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Your Daily Dose of Vitamins
5 Ways to Increase Vitamin Intake
By Donna Smith
To get the most out of your vitamins, Montag suggests taking them with each meal. "The presence of key nutrients helps you absorb all the goodies from your food, and you have the benefit of antioxidant protection throughout the day," she says. Food also helps protect the stomach – minerals like zinc and calcium can cause irritation in some people.
If you have a hard time remembering your daily vitamin, Montag suggests keeping them on the kitchen table, keeping a pill pack stocked and in your purse or briefcase or keeping an entire second set at work. "It's just another discipline to get into the habit, like brushing your teeth," Pirello says.
You've now decided to add a multivitamin to your daily routine, but which one is the best? Navigating the vitamin aisle can be as intimidating as walking down the cereal aisle with a child. Montag suggests a basic multivitamin that contains no artificial colors or sucrose, and that has extra calcium, magnesium and zinc – and an antioxidant formula that includes vitamins E, C and beta-carotene. Pirello agrees with selecting a vitamin from a line that is as natural and whole as possible. "You'll get the most nutrients that your body can use as well as those being the most digestible," she says.
Vegetables. To some that's a dirty word, but produce is an important part of a healthy diet. One way to up your vegetable intake is to add them into foods you already love.
"Steamed and pureed vegetables can be added to any sauce, especially marinara sauce, which is a good camouflage for spinach, squashes, zucchini, etc.," Montag says. Pirello says one of the best waysto sneak in vegetables is by adding them to bisques and soups that are made from pureed vegetables, so no one is the wiser. "Also, try making veggie burgers with grated and finely diced vegetables or juices," she says.