Make your supplements “portable.” Don’t keep them in the medicine cabinet, where they’re likely just to collect dust. After all, most people don’t have time to go home during the day to take supplements. Instead, bring your vitamins with you in a pill box (available at most drugstores) that fits into a purse or briefcase.
Split up your doses. Look for supplements divided into several pills that meet your daily requirements. For example, rather than one 1,200 mg calcium pill that you take just once, look for smaller-dose pills that you take several times a day. “I split my patients’ supplements up throughout the day,” says Shari Lieberman, PhD, CNS, FACN, author of The Real Vitamin & Mineral Book (Avery, 2003), “so that the nutrients can be used more efficiently.”
Always take your supplements with a meal. Taking supplements without eating can lead to an upset stomach. Plus, sitting down for a meal will remind you to take your supplements—and, conversely, taking supplements can break you of the bad habit of skipping meals.
Don’t be intimidated by large pills. Sometimes people avoid taking supplements that look like they may be tricky to swallow. Lieberman recommends putting the liquid in your mouth first. Then bend your head back, relax your throat, insert the pill, and swallow. Other options are to “grind the tablets, get capsules and open them, or take liquid vitamins,” Lieberman says. “Or you can ask for a smaller dose of the supplement and take the smaller pills more frequently than you would the larger ones.”
—B.F.
