The vitamins supplements

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A little blurb on the supplements you take on the Bernstein diet.

Because the diet itself is only 800-900 calories per day, you need to ensure that you take extra multivitamins, minerals and potassium supplements.

The clinic recommends Swiss One 50 timed release caplets with 36 minerals and supplements. It includes extra B vitamins and lutein - a supplement to the B-complex injections you receive. You can get these in any drug store in the natural brands section. The clinic sells for $16 per bottle. Not bad for 72 caplets. You take one per day, so youve got a good 2+ months worth there.

Take your vitamins first thing with breakfast to kick-start your body throughout the day.

Along with the multivitamin, take your potassium supplement. The clinic usually starts off with a low dose prescription, but will regularly touch base with you on your visits whether you need to increase your dosage. Symptoms include headaches, coldness in your hands/feet, tingling, fatigue. The potassium is a key to supporting the protein and energy, so be vigilent and speak up if you dont feel 100%. I did the diet on the first month with my original low dose prescription. Though I had some of the symptoms, I couldnt quite determine whether my headaches were due to a constant sinus congestion that I was battling since before starting the diet, or the diet itself. Once the sinus infection cleared, I realized that I wasnt 100%. I finished off the low dose and asked for the cadillac version - K-Lyte. Apparently 98% of patients are on K-Lyte - and wow - what a difference it makes.

K-Lyte is an effervescent tablet, when dissolved in water, provides 975 mg of elemental potassium as potassium citrate. It is routinely used to help against potassium deficiency and is used with thiazide diuretics to replace excessive potassium loss. You use 1 tablet at breakfast - dissolved in 3 oz of cold water (I put it in my lemon water for extra zing) and again another tablet at lunch. Combine them when you eat your protein and when youre most active.

Nurses advise again taking it at supper or in the evening, as it keeps some folks awake. I can drink coffee at night without keeping me awake, so I havent had that problem.

Again, for constipation, I use Senokot.S. For more on that, see my other posts. I dont need ot belabour that point....

Happy dieting!

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Vitamin B6 supplements the wonderful magic potion

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The diet touts the B6 vitamin as the key to success. As their literature denotes, for women its our "guardian angel."

I must admit, from the first injection, Ive never slept so well or felt as good as I have over the last two months, and I could certainly feel a difference from the injections.

B6 (or pyridoxine) is argued by Dr. Seymour Levine as the key vitamin in the B-complex group that offers the most benefits. Over 60 million people are thought to be vitamin B deficient, particularly dieters, people over 50 years of age and all women.

Vitamin B6 is linked to addressing water retention, swelling, moodiness, dry skin, anemia and hormonal imbalances.

No wonder whenever Im on my menses on the diet, they give me a full b-complex (the full B vitamin group) injection...likely for my hormones! Seriously, B6 is key to regulating hormones. It stimulats the production of potamine and provides a calming effect on the nervous system.

Research also links B6 as having an important role in the prevention and treatment of anemia. Supplements have also treated problems such as acne and seborrhea.

And for other added benefits, B6 can also bring relief of depression, tiredness and loss of sex drive. For most women, there is no more important need for B6 than for its role in estrogen production... right honey? (My husband nodded!)

B6 is also an excellent diuretic, and is the best natural preventative and remedy for bloating, water retention and menstrual weight gain. In all seriousness - women in particular keep a pain of "fat pants" for that time of the month and routinely retain water. The injection certainly helps keep things moving.

In his clinical report on B6, Dr John Ellis found that the vitamin helps set up a body balance of sodium and potassiumm that regulates body fluids.

Finally, B6 also has the important role of producing antibodies that help fight infection. It helps maintain our immune system.

Theres also a thought that there is a connection of B6 to anti-aging: the production of age-retarding RNA (a mucleic acide that instigates the replacement of worn-out, damaged and diseased cells.) women over 40 (yes me...) see a rapid increase in wrinkles, aged spotted skin. Without B6, there isnt enough RNA to keep the body young. Women also have higher RNA requirements than men. Hmmm - perhaps an explanation that if women are B6 deficient, we age so much faster than men do?

Dr. Kilmer McCully, a professor of pathology at Harvard University points to a lack of vitamin B6 as a probable chemical cause of arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries: the leading cause of death in the USA and Canada, among both men and women.

Other lab research has shown that a high fat, high protein diet low in vitamin B6 will cause diabetes. Dutch research reported that a supplemental program of vitamin B6 can relieve diabetic symptoms.

Finally, adequate B6 helps keep weight under control and is necessary for the functioning of the thyroid gland: enabling body metabolism to burn off calories.

Dieting women are the most in need of B6, but are often the most deficient. Hence, Dr. Bernstein and the diet point to supplementation as the most reliable way to correct and prevent vitamin B6 deficiency. While B6 is available in a wide array of foods (brewers yeast, wheat germ, bran, yoghurt, meat and fish) a high percentage is lost in cooking and refining processes.

Given that so many people are deficient, folks shoudl supplement their dietary intake. Any excessive intake of the water-soluble vitamin is excreted within 8 hours of injections, so regular supplements are provided on the diet.

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