The Four Supplements I Take Every Day to Feel and Look My Best, One of Which Has Been Life-Changing

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Taking care of my body and mind has always been one of my top priorities, so I’ve always tried to eat (mostly) healthy, exercise, drink lots of water, and make sure my body is getting all of the nutrients it needs to function well. 

I have always taken a multi-vitamin, and when I was pregnant, I took prenatal vitamins, but other than that, I never really took much else.  However, as my needs have started changing these last few years, I have gradually added a few additional supplements, and I thought I’d share all of them today since I’ve had such great success with each of them. 

Before I get started, I do feel the need to put out a disclaimer – if you plan to start a new supplement, please consult with your doctor first.  I am not a doctor, and I am just sharing what works for me.  And I have consulted with my doctor about all of the following supplements that I’m taking.  ;o)

Smarty Pants Women’s Multi-Vitamins

I started taking these Smarty Pants Women’s Multi-Vitamins in early 2020 and I’ve been taking them daily ever since then.  I've mentioned them on the blog no less than 20 times, probably, so some of you may be tired of hearing about them.  Haha.

When looking for a multi-vitamin, I was primarily looking for one that contains Omega-3 DHA for brain and joint health (because you get that from eating fish, and I don’t eat fish) and Vitamin D3 for immunity (because pretty much everyone is deficient).  And I was also hoping to find one that had magnesium, folate (for a healthy heart), and vitamin K (as a lot of women don’t get enough of that either).  I also wanted to find a “clean” vitamin option because so many vitamins contain artificial colors and flavors, etc.

These vitamins check all of those boxes for me and more.  They contain all of the above + many other vitamins and nutrients (Vitamins A, C, E, B-6, B-12 for energy, Biotin for healthy hair, skin and nails, Iron for red blood cells, Iodine for thyroid support, and Zinc for immunity to name a few… 21 total) and they come in an easy-to-swallow capsule.  They also contain a fruit and vegetable blend with organic acai, organic beetroot, and organic kale.  And they’re non-GMO, gelatin-free, sugar-free, vegetarian, gluten-free, milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, soy, wheat, peanuts, and tree nuts-free, and they have no synthetic colors, artificial flavors, or artificial sweeteners as so many other multi-vitamins do. 

You only have to take one capsule daily, and you can take them with or without food.  I highly recommend these if you’re looking for a good, clean multi-vitamin that’s tailored specifically for a woman’s body.  It’s a great way to gain nutrients that you may not be getting enough of from your diet.

 

Young Living Sulfurzyme

The second supplement I added was Young Living’s Sulfurzyme.  I started taking this in 2022, and I cannot even tell you what a world of difference it has made for my skin, hair, nails, and eyelashes.  Y’all know I LOVE my Young Living.  I may not talk about their products much on the blog, but I am a loyal Young Living customer and I have been using a wide array of their products for years now.  They offer a huge selection of products – not just essential oils like most people think – and all of their products are clean.  That’s why I started using them in the first place. 

Sulfurzyme is a blend of MSM (a dietary sulfur) and Ningxia Wolfberry that has loads of benefits.  I had been having trouble with hair loss for a few years prior to starting these capsules, and I knew several ladies who had great success with hair growth after taking these, so I decided to try them for myself.

Within six weeks, I had tons of baby hairs growing all over my head, primarily around my hair line, and my hair has been so much better since then.  My hair is now thicker and fuller, and it looks healthier, too.  It doesn’t break off as easily anymore, and it also doesn’t shed as much as it used to. 

In addition to hair growth, my eyelashes improved incredibly.  Prior to taking Sulfurzyme, my eyelashes were pretty much non-existent.  They were very short and stubby and sparse, and now they’re so much longer and thicker.  I get asked frequently about them, and I attribute them to this Sulfurzyme as well as my favorite drug-store mascara that you can find here for less than $10.  ;o)  

I wish so badly that I’d taken a “before” picture of my eyelashes, but sadly, I didn’t.  The difference is drastic, though, and I know this because soooo many people started DMing me a few months after I started taking it to ask me what I did to make them so thick and full.  Here's a picture that I posted on Instagram back in January after getting so many DMs in one day.  Haha.

My fingernails are also stronger since I started taking this.  They grow quickly now, and they never split or break. 

In addition to supporting hair, skin, and nails health, Sulfurzyme also supports joint health, normal range of motion, bone health, circulation, and the immune system.  It’s also certified vegan friendly, gut friendly, keto friendly, and cruelty free.  The capsules have no scent or flavor, and I haven’t had any negative side effects from taking them. 

The suggested use is two capsules twice daily, but I only take two capsules once daily, and I have definitely experienced the benefits from them.  They are a bit pricey up front, but one bottle contains 300 capsules and lasts six months at the rate I take them, making the cost just about $10/month, or $0.33/day.  That’s cheaper than the multi-vitamins!

And if you’re not interested in purchasing from Young Living directly, you can purchase these here on Amazon.  The price is significantly higher on Amazon, though.

 

Nature’s Bounty Turmeric 450 mg

Ohhhhh turmeric.  Where to even begin?  I am totally convinced that this supplement is a gift straight from heaven.  Of all of the supplements that I’ve started taking, turmeric has had the biggest impact on my overall health and wellness.  I’ve been taking it for seven weeks now, and when I say that it has made a huge difference in my life, I mean it.  By taking just one capsule a day, the inflammation in my body has decreased dramatically.

While some inflammation can be a good thing (it’s what helps our body heal from injury), too much inflammation can be a terrible thing causing pain in the body, chronic insomnia or fatigue, anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders, swelling, weight gain or weight loss, infections, and stomach irregularities like constipation and diarrhea.  Chronic inflammation in the body can even damage healthy cells, tissues, and organs that can eventually lead to cancer, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases. 

For some reason I have been experiencing symptoms of chronic inflammation in my body for more than a decade, and my recent bloodwork most definitely reflected that.  I haven’t been able to pinpoint the cause, but until I do, turmeric has become my best friend.

Some of the symptoms I have from inflammation are major swelling in my feet and ankles every single day, finger swelling (especially after a walk or run) – so bad sometimes that I can’t even twist my wedding bands around on my finger, let alone remove them – and my fingers are SO painful after a run, and the area around my c-section scar has always been puffy and swollen (from nine years ago).   

I also get lots of headaches (typically on the right side of my head), and I have a lot of pain in general, down the back of my head and neck, and also in my SI joint and my sacrum since they were damaged during childbirth 12 years ago.  My SI joint was bothering me so much earlier this summer that I was planning on getting another steroid shot.

Until I started taking the turmeric.

Since starting this magical supplement seven weeks ago, everything has improved… and I actually started seeing the benefits around the four-day mark of taking it.  Here are some of the things that have happened to me since I started taking it…

My feet and ankles no longer swell.  This first picture was taken at 7:36 PM on September 6… two days before I started taking the turmeric.  This is what my feet, toes, and ankles looked like every single day at the end of the day… and sometimes even at the beginning of the day.  So much swelling.  It literally looks like somebody took my ankle and blew it up like a rubber glove.  The skin is all smooth because it’s stretched so tight, and you can’t even see my ankle bone.  This has been my life nearly every single day for years.

This second picture was taken at 5:21 PM on September 21, almost two weeks after I started taking the turmeric.  I’m wearing the same jeans, the same shoes, and I’d had a similar day to the day I’d had when I snapped the picture above.  But look at the difference.  No swelling.  No smooth, tight skin.  And you can see my ankle bone.  It’s an actual normal-looking foot.

Here's the side-by-side so you can really see the difference:

Another benefit I’ve noticed is that my fingers no longer swell when I walk or run, and I now have zero pain in them after a workout.  Before, my fingers would swell so terribly that I couldn’t even twist my wedding rings on my finger, and now I can slip them right off immediately after a run.  In a way, this has actually become a problem.  Haha.  My fingers have shrunk so much that my wedding rings no longer fit… they are HUGE now and I’m going to have to get them resized because I’m worried my engagement ring is going to go flying off one of these days.  That has almost happened several times already.  Haha. 

In addition to that, my wrists have also shrunk.  I never even realized it, but apparently I had swelling there, too.  Since starting the turmeric, I have had to start wearing my Apple Watch band one notch tighter, and I can almost wear it two notches tighter.

My c-section scar is no longer puffy and swollen.  It just looks like a regular scar.

And my stomach has been flatter since I started taking the turmeric, too, so I’m assuming I was experiencing some kind of inflammation in my gut as well.

My SI joint has stopped hurting COMPLETELY (although, in full disclosure I’m also doing some additional stretching, so that could be part of it), but what a Godsend.  I have been able to walk and run with zero pain and I’m so glad that I won’t have to do the steroid shot again.

My headaches have also decreased significantly. 

BOOM.

Sounds too good to be true, I know.  I can barely believe it myself.   

This supplement has truly been a Godsend for me, and in addition to helping reduce inflammation, it has tons of other benefits without any negative side effects.  So, if you have high inflammation in your body, issues with swelling, pain with old injuries, headaches, or just any other random pain in general, I cannot recommend starting turmeric enough!  Turmeric is also supposed to be excellent for arthritis, digestive disorders, allergies, respiratory issues, and depression.  There are also studies that suggest it could help prevent cancer among other things.  It honestly sounds like a miracle supplement!

And if you’re still not convinced, check out this DM I received from a reader when I posted about it the first time…

Love it!

I use this Nature’s Bounty brand because it’s non-GMO and it’s free from artificial colors, flavors, artificial sweeteners, sugar, starch, milk, lactose, gluten, wheat, yeast, fish, and sodium.  I only take one capsule every morning with breakfast and that’s it.  It’s super affordable, and worth every single penny.  I will probably be taking this for the rest of my life.

 

Magnesium Glycinate

After sharing my vertigo journey that’s likely being caused by tense neck muscles caused by anxiety, I had so many people reach out to me to suggest that I look into taking magnesium glycinate.  Since so many people mentioned it, I started doing research, and I found that Magnesium glycinate has a ton of benefits from relieving anxiety and reducing period symptoms to preventing migraine headaches and aiding in muscle relaxation.  It also supports bone density, promotes healthy sleep, keeps your digestive system regular, and it is critical to keeping hormones balanced. 

After doing all of my research, I found that nearly 50% of people in the United States are magnesium deficient, and they don’t even know it.  I went back and looked at my recent bloodwork, and that’s not even something that they check during a typical blood panel, so I wondered if I was one of the ones who fell in that bracket.  I assumed my multi-vitamin (discussed above) contained magnesium, but after looking at the nutrition facts, I found that it only contains one form of magnesium (and not the right kind for my needs) and it only contains 8 mg, whereas most people need around 400 mg per day.

I chose this particular brand because it’s “chelated” meaning that it’s absorbed by the body faster and easier… some forms aren’t easily absorbed, and the nutrients end up being wasted.  And I also chose it because of the incredible rating and reviews on Amazon.  It currently has 62,230 reviews and 4.6 / 5 stars, and the reviews are just beyond.  So many people specifically mentioned in their reviews that they were able to stop taking their anti-anxiety meds after they started taking this.  And since it also relaxes muscles, I knew that would be a huge help to me since that’s likely the cause of my vertigo. 

After taking these for a month, I can say that I have been feeling much better mentally than I have since this vertigo started.  I feel… happier, I guess you could say.  I also haven’t had nearly as much tension in my neck, although, as I’m typing this, I have been having issues for a couple of days, so it hasn’t solved my issues entirely.  It has definitely helped, though, as I was experiencing the neck tension every single day for weeks prior to this. 

Another benefit that I have personally noticed from taking these is that they have helped keep me regular for the last few weeks.  And I haven’t had any issues either… I had heard that you have to be careful with Magnesium because it can cause stomach upset/cramping if you take too much, but I haven’t had any of that. 

These come in 100 mg tablets, so you can choose the dose that works best for you.  I take two every single morning along with the rest of the supplements above, and eventually I may start taking one more before bed as you’re allowed to take up to four per day.  These are very affordable, too, at just $16.22 for the 240-count.

The pills are a little large (about the size of a prenatal vitamin if you’ve ever taken those), but I am able to take them with ease.  If you do struggle with swallowing large pills, you can use a pill cutter to make them smaller.  I have this one and it’s awesome. 

 

Recap

To recap, I take the following every single morning.

 

-       Smarty Pants Women’s Multi-Vitamins x 1 tablet (for overall health and to get some of the nutrients that I might not be getting from my diet)

-       Young LivingSulfurzyme x 2 tablets (for healthy hair, skin, and nails)

-       Nature’s Bounty Turmeric 450 mg x 1 tablet (for inflammation, pain, and a ton of other things!)

-       Doctor’s Best High Absorption Magnesium Glycinate 100 mg x 2 tablets (for anxiety, muscle relaxation, regularity)

 

I take all six tablets together with breakfast and a lot of water, and I have had zero negative side effects from any of them, but the benefits I’ve received from them have been life-changing. 

I never miss a day, and to ensure I don’t miss any days when I travel, I just purchased this pill box to take with me.  It’s the perfect size to hold a week’s worth of my supplements.  It came with days-of-the-week labels, number labels, and blank labels, so I can preload it for the days I’m out of town, and that’ll make it a breeze to take them each day.  I started by putting the numbers on each of the compartments, but I think I may take them off and use the days of the week instead.

 

If you’ve been considering starting some kind of regimen for supplements, I highly urge you to do your research, talk to your doctor, and go for it!  The benefits have been incredible for me, and I’m so grateful that I started!

Happy Monday, y’all!