Best Vitamins & Supplements For Optimal Health (Take These)

The right supplements are, as mentioned in both my article on eating healthy and the one on optimizing your health, a key part to achieving optimal health and a healthier life and lifestyle today.

And that’s true even if you’re already eating a very whole and healthy diet.

(I am, and I still do take these).

Don’t get me wrong, you can still get very healthy from just diet alone, and your overall diet is the more important part, but again, supplements do help, and sometimes a lot today.

That said, if you’re eating unhealthy and processed, supplements will be an even bigger deal of course, since you’re then even more likely to get too little of a lot of these vital nutrients, with your health and well-being suffering as a result.

And even if we just touched on this a little bit, let’s start the page off with a deeper dive into if and why you should be taking them:

Table of Contents

• Should You Be Taking Vitamins And Supplements, And Why?
• Why We Should Be Taking Certain Vitamins And Supplements Today
• What To Consider When Choosing The Right And Best Supplements (And How I Do It And Chose The Ones I Recommend)
  • Need
  • Form
  • Dosage
  • Price
  • Additives
  • Brand And Retailer
  • Intuitive Testing
• Synthetic VS Natural And Organic Nutrients, Vitamins And Minerals
• The Best Vitamins And Supplements For Optimal Health And Wellbeing Including Why And In What Dosages (For Men, Women, Kids And For All Ages)
  • A Good Multivitamin
  • Vitamin D
  • Magnesium
  • Vitamin K2
  • Vitamin A (Preformed)
  • Boron
  • Calcium
  • Omega-3
  • Iodine
  • Trace Minerals And Lithium
  • Collagen
  • Vitamin B12
  • A Good Probiotic
  • A Good Greens Powder
• Honorable Mentions Among Supplements
  • Zinc
  • Selenium
  • Vitamin C
  • B Complex Vitamins
  • Mixed Vitamin E
• When's The Best Time To Take Your Vitamins And Supplements (Time Of Day)?
• Potential Side Effects And Troubleshooting
• Summary
• Share The Article:

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Should You Be Taking Vitamins And Supplements, And Why?

Let me reiterate that yes, you should probably be taking some supplements (again even if you’re eating healthy), if it’s optimal or as good a health that you can get and feeling at your best that you’re after.

But if you aren’t quite sold on that yet, let me get into the details and explain why.

Why We Should Be Taking Certain Vitamins And Supplements Today

That we should be taking certain supplements today for our health is due to several reasons, but the main one is that most of us are simply not getting enough of these nutrients on a regular basis.

This can lead to either deficiencies of these if your intake is really low, or to just a sub-optimal intake meaning you could get healthier and feel even better if you got some more of these.

Pretty much all the vitamins and supplements I’ll be recommending on this page are nutrients that we’re often deficient in today and/or could use more of, even when eating well, and thus again, I do take all of these myself, too.

Whether you’ll subjectively notice a difference in how you feel from a certain supplement or nutrient will vary from person to person and depend on if you actually need more of it or are deficient in it or not (especially with these mostly essential ones that I’m recommending), but from many of them, and especially when added together then, you probably will.

But even if you won’t (it may simply be hard to notice or the benefits may come gradually), know that you’re still doing your overall health a big service with these.

Either way, the big reasons we should be taking certain vitamins and supplements today, are that they’re related to nutrient deficiencies and sub-optimal intake of certain vitamins, minerals and nutrients.

And they are:

• That we’re eating way too much processed and nutrient-poor food today, “empty calories” as they call them, making it very difficult to get enough of all the essential vitamins, minerals and nutrients that we need, but also that:
• We’re not eating in the same way and all of the most important foods that were always valued for their nutrition traditionally (lack of these could lead to ill health and birth defects), even when eating healthy, for example we’re sticking to muscle meats and not eating the entire animals anymore, including then the important and nutrient-rich organ meats as well as skin, cartilage and bones (bone broth). These are high in particular nutrients that can be very hard to get enough of in any other natural way, and thus lead to deficiencies or sub-optimal levels of these. Another example is eating more of particular superfoods such as kelp to get adequate iodine levels, that we rarely do or think about anymore, but more on all of these a bit further down!
• Another and “growing” reason for our lack of adequate dietary nutrient intake is our overfarmed and increasingly nutrient-depleted soils from decades upon decades of growing and removing nutritious food from it without replacing the soils’ lost minerals from that, leading, logically, to less nutrient-dense foods and produce over time (and already has).
• On top of that, both the increased carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere (makes it more difficult for plants and crops to absorb minerals and nutrients properly) and the now longer duration of time from harvesting to eating (foods can lose a large chunk of essential water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin C and B vitamins quickly and when not eaten almost immediately after removed from the tree/plant/ground) due to transport and time on the shelves in stores lead to considerably less nutrients today even in very healthy foods.
• Another argument could be made for that we also often need more of many of these nutrients today, despite getting less of them through our diet, due to things such as stress and unhealthy lifestyles depleting us of many key vitamins and minerals quicker today as well as worse health and thus digestive health overall with a lot of leaky guts and bacterial dysbiosis leading to absorption problems, making it a bad combination that we both need more, and get less of these.

You can of course minimize the amount of supplements you need to take by including the specific foods that are richest in the nutrients we need more of today, the way it was always done traditionally when there were no supplements of these available

That is the recommended way if you can get it done properly, but know that the right supplements work too and can be more convenient for a lot of people today.

A lot or most of the supplements that I recommend also are real foods already, and/or in their same natural form or taken/extracted from whole foods in ways that make it so that they’re basically the same as eating real foods, which is exactly how you want it and as natural as can get when supplementing!

I’ll get into specifically what foods you could be eating instead for certain nutrients under their relevant supplements below.

But because of above reasons of most of the recommended supplements being in real food forms or from those and in their most natural nutrient forms, choosing to supplement with these can sometimes even be better (tastewise, for convenience, healthwise and even economically).

The same dosage of a nutrient may be both cheaper and easier to eat/get enough of from a supplement since some foods with these nutrients you may just not enjoy that much, such as organ meats, which might lead to you not getting enough of these nutrients from food after all or regularly enough.

Either way..

Let’s move on to what you should think about when choosing the right and best supplements, since all products are not made the same.

Here’s how I do it:

What To Consider When Choosing The Right And Best Supplements (And How I Do It And Chose The Ones I Recommend)

When choosing what supplements to take as well as in which forms and from what brands, there are a number of things to consider to make sure you’re making an as informed decision as possible.

The ones recommended for everyone to be taking further down in this article are thus very carefully selected and tried out, so you can be sure to really get what you’re looking for.

But it can still be good and worthy to know a little bit more about how you’d go about it when choosing your own or other types of supplements, as well as how and why the below ones in particular were chosen and are recommended.

Because there are a lot to choose from.

When you look at the shelves in a brick and mortar supplement store or through the online shelves of some of the best and largest supplement retailers (such as All Star Health which is my current favorite due to both a large selection of the best products and brands but also because they’re the cheapest), you’ll quickly notice that the options of different supplements and even the same ones but in different forms are nearly endless.

Because of this and that you could be taking a billion or even a trillion good and promising supplements (which isn’t very practical once they get that many), you really have to learn to prioritize when it comes to supplements, and to pick only the most important ones that you either need or are the most likely to make a positive impact on your health and well-being.

Those are exactly the ones i’ve chosen to recommend in this article, by the way, but the stuff i base this on, is:

Need

Is it reasonable to assume that you’re either deficient or could use more of this particular vitamin, mineral, nutrient or supplement for optimal health and to feel at your best?

With all of the below supplements the answer is yes, which is the most important factor in whether you should be taking it or not.

Although having tried literally in the thousands of different superfoods and supplements over the years (especially before I knew what I know today about these things), I now generally stick to (and recommend) only the stuff that our bodies are likely to actually need more of or be deficient in, as opposed to every other herb and supplement under the sun that could have their unique potential benefits (but not from a need or requirement perspective I have realized, mind you).

There’s a time and place/case to be made for these too, as with allopathic medicines, but mainly for certain cases/conditions and when it comes to treating or easing particular symptoms, which a focus on your overall health and taking the more necessary supplements are likely to help you with anyways.

And thus, not for everyone and not for general health when there’s again so many that make even more sense and you need to prioritize.

Form

The need requirement deals mostly with the specific vitamin, mineral, nutrient or herb/molecule you’re considering taking, but then you’ve already decided on that and that there’s a need or promise from a certain supplement, another and actually very important thing to consider is in what form to take the supplement.

The answer to this question is actually rather simple however, if you know a thing or two about how the body works and processes nutrients.

And the answer is that it’s pretty much always best and safest to consume the nutrient and/or supplement in its most natural form, meaning either as or in real food form, which is number one, or as the synthetically made form identical to the form it is present in in nature and in foods, i.e., almost the same thing.

This will ensure that the body is already familiar with the form of nutrient and evolutionarily adapted to it, often making it more natural and easier to process and absorb for the body, and with way less risk of adverse/side effects or an inadequate result as well.

So, choose the most natural form when you can, and even more on this further down in the article!

A supplement’s form can also mean whether it’s in powdered, tablet, capsule or liquid form, which is not the same type of “form” I’m alluding to above, and of a lot less importance when it comes to choosing the right supplements and more about practicality (this type of form can sometimes greatly affect the price though [as can the “other” type of form, but more on that in a sec!).

Next however, we have:

Dosage

Another very important factor is the dosage, how much do you get of your sought after vitamins/minerals/nutrient per pill or scoop, and so on.

And there’s a lot to this as well, because it’s not always the more the better, as some supplement manufacturers will have you think with their “extra potency/strength” marketing and sometimes huge doses of certain vitamins that you often don’t actually need nor want for the sake of your health (a lot of multivitamins do this with their B vitamins, and it’s not good, imo).

For it to be the right dosage (I’ll be giving good dosages of the various healthy supplements below), you want neither too much nor too little of it, but the good thing is that you can oftentimes just split a tablet or take more of it to address these issues, and the higher dose that you then take just half of will often get considerably cheaper per dose than the more accurate one.

So, know what dosage you’re looking for in advance and shop accordingly, is my advice here!

A good thing to go by for dosage can be to understand what a reasonably high natural dose of it is, meaning could you get this high a dose naturally as well through just incorporating reasonable amounts of the right foods (those highest in the specific nutrient) in your diet. If so, it’s probably a good and reasonable dose, but the other way is to go by the DRI/RDI/DI (the daily recommended dietary intake) of the various nutrients, which are good and fine for most but really not all of the essential nutrients that we need, meaning you’ll want more than the DRI for some of the nutrients that there is an established DRI for, and most if not all of those will be covered among the recommended supplements below.

Price

Price is obviously important (which is why I like All Star Health so much, since again they’re generally the cheapest and they price match), especially with all other things being the same.

Sometimes you’ll find the exact same product for half the price on a different website, so, it matters.

Sometimes, however, all other things aren’t the same, and you may want to pay a higher or premium price for a different brand, supplement form or for one that is organic (as with organic foods) or with less additives, for example.

For some supplements this can matter a lot and make a big and well worthy difference, while for others it doesn’t really matter that much and you’re best to go with the cheapest one.

This is something that often has to be weighed for each individual supplement, i.e. is it worth $5 extra for a different more bioavailable and natural form or is it not, and these are things I’ve already done many times, and compared nearly all of the best available products on the market for some, when choosing which specific products to go with and recommend in the end.

And, speaking of additives:

Additives

Additives in supplements, especially some often unnecessary ones, is something I frown upon.

It could be slightly controversial (but is it really, still?), but I definitely prefer my supplements, just as I do with my food, to be as free from unnecessary additives as possible, whenever possible.

If another brand with the exact same product can do without them, so can/should you, imo!

There are just so much we yet don’t know about a lot of these, and perhaps never will, that it’s in most cases better to just go without them when the option presents itself.

Many completely natural additives however, that are already actual foods or in them, are okay with me for sure.

The main one I’m looking for in most supplements nowadays is magnesium stearate, because you don’t want a lot of this one in my opinion, even if it looks ok and safe on paper.

I’ve just read too many anecdotes of people getting really bad side effects and getting messed up by added magnesium stearate in their supplements, and thus definitely believe there’s something to this even if not everyone will have these side effects (I still don’t believe it’s particularly good for anyone due to these reasons).

But this is another thing to consider and weigh, because if two products are identical except for one having magnesium stearate as well in it, it’s an easy choice to just avoid it, but sometimes all, or the otherwise best choices for a certain vitamin/mineral/supplement, or the much cheaper options, will have it in them, and I’ll sometimes then have to prioritize or go with one that has some of it in it, because it’s not always black and white when choosing among these supplements, and the benefits may thus outweigh the negatives (for me and probably for most, but obviously not if you’ve noticed you’re very sensitive to magnesium stearate personally).

But I have noticed intuitively that magnesium stearate seems to affect me at least slightly in a negative way, and believe such could be the case for a lot of people whether they subjectively notice it or not.

Anyways, enough about the additives and onto:

Brand And Retailer

The brand I would say is actually less important than many of the other points mentioned above, simply because there are a lot of good or decent supplement brands and it’s really what’s in the particular product that you should worry more about when comparing.

But sure, some brands are better overall than others and can be trusted with top-notch quality, and you certainly don’t want the products and supplements (sometimes from abroad) that won’t even list the forms or full ingredients on their supplements and may seem shady or otherwise not to be trusted), so there’s something to be said for that as well of course.

But, many times, you’ll be paying a sometimes much higher price for an identical product, just because of the brand, which of course isn’t to be recommended.

As for the retailer, it matters more imo, since you want both the best prices as well as a guarantee that you’ll be getting what you ordered (no counterfeits or knockoffs), not expired, and with an ideally quick and affordable shipping.

It’s also a plus if you can order most or all of the stuff you need from the same good and cheap place, making for less orders in total.

Allstarhealth.com checks all of these boxes so, try that :).

And that pretty much covers it for choosing and how I choose my supplements, but there’s one more thing I should probably touch on and mention, and that I also take advantage of a lot myself as of recent years, which is:

Intuitive Testing

I wrote a whole article on this here, which is why I’ll keep it very brief here, but for all intents and purposes, you’ll probably also want to get better at testing and sensing what supplements are good for you and which aren’t, intuitively and of course also by recognizing if you’re getting any negative side effects from them or not, because this can be a great way to help you quickly figure out which ones to buy again and to keep taking, and which ones that you may not even want to take at all or that just aren’t worth buying again.

This has helped me a lot personally to figure out and be able to weed out many supplements and problematic additives in food and supplements, and are likely to be somewhat similar between people, so expect most if not all of the supplements below to already agree with and be good for you on that level, but, still.

As an example, most multivitamins don’t agree with me at all, and for this reason I’ve tried and researched a lot of them to find a good one that works, but I’ve narrowed it down to what I believe to be a bunch of different synthetic form vitamins and/or minerals that seem to cause me (and thus probably others too) problems.

And many separate synthetic vitamins and minerals, as well as some natural plants and spices, don’t agree with me either and cause me side effects or make me feel worse, which I wouldn’t even have known or been able to recognize in my younger days, but can now and can thus avoid them and rely less on only what seems and looks good on paper.

You want a mix of common sense, with a focus on what we’ve consumed traditionally, what the studies say and what seems to agree with and work for you on a more intuitive level for best results in the world of supplementation.. take it from me who have been there and done that in this area :).

So again, check out Intuitive Testing: How And Why To Use, And Improve, Your Healthy Intuition for some aid in figuring out which supplements (and foods) work well (or don’t work well) for you personally.

And now a little more on synthetic nutrients and vitamins before we move onto the actual list of the most important supplements:

Synthetic VS Natural And Organic Nutrients, Vitamins And Minerals

As touched upon already, earlier in the article but that it’s worth diving a bit deeper into is the debate and arguments for natural and organic vs synthetic nutrients (usually vitamins and minerals) and why I recommend the natural route whenever possible, whether through food directly or through food-based supplements in an as identical form as can be to how the nutrient is occurring naturally.

So, why is this?

It’s because of a number of reasons:

• One is that nutrients in whole foods are often synergistic with each other and that getting those together is how our bodies have evolved and will often be able to absorb and/or utilize them the best, never in a completely isolated form and/or in very unrealistically high amounts. These nutrients you get together in foods, often work together in the body, simply put.
• Synthetic vitamins or nutrients can sometimes even be toxic (depending on the specific nutrient and form) and cause side effects, whether you notice them directly or not, since our body isn’t used to this form of the nutrient, and simply work less well than from a natural source (this isn’t true for all synthetically made nutrients, but, in my experience, for a considerable amount of them at least, and I personally need to avoid quite a few of them). Some of the synthetic B complex vitamins seem to be problematic in this way, but various forms of many other vitamins and minerals can be too, both from what I’ve read and heard from other people and from my own experience.
• Natural and organic versions of nutrients become, due to above mentioned reasons and that that’s how we evolved, the safer options when supplementing, hands down, imo.
• Somewhat related to the first point, some nutrients in their strictly synthetic form may lack other variants of the same nutrient that are always present in food and even risk causing a deficiency of these other froms. A good example is vitamin E where most synthetic supplements contain only d-alpha tocopherol and in too high a dose at that, and none of the other tocopherols and tocotrienols that are also vitamin E present in foods, which is very bad (so take a mixed vitamin E supplement if you’re gonna take one at all aside from your multi!). Vitamin C is another one where we likely need a lot of the naturally occurring related compounds that could be considered part natural of vitamin C and not only ascorbic acid, but the examples are many.

The main positive about the synthetic vitamins however is that they’re generally cheaper to make, and cheaper to buy, which can make them worth considering if you’re really financially constrained and simply can’t afford the more natural form of a supplement you need or want to try or where the cost difference between them is just too steep, or again if the synthetically made form is actually identical to the form/s found in nature and or it’s a synthetic form from which few, and especially you, don’t seem to experience any negatives (B12 for example is one where I consider it alright, as well as with cheaper multis to at least try them out), and sometimes some smaller negatives can be outweighed by the potential benefits (again as with potentially some of the cheaper multivitamins).

So, go for natural and organic supplemental forms wherever possible and feasible, but know that there are exceptions where synthetic ones could be nearly as viable as well.

And with that said, let’s move on to the actual list of the recommended supplements you should probably be taking today from an improved health standpoint, which are:

The Best Vitamins And Supplements For Optimal Health And Wellbeing Including Why And In What Dosages (For Men, Women, Kids And For All Ages)

As alluded to in the title, I just want to quickly address an elephant in the room that may be important or good to know for some, having to do with particular best supplements for men, women, kids and for particular ages.

The supplements below are for all genders, and for all ages, and although nutrient needs can differ slightly and a lot of people like to get and search for health and supplement recommendations specific to their age or gender, it’s not that important since we’re all still very similar.

Of course, if you compare a 1 or 2-year-old with an adult you’ll be seeing vastly different nutritional needs, but for all other more common sense purposes, the needs will be very similar.

There will be slight differences between the genders for particular nutrients and in developing or teenage years and in old age as compared to the average adult, but the same is true for different types of lifestyles, being more active, stressed, pregnant and what not, and I might write something more targeted to these in the upcoming future as well, but know that the below supplements still already cover most if not all of these specific differences or needs, taking a very natural and logical one-size-fits-all approach, and that those articles will be recommending mostly the same stuff as this one so, rejoice!

I’ll also be including the whys of taking each individual supplement (you’ll notice the trend of likely deficiencies and sub-optimal intake of the supplements listed), in what recommended dosages, as well as a price estimate (all costs are as the time of writing this article though and may thus vary slightly with time).

Dealing with deficiencies and sub-optimal intakes of stuff that our bodies actually need is also a lot more likely to deal with the underlying causes of a lot of health issues you may or may not be experiencing (and those also prevent such issues in the future), which is why again these are the ones I definitely recommend you prioritize.

So, then, let’s get started the list!

And first we have:

A Good Multivitamin

Whether you need or should be taking a good multivitamin is a common question today, but I’d say that yes you should, since it’s one of the easiest and most convenient ways to complement your diet and get more of many essential vitamins and minerals that are today somewhat lacking in our diet, for reasons mentioned above.

And although there are problems with a lot of multivitamins (most, imo, and again I’ve researched hundreds of them and tried a lot of the more promising ones personally as well) on the market today, there are some that are pretty okay, especially for their price and what you get.

Some are considerably better than others, in other words.

I wish I could be recommending a really good and effective multivitamin at this time, but it’s just that I haven’t found a truly great one yet and thus am left with the best ones among all of those I’ve researched and tried.

The problems with many multivitamins today, whether they say “whole food based” or not, is that they:

• Often use cheap and synthetic vitamins and nutrients, some of which as touched upon above can cause side effects or problems (you get what you pay for sort of, but then again almost all more premium multis use these same synthetic vitamins, even when they say “whole food”, because that most of the time just means that there is a little bit of powdered greens or superfood powder added to the capsules of synthetic vitamins [a marketing ploy, in other words, meaning you can do better, which I’ll get into more below])
• They very often have way too high doses of many of the vitamins or minerals, probably thinking “the more the merrier” and that they now can market it as high potency, but it’s deceiving for many customers who don’t know better and also think more must be better, so, problematic indeed.
• They almost always lack many of the essential nutrients (and often those we might need the most, which is also why there are so many other supplemental nutrients recommended separately on this list, because you need them yet won’t be getting them from your multi) because they’re simply hard to fit in a regular multi, and sometimes they even lack completely or include way too little of nutrients that actually aren’t that hard to fit in the multi and which most others do have.
• Due to the above point and also just the nature of an “all-in-one” multivitamin, taking a multi can provide a false sense of security dietwise (“since you’re already getting all that you need from your daily multivitamin pill, right?”) which can lead to unhealthier food choices instead. But remember, your diet is still more important than what supplements you take, and they’re here to be a part of and to complement that rather than being relied upon for all your health needs, hence the name “supplements“.
• Sometimes use the “activated” forms of some or most of their vitamins, which is another way that can help with marketing vitamins since many want and search for these specifically, but the thing is that the activated forms (such as methyl B12 or other B-vitamins) are often not the most natural and the forms found in actual foods (the forms you most want), and can sometimes “bypass” the body’s natural processing and release/activation of these vitamins, possibly leading too much or too fast an effect of these than is ideal or wanted. Some people can also be very sensitive to these activated and often methylated forms (such as myself!), leading to bad reactions which again many might not notice or connect to the supplement even if they’re there and affecting them negatively.. As with a lot of things however, there is a place for these as well since they can be more effective for some in quickly correcting deficiencies for example, or if people are genetically predispositioned to convert a certain nutrient to its active form less effectively, but they’re not something you want in your regular multi and in huge doses, you’ll want to stick to the most natural and safe nutrient forms and in as naturally reasonable and safe dosages (i.e. you could at least theoretically be getting that high a dose from a healthy diet incorporating a lot of the right foods) as you can. Imo, use activated forms of nutrients only when you’ve tested positive for a deficiency and the more natural sources haven’t worked in correcting it, or if you’ve tested genetically for a mutation affecting your conversion to a certain active form in the body it can be worth trying them as well.
• They sometimes have unnecessary and problematic additives, but that’s true for all supplements as listed above, so I won’t go any deeper into that again, here.

The problems with using synthetic nutrients (and again also additives) and having too high dosages are common with a lot of other supplements as well though and not at all unique to multis, although they’re very prevalent in multis in particular from what I’ve seen.

The biggest one of these ones even for the person well-versed and health educated person, is the use of some of these synthetic vitamins, since the other ones can be fairly easily gotten around by simple choosing regular dosed multis with less additives and understanding that you’ll still need to supplement with some other essential nutrients separately.

Those with only real and natural vitamins and minerals though are few and far between and come with their own problems such as often inadequate levels of nutrients or a very high price.

I do however have another promising completely whole food multi on the way and being shipped to me as we speak, and a few others I’ve researched recently that were out of stock at the time that I am also going to be testing as soon as it’s possible, so, perhaps I’ll have that best and wondermulti to be able to recommend to you in due time, but in the meantime..

I’ve tried exactly two multis that were made entirely from natural food sources (so not just blended with some whole foods, and not “fermented” from a medium of synthetic nutrients, making it become a whole yeast or food but still with the same unnatural forms of the nutrients [another marketing ploy!]) and with the correct dosages, but sadly that one didn’t agree with me at all and made me feel weird (so, it’s not only synthetic stuff that can have this effect!).

And good news even for most people in a way (cheap)!

The best multi imo and that I’ve found is actually any of the cheaper ones that have about the same nutrients in dosages close to the RDI, this multivitamin from Body First is one of those and thus one that I can recommend.

Yes, you’ll obviously be getting a bunch of synthetic vitamins in it, as with nearly all others as well, but I do believe it’s still worth it in that the benefits at least strongly outweigh the negatives of taking such a multi for most people.

And it’s cheap, so it doesn’t hurt much to try, and if you notice perhaps intuitively that it doesn’t agree with you, just don’t take it, and that’s all.

Personally I don’t take any multivitamin at the moment although I as mentioned am on the lookout for a good completely whole food based one, and get around it instead by (excluding taking all the below recommended nutrients that you should be taking in addition to a good multivitamin) eating a very healthy diet and then consuming some additional foods and/or supplements for the nutrients most should be getting from their multi rather (it’s really the by far most convenient way if you can tolerate a simple multi).

These include some Celcius (energy drink with a lot of the essential B vitamins but none of the ones that don’t agree with me and are problematic in their synthetic form) on most days for B complex vitamins, an oyster extract for additional zinc, about 2 brazil nuts for selenium and a very good mixed vitamin E supplement (could be useful for anyone but still not as evidently needed as the other recommended supplements on this list.

And with these together with the below supplements I got my nutritional bases covered, but I do again wish that a regular multi worked well for me or that I’d find good whole foods based one (again, try this one out from Body Strong and decide for yourself).

And if you want the added benefits of most so called “whole food” multivitamins, just much more and better ones, simply combine your cheaper synthetic multivitamin with a good whole food greens powder (which is what they do already!). I’ll be recommending a very good and affordable greens powder among the last of the supplements on this list, so keep reading, but this way you’ll be getting much more of the whole foods of which not that much can fit in one or a couple of tablets and capsules, making the combo of these two (cheap multi and cheap greens powder) much more both effective for your health and cost effective.

I recommend this multivitamin: Body First One-Per-Day Multi – Vitamin and Mineral.

Recommended dosage: 1 tablet per day.

Estimated cost: $13 for 120 tablets, $3,25 per month or about 11 cents per day (not too shabby, eh?).

Read More: Best Whole Food Multivitamin (Non Synthetic, Organic, Natural)

Alas, and moving on:

Vitamin D

As one of our most common deficiencies today and with a lot of negative symptoms from it to boot, vitamin D is pretty crucial you get enough of from an optimal health as well as feeling at your best perspective.

They can be especially common in countries further from the equator and where the sun doesn’t provide vitamin D all year round (such as Sweden), but are common today even in places where that is not the case.

We’re more afraid of the sun than we should be, which is one of the main reasons today, along with being indoors too much in general, that we’re so vitamin D deficient.

The best and most natural way to get more and/or adequate vitamin D is the most natural way, i.e. getting more natural sunlight, basically, so if you can make sure to get some sunshine on most sunny days (the more the better really as long as you don’t burn), you can effectively sidestep the need for a vitamin D supplement, but if you can’t or it’s the winter months and somewhere where you won’t get any vitamin D from the sun that time of year..

Then you should most definitely be taking some in supplemental form!

D is crucial for building strong bones and for a strong immune system, improved mood and less risk of depression, testosterone and much more, and a deficiency can thus lead to tiredness, depression and various pain and aches, osteoporosis and more easily broken bones from accidents.

You do not want to be deficient in it.

With the lack of enough sunshine, I’d therefore recommend a dosage of between 2000 and 5000 IU (2000 in the long run to err on the safe side, but possibly 5000 in the short run and to get your levels up quicker if you again haven’t been getting the dosage of this that you need for a while). As does this study/review!

This dose, especially when combined with some extra sunlight, should be plenty to get you into the optimal range of vitamin D :), but if you however have tested positive for a deficiency, you can be taking a lot higher doses than this in the beginning to correct that.

The good news is that the above recommendations are very likely to correct that fairly quickly as well testing or not, are very affordable, and are thus good for anyone to follow.

The RDI for vitamin D is most likely far too low today, at 600 IU, which sadly makes most vitamins contain far too little to be meaningful as well, but I do believe this will change and get updated in at least not too distant future (one can hope!).

You want is as D3, not d2 or just “D”.

I recommend this vitamin D: Body First Vitamin D3 (2000 IU)

Recommended dosage: 1 softgel per day (2000 IU), or possibly 2-3 in the beginning (4000 or 6000 IU is close enough to the recommended 5000 in the short run!).

Estimated cost: $6 for 240 softgels, $0,75 per month or 2,5 cents per day when taking 2000 IU (dirt cheap).

And next we have another very important one, that is actually closely linked to vitamin D, which is:

Magnesium

Magnesium is another nutrient, a mineral this time, where deficiency is very common while at the same time coming with a lot of negative symptoms and a reduced quality of life.

Most people should really be supplementing with this, healthy diet or not, although you might need considerably less if your eating healthy.

Magnesium is used in many hundreds of different processes inside the body, and among other things contribute to stronger bones, a better mood and less depression, healthy testosterone levels, less anxiety and stress, blood pressure, blood glucose levels and cardiovascular health, less inflammation, better sleep and relaxation, and it also works closely together with vitamin D and is needed to move D around in the blood and to activate it, meaning inadequate magnesium intake can lead to lower levels of active vitamin D.

A deficiency can lead to symptoms such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, migraines, less appetite, tiredness and weakness, tremor, cramps and muscle spasms, an abnormal heart rhythm, anxiety and depression, trouble sleeping and constipation.

So, you definitely need it, and you’re likely to already be deficient in it, and should thus take it!

I recommend a dosage of between 200 and 400 (definitely 400 if you’re eating highly processed), but there’s some leeway here and you can find what works best for you personally through some simple experimentation.

I also recommend the oxide form (for these reasons) when taken as a separate supplement, which may come as a surprise to some, but not only am I fairly convince by the linked reasons above, but I’ve also found it intuitively preferable over most other forms, which can really say a lot once you undder stand that and you own body’s incredible intelligence better.

Being cheaper certainly doesn’t hurt either but again that is not the main reason I prefer it.

If you get too much of a laxative effect from it however (welcome for some, but not for others), you may wanna experiment with some other forms as well, such as citrate or glycinate for example.

You’ll be getting minor amounts from a general multivitamin (the above recommended one has 50mg) which is something but again too little and a very small portion of what you really want.

A thing to note though, however, is that another supplement I highly recommend for trace minerals and will be getting to further down has a lot of magnesium as well, meaning you could get away with a lot less or even no separate magnesium if you’re also eating healthy, depending on how much of that one you take.

I take 20 drops daily of that one personally comes with about 125 mg of magnesium (and in chloride which is a very good and natural form), and then about 200 from a separate magnesium oxide supplement, and that works great for me!

So.

Recommended magnesium supplement: 21st Century MgO – Magnesium Oxide (400mg).

Recommended dosage: 0,5-1 tablet (200-400 mg in total in supplement form).

Estimated cost: $5 for 90 tablets, about $1,7 per month or 5,5 cents per day when taking 1 tablet or 400 mg daily (another dirt cheap one!).

Ok, and next we have another collaborator with the previous ones.. namely:

Vitamin K2

Vitamin K2 is most often found in organ meats, grass-fed meat and animal products as well as some fermented foods, all three of which have become a lot less common over the last century, making supplemental vitamin K a good idea for most people today.

It’s not impossible to meet the requirements of K2 without supplementing, but it’s certainly less practical for most.

Vitamin K works closely with vitamin D in the body and among other things help the calcium you consume to end up where it should (as in, the bones and teeth of your body and not the blood vessels and other soft tissue) and to stay there.

Vitamin K contributes to stronger bones and preventing bone density loss, to proper blood coagulation ass well as improved cardiovascular health, and a deficiency can thus lead to excessive bleeding when hurt and easier bruising, osteoporosis and osteopenia, as well as the mentioned misplacement of calcium where it shouldn’t be.

The two forms that make up vitamin K (K1 and K2) should really be separated when it comes to the DRI, since they’re very different, you need both of them but one (K1) you’ll be getting mostly from plants and vegetables, while the other (K2) is mainly in the types of animal foods mentioned above.

And then, K2 itself comes in many different forms as well, with MK4 and MK7 being the most common ones that we need more of from foods or supplements.

Hence you want both of these from your supplement of choice, and some K1, although of less importance, can still be a nice addition as well.

I’d say you want at least a few hundred mcg of vitamin K2 MK4 daily, and at least a 100 mcg of Vitamin K2 MK7.

Vitamin K2 doesn’t come as cheap as a lot of other supplements, but very worth it still in my humble opinion, and the best supplement I’ve found that has all 3 of these Ks is Super K from Life Extension (I’ve been using it for many years now).

For what you get and for the price it’s still fairly economical compared to the alternatives, and I’d say if purely for economical reasons, you could get away with taking it every other day instead of daily to make it twice as affordable, but the main focus and why it’s the best is because of it having the right types of K and in very good dosages.

Recommended vitamin K2 (MK4 and MK7) supplement : Life Extension Super K.

Recommended dosage: 1 softgel per day (providing 1500 mcg of K1, 1000 mcg of K2 MK4 and 100 mcg of K2 MK7).

Estimated cost: $20 for 90 softgels, about 6,7 dollars a month or 22 cents per day. (or half of that if you opt to take it every other day instead).

Now vitamin D and K were both fat-soluble vitamins (those are very important indeed), and here comes another one of those:

Vitamin A (Preformed)

Vitamin A is another vitamin that we’re very often getting too little of in our diets today compared to what we’ve gotten traditionally, and in this case it’s mainly because we’re not eating the organ meats anymore (particularly the liver) which are the by far richest sources of this.

You want preformed vitamin A which is an active form of vitamin A (mainly as retinol and retinyl esters) since our bodies are not very efficient at converting inactive forms (beta carotene) and we’ve always evolutionary speaking gotten large chunks of it from preformed sources in animal organ meats.

So, the two best ways to get enough of this type of vitamin A are either to start eating liver (beef, chicken, pork, cod/fish), or to supplement it – if you don’t want to take as many supplements, eat liver (it’s also incredibly rich in bioavailable B vitamins and likely the very best superfood there is, so there are plenty of reason to eat more of it as long as your palate can handle it!).

But if you can’t or won’t do that, supplements are an easy and effective way to get it as well, and you can even choose dried liver directly as a supplement should you choose to (here are the best dried beef liver supplements and when in the day to take them), thus still getting it in as whole a form as can be after all.

A is another nutrient where the RDI is likely too low and based on more modern intake levels as opposed to what we were getting traditionally and should be getting today as well for optimal health, and I thus recommend perhaps a bit less than the Kresser Institute’s 10-15k IU per day, at about 5000 IU daily, but these intake levels are definitely acceptable as well especially in the start to get your levels up more quickly.

Preformed vitamin A (and beta carotene as well to an extent) is very important for eyesight, reproductive health, the immune system, your skin as well as healthy hormone levels (very popular to take against acne and oily skin for example, and many medications for this are based on vitamin A), and a deficiency can lead to blindness and night blindness, dry eyes, bad or dry skin, oily skin and acne, eczema, fertility issues, more (and more serious) infections and slower wounds healing among other things.

A caveat on taking vitamin A however has to do with concerns of toxicity, which shouldn’t really be a problem at these doses but can be good to note still, and the interesting thing about vitamin A is that it protects about vitamin D toxicity and vice versa (vitamin D protects agains vitamin A toxicity), and so does vitamin K2 even if K2 toxicity isn’t really a concern in and of itself (but vitamin A and D can be if taking very large supplemental doses of them). So basically, assuring that you’re getting adequate vitamin D and K (which you should be doing anyways for your health, will eliminate any concern for vitamin A toxicity and simply make relatively high doses of it just very healthy for you instead.

That said, you can take supplemental vitamin A either via a good grass-fed beef liver supplement, cod liver oil or as straight preformed vitamin A retinyl palmitate (same form as in food and the most affordable option, but I make use of all 3 types myself at different times.

Recommended preformed vitamin A supplement: Now Vitamin A (10,000IU).

Recommended dosage: 1 softgel every other day (providing 10000 IU, or 5000 IU per day).

Estimated cost: $4 for 100 softgels, $0,6 per month or 2 cents per day (super cheap for what you’re getting).

And next we have one close to my heart yet relatively unknown, unfortunately, which is boron:

Boron

Boron is interesting because it’s so unknown compared to most other important vitamins and minerals while having such promising and often pronounced positive effects on your health.

It’s not yet recognized as one of the essential nutrients (which is a shame because if it was more multivitamins would probably start including it which would be a good thing for people’s overall health in general), since a deficiency of it hasn’t seemed to cause death or severe illness, but I do expect this status to change some time in the future.

It’s another nutrient (mineral) that we no longer get very much of through our diet these days, and of which supplementation for a more optimal health is hence recommended.

It’s a very cheap supplement as well, which makes the decision an easy one imo.

One of the more interesting things about boron is that its intake levels have been strongly linked to incidence of arthritis (areas with a low boron intake [< 1 mg which isn’t uncommon in the west had 20-70% incidence rate of arthritis, while those with an intake of 3-10 mg had an arthritis incidence rate below 10%) and can be used as a treatment and preventative measure against that.

Yet another huge thing about boron is that it works very well together with some of the other common deficiencies of vitamin D, calcium and magnesium (as well as phosphorous), increasing the half-life of active vitamin D in your blood and the absorption and utilization in the body of calcium and magnesium pretty substantially (source), meaning it’s a cheap and easy way to improve your levels of these and get more bang for your buck when you’re taking those as supplements, so, borderline stupid, imo, to be overlooking boron in this context!

And then we have yet another big thing, in that boron seems to naturally regulate balance out hormone levels and can increase free testosterone in men (in as little as a week [*]), which I’ve noticed a lot of people, especially men, are looking to do and searching for today.

So, the benefits of boron includes stronger bones, better joints and less arthritis, higher testosterone and better hormone levels, increased uptake and/or utilization of calcium, magnesium and vitamin D, improved cognitive function, and a deficiency can thus lead to hormone imbalances, lower vitamin D, calcium, magnesium and testosterone, more brittle bones and arthritis as well as problems with focus and mental alertness.

I recommend minimum 3 mg per day for most, definitely more if you have actual problems with things such as arthritis, brittle bones or problematic joints. Then you can go as high as 6 or 9 milligrams per day (still very safe levels which many people around the world are getting naturally through their drinking water and diet, and anyone could do this in the start as well to quicker get your boron levels up a bit).

Personally I take at least 3 mg daily and sometimes up to 9, going a bit by my healthy intuition on this one, I’ve also tried a bunch of them (different forms of boron) and will be recommending my favorite and the one my body seemed to prefer the most of them, since chances are it’s the same for you then)!

Recommended boron supplement: Nature’s Way Boron (3mg).

Recommended dosage: 1 capsule per day for most (providing 3 mg of boron daily).

Estimated cost: $4,6 for 100 capsules, $1,38 monthly or 4,6 cents per day (like I said, very affordable).

And next we have another one of the great collaborators, working together in the body with many of the aforementioned recommended nutrients, and that’s:

Calcium

Being deficient in calcium may not be as common as for the above mentioned nutrients, but it’s still fairly common, and since it works so well together with many of the other supplements your should be taking already, I’d say that making sure you’re getting enough of it through some whole food supplementation is a very good and recommended idea.

It’s another one of those nutrients where even if you don’t have an outright deficiency int it, getting more of it can still be beneficial for achieving a better or more optimal health.

If you’re consuming a lot of dairy product, which I do, you’re likely already getting a good amount of calcium from your diet, but what I’ve noticed is that I still want some extra calcium from my bone meal supplement that I thus have standing on my kitchen table (which also has a bunch of other important nutrients for your bone that they’re made up of, since it’s actual crushed bone), and I suspect the same might be true for most other people as well, even if it’s just a smaller amount of perhaps a hundred or up to 500 milligrams of calcium form the powder daily.

It works closely and synergistically in the body with vitamin D, K2, magnesium and boron, all together promoting much healthier bones and joints (there’s another piece to this puzzle too, collagen, and which I will get to very soon), which provides ample reason to get some extra calcium since you’re aready taking those other ones with it and will want to make the most of those!

As touched upon however, you want your supplements, including calcium, in as natural forms as can be wherever possible, which it is with calcium, and the best type by far that I’ve found over the years is to actually just go straight to the bone, i.e. taking it in the whole food form of crushed bone powder.

Another pro tip is to eat a little bit of your egg shells (ideally organic and/or pasture raised) for extra and cheap calcium, but I have found that the bone form is still the preferred form and since it’s pretty cheap and contains a lot of other good stuff for your bones as well, it’s well worth it in my book.

Calcium, as you may know already, is good and important for your bones and teeth, but also for normal muscle contraction and heart rhythm, blood coagulation and nerve function, and a deficiency can lead to brittle bones, teeth, dental caries and osteoporosis, some muscle-related problems with pains, numbness and tingling sensations, tiredness with nausea, brain fog, confusion and trouble concentrating, negative skin-, hair- and nail-related symptoms such as dryness, brittleness, coarse hairs and alopecia/hair loss, eczema and psoriasis, worsened PMS-symptoms, depression and insomnia.

A long list of negative symptoms indeed..

I recommend a supplemental intake of anywhere between 100 and 1000 mg depending on how much dairy you eat as well as how much you feel you should be taking, i.e. what your body wants, since you can do with this as you can with other foods and simply go by your natural appetite for it (but if that doesn’t work for you, again just stick to the more specific recommendations here or on the actual supplement (since they’re about the same).

I personally take anywhere from 100-250 mg of calcium in this powdered form daily at this time, but have taken more (500-1000 mg) before when I wasn’t eating as much dairy, and with no dairy in your diet I’d sayy 500-1000 mg daily is a good range to aim for.

You can take this type of calcium in either straight powder form or in capsules though, and there are 2 products I’ve found to be the best ones in these categories, and they are Now Bone Meal – Natural Calcium Source Powder and Now Calcium Hydroxyapatite Caps.

The first one is great because it’s considerably cheaper per amount of calcium you get and contains no magnesium stearate, while the second one is good because it’s in capsule form and can be more convenient to take, I have both but I do find myself using the powder a lot more often than I do the pills, for what it’s worth!

I’ll be using 750 mg as the amount below when calculating cost, since that’s a good amount for those on less dairy, and the daily amount recommended on the bone meal powder as well.

So:

Recommended calcium supplement: Now Bone Meal – Natural Calcium Source Powder.

Recommended dosage: 100-1000 mg calcium equaling about 1/7 teaspoon to a heaped one (go with 750 mg calcium or 1 teaspoon of the powder if unsure).

Estimated cost: $10,5 for 162 servings of 750 mg calcium each, about $2 monthly or 6,5 cents per day (yet again, cheap, especially when going with this powder!).

And now to one where it’s relatively well-known that we generally need some more of and you thus may be taking already, and that is the oily:

Omega-3

Again, one that most of us are getting in too low amounts through our diet due to a lack of fatty seafood in it, omega-3 in the animal- and more active forms of EPA and DHA is where it’s at.

The same thing goes for this as with beta carotene and active vitamin A, that our bodies are usually not very efficient at converting these plant forms (alpha-linolenic acid) of omega-3s to the essential forms and that we need most.

Also, since we’re getting so much of the unhealthy and toxic omega-6 seed and vegetable oils in our diets today, it mat be more important than ever today to do what you can to balance that out a bit (the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio).

As with vitamin A and liver, you may opt to just eat fatty fish or seafood more regularly (superfoods such as good canned oysters and canned clams are great options – unless you’re vegan), but fresh ones or other affordable fatty canned seafood options like mackerel or sardines work well too (the linked ones are among the healthiest options that are free from seed and vegetable oil).

But, if this just ain’t happening (you eating more fatty seafood), a supplement is a smart and convenient way to go to improve your health!

More omega-3 has a lot of benefits and uses in the body, and can help with reducing anxiety and depression, inflammation, help protect you from chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, autoimmune diseases, mental illness, ADHD, cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s, cancer, asthma, arthritis, improve your skin for less dryness, acne and a better resistance against sunburn, help with bone and joint problems, improve your sleep and so on.

A deficiency can lead to problems with your skin, hair and nails, tiredness and trouble sleeping, worse concentration and alertness, joint pain, allergy symptoms, cardiovascular trouble and much more.

This one may not be that hard a sell however, since it’s already so widely known that we need more of these fats and all the benefits they provide, hence their huge popularity.

Many large organizations today recommend a dose of between 250 and 500 mg combined EPA and DHA today, which is roughly 1-2 grams or capsules of most omega-3 fish oil supplements today, and this dose is alright imo, with 500 being much better than 250, but I’ve noticed myself that my body wants and does better on a considerably higher dose of about 2000-2500 mg a day, which I believe will also give you a lot more of the benefits that may come with it and make those more pronounced.

250-500 mg daily will prevent a deficiency, but more can still be better when talking optimal health and wellness.

The supplement I recommend and take myself is an extra strength one (about twice the strength of regular ones) so that you won’t have to down as many capsules or softgels, and they come in 750 mg combined EPA and DHA per capsule, meaning 1 per day will easily cover the general recommendation mentioned above and more.

Since I again personally feel better on more, 3 softgels per day at this time (but I did take just one daily for a while as well, so your needs and wants may definitely vary with time), I’ll make my recommendations accordingly and say that you can experiment a little with these and follow your healthy intuition to figure out how much you want or feel best on, but again if this doesn’t work for you just take minimum 1 and up to 3 daily and you should be golden.

For the cost calculation below I’ll use 1 softgel daily since that’s already higher than most daily intake recommendations, but just multiply it by 2 or 3 if that’s what you’re taking to get your more accurate cost (if you’re economically constrained you may wanna stick to taking just one per day, since you’ll still get many of the benefits and prevent a blatant deficiency this way).

And therefore:

Recommended omega-3 supplement: Now Ultra Omega-3 Fish Oil.

Recommended dosage: 1-3 softgels a day providing 750-2250 mg of combined EPA and DHA omega-3s.

Estimated cost: $24 for 180 softgels, $4 monthly (at 1 softgel per day) or about 13 cents per day.

And next, another one that I’m very fond of personally when form a natural source, and that’s:

Iodine

Iodine is something you should get more of through supplementation because there’s a good chance you’re not getting enough of it for optimal health.

The good news is that most multis as well as iodized salt will have some of it (generally the recommended daily intake value to prevent a deficiency), but then again because their values are based on deficiency prevention and to not develop goiters and thyroid problems, it is highly likely that you’re still not getting the amount that your body wants and that would make you feel and perform at your best (iodized salt is still much better than non-iodized if you’re not supplementing with or eating a lot of iodine-rich foods and has prevented a lot of goiters since the practice was introduced).

As for needing higher doses though, I’ve definitely noticed this being the case for me and take and recommend doses that are considerably higher than the RDI when it comes to iodine, but still well within safe levels and very possible to consume on just a very healthy diet aimed at particular foods rich in iodine (just like it was done traditionally).

Iodine is important for producing and regulating thyroid hormones, breast health, cognitive ability and alertness, normal early growth and brain and nervous system development during pregnancy and infancy (but still important for these even as an adult), healthy skin and hair and with fighting infections, and a deficiency of iodine can lead to things such as hypothyroidism and goiters, fatigue, sensitivity to cold, constipation, weight gain, dry skin and hair loss, difficulty swallowing and with breathing when lying down, brain fog and depression.

As with most supplementation, getting it from real whole foods, a whole food supplement or in its most natural form is what you should aim for for maximum safety and efficiency and with less risk of side effects.

I’ve tried many different iodine supplements over the years including completely natural sources as well as potassium iodide and Lugol’s solution, but the best one of all and the one I have stuck to since is just getting it from actual kelp (the richest natural source of it there is and a superfood for it).

You can thus see it as a supplement or just as a real whole food that sometimes comes in a supplement jar, but either way what you’re taking is the same.

I suggest a daily iodine dosage of anywhere between 300 and 1500 micrograms (the RDI is 150), and have personally come to the conclusion that I feel best at near the maximum of that and from 3 small scoops of the kelp supplement I’m taking, 1350 mcg supplemental iodine total, through some experimentation and intuitive testing, and thus that is what I take.

As with the calcium supplement, you can take this one as either a pure kelp powder or in tablets that are just as pure and perhaps more convenient, but again, here as well, the powder is a lot cheaper per dosage and is the form I’m generally using myself although I do have both types at home.

You do want to make sure you also have an adequate intake of selenium when taking higher healthy doses of iodine, but your multi should solve this and if not, eat a pair of brazil nuts daily like I often do (mentioned above) and you should be fine.

I’ll be using just 1 scoop (450 mcg iodine) for calculating the cost below since that’s already 3x the daily recommendation for preventing deficiency and may very well be enough for a lot of people, but know that no matter how much or little you choose to take of it it’ll still end up being really cheap.

So, the recommendations are:

Recommended iodine supplement: Now Organic Kelp Pure Powder.

Recommended dosage: 2/3 to 3 scoops equaling 300-1350 mcg per day.

Estimated cost: $6,5 for 8 oz or 2522 scoops/doses, about 8 cents per month or 1/4 cent per day.

Related Reading: Best Kelp Supplement (recommends the same one).

Trace Minerals And Lithium

I group these two together simply because the best and very natural way to get more of both is with the same supplements, which I’ll get to in a second, but for all other purposes they should be considered as separate types of nutrients that you could take separately as well (lithium is a trace mineral as well, just an important enough one to be considered separately!).

But as for why you should be supplementing with them, let’s start with the trace minerals in general!

These include upwards a hundred or so of different minerals, most of which you will only get (and need) in really small trace amounts through your diet and/or supplementation.

A healthy and whole diet will give you a lot more of these than a heavily processed one, but might still, due to the reasons mentioned above of less nutritious foods nowadays (and often less mineral-rich water as well), not be enough and cover your bases with these.

And that’s where trace mineral supplements join the picture.

In small amounts or not, these are still very important and my trace mineral supplements are among the ones I’ll feel the biggest difference from when taking vs not having taken them for a while (and I already eat very whole and healthy, mind you).

They can/should just make you feel better in general, as if you’re body functions smoother and more efficiently, which is pretty great of course.

Trace minerals are needed for many important bodily functions and processes, hormone production, metabolism, muscle contractions, the blood carrying oxygen, nerves and your thyroid, among other things, and too little of them can cause anemia, tiredness, worsened metabolism and appetite, problems with above mentioned functions and processes, you get the picture..

Important stuff.

And as for lithium, which again my favorite trace mineral supplement is very rich in and in a very natural form as well, it’s yet another nutrient that a lot if not most of us is probably not getting enough of today, and thus another opportunity to get to feel even better and improve your health in the process.

As with boron, lithium has not yet been recognized as essential to us since a deficiency of it has not been connected to death or serious illness (yet!), and thus most multivitamins won’t include it.

Lithium is important for and can benefit mental health and mood, your sleep, mood swings and bipolar disorders, depression, memory and cognitive ability and a lot more, and thus a deficiency in it can lead to problems in above areas such as more irritability and anger, bipolarity, trouble sleeping, worse mood and depression, and so on.

Lithium has gotten a bit stigmatized over the years because of its use as a treatment for certain mental health disorders such as mania, mood disorders and bipolar, but understand that the doses of lithium used in allopathic medicine to treat these are orders of magnitude higher than what I and many others are proposing as a supplement, lithium is still a naturally occurring mineral that we need and good supplemental doses of it are thus much more in line with what you could (and ideally should) have been getting from a really healthy and nutritious natural diet already.

Interestingly enough, and it makes a lot of sense, it’s very possible that for many people with these particular mental health disorders, it could actually be due to a deficiency in lithium, hence why treatment with it seems to work so well.

I’ve read lots of anecdotes about this over the years and have also been helped by it personally, so it’s definitely a recommendation for those struggling with that, but again it’s important for everyone and for great health in general, and hence why it’s on this list in the first place!

So, the best supplement I’ve found that delivers both of these at once (trace minerals and lithium, but also a lot of magnesium as mentioned earlier and some boron), and is actually just really concentrated and mineral rich natural sea water, are these trace mineral drops called ConcenTrace.

These ones from Body First that I’ve found more recently and not tried myself yet seem to be identical (perhaps just differently branded) and a bit cheaper though, so, I’m fairly sure you could go with those as well/instead.

On the topic of trace minerals though, there is another one that I also take personally and that I feel better from as well in addition to the drops mentioned above (or I wouldn’t be taking both), and that’s some ionic and fulvic minerals, that are basically minerals from broken down organic matter such as soil, animals and plants that’s formed over a very long time, and another really good source for lots of natural trace minerals.

I’ve done a lot of intuitive testing and experimenting with both of these, which is how I know that I and probably most other people as well should really be taking both for optimal health, and that my body really does want these.

If you were to go with just one however, I’d go with the first one, the mineral drops, because they’re also such a good source of lithium and magnesium.

I’ve also tried other liquid fulvic mineral supplements which I’ve found slightly better, and with less or no unnecessary additives, but at twice the price, and thus these still come out on top among them.

As for dosages, I recommend anywhere between 20 and all the way up to 80 daily drops of ConcenTrace (the recommendations on the bottle say 40-80 drops per day which is 0,5 to 1 teaspoon.

I personally take about 20 drops daily which seems to work best for me personally, I seem to be slightly sensitive to too much lithium but stil feel better on some, and thus want to get it in just the right amount for me, but most people take 40-80 drops of this as per the bottle’s recommendation.

For lithium specifically, I’d say anywhere between 150 mcg and 1,5 mg daily can make a noticeable or at least meaningful positive difference for your health (some studies on higher amounts of trace lithium in the drinking water in different areas have shown a clear and lower suicide rate among populations that get more lithium, even in the very low microgram amounts).

You’ll get the lowest of this (150 mcg) from as little as 4 daily drops of these trace minerals, and I’m getting 750 mcg extra lithium myself from my daily 20 drops, while most people get 1,5 or 3 mg from their 40/80 daily drops.

For the cost calculation below I’ll use 40 drops which you can than halve or double depending on how much you want to be taking yourself, but I do think 20-40 drops of it will be enough for most people, especially if you’re getting extra trace minerals from the fulvic acid as well.

As for the colloidal and fulvic minerals, I’ve found that the recommended amount on the package, 2 tablespoons, works well for me and is what I’ll be recommending.

With that said:

Sadly these aren’t cheap, so if you’re on a tighter budget don’t let these deter you from taking any supplements and just go with the more affordable ones on this list, you’ll still be doing yourself and your future health a great service.

You can also take less of them to save money, such as 4 or 5 daily drops of ConcenTrace (and/or go with the mentioned Body First drops instead) to still get a little trace minerals and lithium, and perhaps just 0,5 or 1 daily tablespoon of the fulvic minerals, it may not be optimal for health, but it will still be something and thus perhaps a worthy compromise.

Another way and opportunity to get some extra trace minerals in however is by switching out your table salt for an unrefined and healthier (more mineral-rich) type, such as pink Himalayan salt.

It won’t be enough on it’s own since you won’t (and shouldn’t) be eating that much sodium, but it still counts and is a decent source of lithium as well.

It all adds up and since we want these trace minerals wherever we can get them, that’s really something everyone should do as part of a healthier diet.

Related Reading: Best Trace And Multi Mineral Supplements, Best Fulvic Acid Supplement (recommending same as the above supplements), Best Shilajit Supplement, Fulvic Acid VS Shilajit, Shilajit For Testosterone.

And next up we have another one that has become very popular these days and that you thus might already know you should be, or are, taking.

And that’s:

Collagen

Since we’re no longer eating nose-to-tail, or, all parts of the animal, which is where we would be getting the collagen we need and have always gotten naturally, through eating the skin, joints, cartilage and bone broth, unless you want to start doing that supplementing with some collagen is probably a good idea.

This goes for anyone, simply because collagen protein is so important and comes with so many benefits.

Collagen is what makes up our own skin, bones and joints through its specific blend of amino acids, and it comes as many different types, where the two most common and important ones, type I and type II, are found in and used mostly in our skin (type 1), and in our joints and bones (type II), respectively.

You want a good mix of both for maximum benefits to your health and body.

If I were to choose only one however, I’d choose type 2 found in bone broth, and they’re both still beneficial for both your skin and joints/bones, but luckily, we don’t have to.

The best sources of these 2 types are from a good bone broth powder (I prefer chicken bone broth collagen over beef after having tried both) as well as from gelatin or a skin collagen supplement, but there are also okay mixed collagen supplements which will have both in one.

Having tried both ways and having them all at home, I still prefer and would go with taking the two of them separately if I were to choose.

Collagen is needed and beneficial for healthy skin, nails, hair, joints, bones and blood vessels, your gut and for leaky gut syndrome, for brain health, for less stress and better sleep, and as a good extra protein-source to balance out other amino acids found mostly in the muscle meats that we predominantly eat today, and a deficiency in it can thus lead to problems in all of the above areas.

For more skin collagen you can also start eating more pork rinds (here are some great ones), since they’re basically fried pork skin and both healthy and tasty, and among the healthiest snacks you can eat, but from a health perspective it doesn’t matter much if you’re getting it from pork rinds or a supplement since the supplement is still very much a whole food in itself, just in powder form (collagen powders are way cheaper per dose than in tablets or capsules, which is why that’s the recommended route of taking it imo).

Although most collagen powder supplements recommend a pretty high dosage of around 30 grams, from my own personal experience and research I’ve found that you can likely do just as well on a lot less than that, at least and/or especially when you’ve been taking it for a while and will be needing it mostly for maintenance rather, making it suddenly a much more economical supplement overall.

I recommend a dosage of about 1 to 2 teaspoons of the bone broth powder and the same for the skin collagen powder daily, making for 2-4 teaspoon or about 4 to 8 grams of collagen protein powder in total, but you can definitely experience with higher doses if you want to see whether that might give you better or perhaps faster results in the beginning and/or in the long run.

If you have actual problems with say, your joints, then this type of testing of higher doses or taking some extra can definitely be a good idea.

If you’re on a stricter budget (since collagen isn’t the cheapest) I’d suggest the lower dose of 1 teaspoon a day, but the good thing about collagen is that it actually has healthy calories and protein and is satiating, meaning this will offset other food costs a little bit too since it’s a food itself, and can thus dual as a normal grocery expense as well.

So, for the collagen, and I’ll be using just 1 teaspoon of each to calculate their costs (that’s actually what I take myself most times and which seems to fit me best, but I do eat pork rinds on the regular as well):

Recommended collagen supplements: Now Chicken Bone Broth Powder and Doctor’s Best Collagen Types 1&3 Powder or Now Multi Collagen Protein Powder.

Recommended dosage: 1-2 teaspoons of each or 2-4 of the multi collagen daily, equaling about 4-8 grams of collagen powder and protein.

Estimated cost:

Bone broth powder: $22 for 1,2 pounds/136 teaspoon servings, about $5 per month or 17 cents per day.

Skin collagen powder: $10 for 200 grams/50 teaspoon servings, $6 per month or 20 cents per day.

Multi collagen powder: $26,6 for 1 pound or 58 teaspoon servings, $14 per month or about 47 cents a day.

Another food-based way to at least get slightly more dietary collagen in your diet is to eat more ground meat, which often has a certain percentage of collagen-based protein in there, to eat the skin on your chicken and to eat more fish where the skin is still on (such as canned sardines, for example).

And next up we have:

Vitamin B12

Having had a B12 deficiency myself many years back and suffered some of the many consequences of that, this is a vitamin of which I really respect an adequate intake of and its potential deficiency risk.

With a B12 deficiency being perhaps not as common as most others on this list (but different studies and sources vary on this, with some saying that it is), it’s still common enough and a vitamin that’s cheap and very non-toxic even at very high doses.

B12-deficiency is likely under-diagnosed as well because its symptoms can mimic a lot of other diseases, it’s not that often routinely tested for by physicians and the reference range is likely set too low in the U.S. (Japan and many places in Europe use double the U.S. minimum range or more), meaning some people can have symptoms of a B12 deficiency and yet still be in the so called normal range and have it go undetected.

If you eat both a decent amount of animal products (such as meat and dairy regularly) as well as a multivitamin containing at least the daily value of it, I’d say most people should be fine with that, but it’s still important enough to make the list and for you to at least consider taking some extra B12 separately, whether daily or even just weekly.

I take 500 mcg daily, sublingually, and have found that my body wants that.

B12 is highest in offal such as liver and in shellfish (clams are the richest natural source there is), but there are still okay amounts in regular meat products as well.

B12 is needed for your blood and nerve cells, brain and memory, your DNA, healthy pregnancies, mood, energy levels, healthy hair, nails and skin, and the nasty symptoms of its deficiency can include tiredness and weakness, depression, irritability, personality and behavioural changes, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, loss of appetite, sore mouth and tongue, yellowish skin and neurological symptoms such as numbness and tingling in your extremities, vision loss, memory problems, confusion, brain fog and difficulty with gait or speaking (I had a few of these and they’re nasty stuff!).

The best form of B12 imo is the most natural one, hydroxocobalamin, the one most commonly found in foods. Synthetic cyanocobalamin is still okay too and cheaper, while one of the popular activated forms, methyl-B12, can work better for some or for correcting a deficiency in someone that has trouble converting B12 into its active forms, but some people (myself included) can have a problem with too much added methyl groups and should avoid this form completely.

I’ll be using the daily dosing of B12 for the cost calculation below, and so, for those of you that do want the extra assurance of adequate B12 levels, I recommend:

Recommended B12 supplement: Source Naturals HydroxoCobalamin Vitamin B-12 or Superior Source MicroLingual No Shot Cyanocobalamin B12.

Recommended dosage: Half a sublingual tablet for 500 mcg daily, or 1 tablet of 1000 mcg once per week.

Estimated cost:

Hydroxocobalamin: $8,4 for 60 tablets or 120 dosages, $2,1 monthly or 7 cents daily.

Cyanocobalamin: $8,5 for 100 sublingual tablets or 200 dosages, $1,3 monthly or about 4 cents a day.

Note that opting for just one dosage weekly will make it even cheaper and really dirt cheap, but also that again most people’s diet combined with your multi are likely to cover your B12 needs, so you can experiment with this a bit and/or save some money for this one, while still going for great and/or optimal health.

And last but not least we have:

A Good Probiotic

This one can be a good idea for those of you that don’t eat a lot of fermented foods in your diet naturally, such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi and so on.

I don’t consider it as important as most of the other supplements listed above, but still important enough that most people should probably be taking one for health if they don’t get these bacteria naturally.

Many people rave about probiotics due to how they have helped with their gut health and symptoms such as indigestion, bloating and much more, and your gut health is such an important aspect to your health that the benefits to restoring that if you have problems there could be endless.

Some of the benefits of taking a probiotic can include less bloating and indigestion issues, help with IBS, fighting gi tract infections, skin health, better overall nutrient absorption, less depression and anxiety, a stronger immune system and less allergy symptoms as well as a healthier cardiovascular system and likely much more (it’s a topic under heavy research right now).

Although I wouldn’t perhaps call it a deficiency, as with the other above nutrients, it kinda is and a lack of the right kind of healthy bacteria can lead to health problems.

A probiotic is also a good idea as a follow-up after taking antibiotics to restore your gut flora, since those often kill off your healthy and necessary bacteria as well.

I’ve tried a bunch of different probiotic supplements myself actually, most of which did not agree very well with me and that my body didn’t seem to want to take (better off without them and seemingly not conducive to my health), but I’ve started on some fairly recently again since I tried out some more brands and products and found one that both works well for me and is really cheap compared to most others.

Interestingly enough the difference between the one that works well for me and at least one of the others that didn’t is only a single type/strain of bacteria, which goes to show that just as with additives or synthetic vitamins in multis, one or a few things could be the culprit and make all the difference.

I also noticed that the one I’m taking now works best and I only want it every other day, making it even more affordable.

I believe that’s not unique for me and likely the same for most people, it’s just a rarer thing to test and compare these things thoroughly on a more intuitive level, but as such it really helps me finding the supplements that work the very best both for myself and others and have the least potential side effects.

And therefore:

Recommended probiotic supplement: Nutrition Now PB 8.

Recommended dosage: 1 capsule every other day.

Estimated cost: $7,5 for 60 caps or 120 days, $1,99 per month or 6 cents daily.

And last but not necessarily least, we have:

A Good Greens Powder

A good greens powder is recommended because it’s just such an easy and convenient way to increase your intake of greens and superfoods, but you’re not taking it for any specific deficiency, and could definitely get away with not taking one healthwise if you’re already eating very whole and green with lots of veggies.

But it can still be good for the day where you don’t or didn’t, and thus I recommend most people take one daily or at least have one at home (as long as it’s an affordable one, some cost way too much when you can find an identical one for much cheaper, which I have).

I use this greens powder from Country Farms which has 50 different organic herbs and superfoods in it at only about $11 for 300 g (depending on where you buy it, some has it at twice that), which is a lot cheaper than almost any other similar greens powder I’ve found and thus worth it (at twice or thrice that and it might no longer be).

I personally take less than the recommended scoop or 15 grams on the package, perhaps a teaspoon or two equaling about 2-4 grams I believe (feels like that’s what I do best on), meaning it will last for much longer, and since veggies are mostly water and many of these ingredients aren’t generally consumed in that high amounts anyways, you can thus still get an ok amount of increased greens intake this way even at smaller dosages.

Feel free to experiment with this though and find whatever dose you feel the best on, and I’ll be using 2 teaspoons as the dose for calculating costs below.

So.

Recommended greens powder supplement: Country Farms Super Greens – Alkalizing Formula Natural.

Recommended dosage: Anywhere from a teaspoon and up to the provided scoop (2-15 grams) per day.

Estimate cost: $11 for 300 grams or 75 servings of 4 grams or 2 teaspoons, $4,4 per month or about 15 cents per day.

And..

That actually sums it up for the main and best supplements everyone should probably be taking for their health unless you really focus on getting them from specific foods, but there are some noteworthy and honorable mentions to add to this list which I’ll try to keep very brief, and they are:

Honorable Mentions Among Supplements

The honorable mentions that didn’t quite make the above list, generally due to the fact that you can get enough of these with the combination of a good multivitamin and a whole diet, include:

Zinc

Zinc is very important to get enough of and a mineral you may want to consider a separate supplement of if you’re not taking a multi or eating a lot of beef and/or oysters (the best natural sources).

I like this oyster extract for extra zinc (and potentially higher testosterone levels), a very whole and natural source.

But again, your multi should have it and in a good amount of between 10 and 20 milligrams, and thus not a need for concern for most.

Selenium

Another one that is pretty important (especially when taking extra iodine), but that your multivitamin should provide enough of either way.

If you’re not getting some through a multi though, 1-2 brazil nuts a day (or up to 4) should provide plenty and is the best supplemental form of selenium imo (I usually take 2 per day myself if not on a multi).

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is a common supplement and a very important vitamin, but imo you’ll generally get enough of it from diet alone (and especially with an added multi) if you’re eating enough of whole foods and fruits and veggies.

The whole food form of vitamin C (from real foods) is way better than the synthetic and isolated ascorbic acid which you’ll get some of in your regular multi as well as in most vitamin C supplements, and this is because vitamin C in nature generally comes along with other compounds such as bioflavonoids which the body uses together with the ascorbic acid.

I’ve personally found a big difference in how natural vs synthetic vitamin C supplements affect me or have me feel, and therefore prefer and recommend a whole food vitamin C supplement such as this one or camu camu powder for your extra natural vitamin C, but again, a good diet and multi should cover your needs on this one for most people!

Related Reading: Best Natural Vitamin C Supplements.

B Complex Vitamins

Sadly often in synthetic froms and/or their “activated” forms when supplementing, B-complex vitamins are still very important to get enough of but are as many of the above honorable mentions usually best supplied through your multi in supplemental form (and through your diet, of course).

If you’re not taking a multi and want more of these, Celcius, the sugar-free energy drink, is actually a good option for these that I’ve used myself due to it having most of the B complex vitamins but not the more problematic ones in synthetic form.

Works great for me!

Mixed Vitamin E

This is one where the studies and science of a deficiency and that most of us should get more of it isn’t as convincing, which is why it’s not in the list of my main recommended supplements (and you’ll also get some of it in most multivitamins), but it is a supplement that I do take daily myself and have found intuitively to want more of and that my body wants.

I also believe it could be a good addition for those still eating or having eaten a lot of toxic seed and vegetable oils since it can help protect from them going rancid and oxidizing in the body.

And if you are going to take a vitamin E supplement, you definitely want a mixed one with many of the naturally occurring forms of vitamin E (for reasons explained above), I’ve tried a few of them and this one from Life extension is definitely the best one I’ve found.

And..

That be it for the honorable mentions, guys :).

When’s The Best Time To Take Your Vitamins And Supplements (Time Of Day)?

A very common and important question is what time of the day is best for taking your various supplements, and although many water-soluble nutrients and supplements are still ok to take on an empty stomach absorptionwise, I still recommend to take most if not all of your supplements with food or a meal to not disturb your digestive system more often than you have to (and one including some fat for anything involving the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, K and E).

Some are better taken in the morning (such as vitamin D, where taking too large a dose too late in the day could affect sleep) but most can be taken without problems at any time of the day.

I suggest taking all of the above recommended supplements with your first meal of the day, for simplicity’s sake, and that’s how I do it myself.

Potential Side Effects And Troubleshooting

Although the above recommended supplements are mostly just whole foods in supplement forms (but some aren’t such as the multi), anything can cause side effects really depending on the health and person (I should know because I used to be sensitive to a lot of food- and supplement-related things (and still am top many synthetic versions).

Therefore, although you should not expect to get negative side effects from any of the above nutrients and supplements in their recommended dosages, it can happen, and if you do, some troubleshooting may be needed.

This (potential side effects) is an issue when starting too many new supplements (or foods/superfoods) at the same time, since some of them might do you great while one of them gives you some negative side effects.

There are two good ways to go about this imo, which are to either start with one new supplement at a time and take it for a few days or so before introducing the next one, or starting all of them at once but going back to the above strategy of either restarting them all one by one or quitting your primary suspects either one by one temporarily or all at once and then reintroducing those slowly, if you get any negative side effects at all, that is.

And now let’s recap this article that got much longer than expected when first starting out on it:

Summary

So, to summarize this whole thing :):

• We/you need supplements to get enough of some very important vitamins and nutrients today that our diets (even really healthy ones) usually won’t provide.
• The right supplements can lead to you becoming and feeling considerably better and healthier, and the same is true for your performance.
• When choosing the right supplements you should consider if there’s a need, the best form to take it in and unnecessary additives, what dosage, price, brand and retailer as well as in hindsight whether it agrees with you or not on a basic side effects- or intuitive level (and the recommended supplement products are already chosen by taking these things into consideration).
• Go the most natural route whenever possible for better results, safety and health.
• The supplements you should probably be taking (if you can’t get them from very specific foods or the sun) include a good multivitamin, D, magnesium, K2, preformed vitamin A, boron, bone calcium, omega-3, iodine, trace minerals and lithium, collagen type 1 and type 2, B12, and possibly a good probiotic and a greens powder (plus a few honorable mentions if you can’t get them from your multivitamin or specific foods).
• Take them all with your first meal of the day, is my recommendation :).
• Watch out for potential side effects even if they shouldn’t be expected, and troubleshoot accordingly.

Total estimated cost for this supplement stack, adding all of the individual cost estimations above together, comes down to about $62 per month or just $2 per day, which isn’t that shabby considering what you get and all the potenital benefits of reducing disease risks and symptoms and to your health and well-being overall, some heavily promoted so called whole food multivitamins will cost even more than this on their own (while lacking enough of most of these nutrients), which is something to take into consideration.

But know that you can get it down to a considerably cheaper level if you’re on a budget by simply not taking the most expensive ones on the list or taking much less of these in particular, about $25 a month if you do this, while still getting a lot and perhaps even more bang for your buck in total, so again, don’t let the cost of a few of these supplements deter you from taking any of them!

This, taking these supplements, should really be considered an investment in your health and nothing else, through healthier foods, from food-based supplements, and a very convenient one at that that would likely even be a great financial investment if you’re making money through your own business or based on your performance, since these can improve just that.

And with that said, supplement wisely, but do supplement, dear fellow :).

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/Emil

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