that they need additional sources of important vitamins and minerals. If you live up north you have probably heard of the importance of getting enough vitamin D during winter because a lack of this important acid weakens your immune system, and worse, it causes bone weakness later in life. Winter is also when people pile up on vitamin C supplements to avoid getting a cold or the flu. Some minerals and vitamins supplements are more efficient in certain forms because the body absorbs nutrients differently. For example, you can get vitamin C  dissolved in water and this way it is absorbed faster by your digestive system. Protein powder can be eaten like food or mixed and dissolved in drinks. It’s easy to forget taking the ones you need, so making a daily habit of it is necessary.

1- Meal Plan

Try to get a clear idea of what you eat on a normal day. Then, find out which supplements are better mixed with what kind of food, and which supplements are not. This is important as there is little use in taking iron supplements if you mix it with coffee, as the effect is killed off.

2- Breakfast

Whether you drink a spoon of liquid iron or take pills, it is best to do this in the morning. The body absorbs anything better on an empty stomach, and it’s a good thing to start off your day with the energy the iron and vitamins give you. The first thing you should do when you wake up is going to the kitchen and open your fridge. Take the pills and swallow them down with a nice cold glass of orange juice. The orange juice kickstarts your day, as the sugar wakes you up, and the taste is quite strong and acidic, which makes it the best thing to kill off the taste of any medicine. Make a habit of waking up with a glass of orange juice.

3- Lunch and Dinner

Depending on your kind of supplement, you can mix them into your food. Vitamin D needs fat to work in your system, so during the bigger meals of the day is when you should be taking it. Fiber helps your digestive system and you won’t feel tired and constipated at work if you take this with your lunch. If you take protein powder, this can also easily mix with a cup of tea or a glass of juice that goes well with your food.

4- The Coffee at Work

A good trick to remember taking your supplements without making a big hassle, like putting on alarms and post-it notes on your desk and fridge, you can simply put them by your coffee machine at work. When you go to fill up your cup during the day, you will see them and remember to take them. 

5- Bathroom Mirror

If you use glasses or contact lenses, you can put your supplements next to these, so it is the first thing you see when you wake up in the morning, and the last thing you see before going to sleep at night. You can also put them next to your toothbrush, that way you will be reminded to take them twice a day.

6- Wallet

Another good way of reminding yourself to take your daily pills is putting them in places where you are or look several times a day. Get a tiny pill container at a pharmacy, and put one in your wallet if it fits, if not, in your bag.

7- Always Bring Water

Remember to have a bottle of water in your bag every time you leave for work, so you can easily swallow your pills while you’re on your way. This is good advice in all cases.

8- Phone Case

Put a little note in your phone case. It is even better if it covers your phone screen a little when you open the case, that way there is no way you will forget to take your vitamins. 

9- Fridge Door

Keep them in the fridge door, next to your favorite drink or food. This is a good way of making the annoying necessity of taking supplements something you do without hardly noticing.