I remember when I was working for a PR firm in Lagos and also freelancing as a writer, my diet was such a mess. For breakfast, I’d get puff-puff or egg roll and take that with coffee. For lunch, I’d munch some random snack and for dinner I’d eat rice, pasta or buy food from the eatery near my house. This was my routine from Sunday to Sunday because I didn’t have the time to cook. In less than one year, I became constantly sick, feeling feverish and nursing headaches. Also, my weight dropped to 43kg. When I went to the hospital, the doctor ran some tests, guess what was the culprit? I had very low iron levels and Vitamin D. My body was lacking those vital vitamins and that was what made me tired all the time. The doctor recommended some vitamins and of course, gave me an order to rest.
Look sis! Vitamins are like our inner skin care routine. Once you hit twenty-five, older women start encouraging you to take vitamin supplement because as you get older and become busy with jobs, or marriage or raising kids, your diets start to suffer gradually. Let’s even be frank. Sometimes even if you are not stressed, we are simply not as conscious about our health and diet as we should be. There’s no time to check if you are getting all the vitamins good for our body to stay healthy or prevent diseases. I know I’m not a doctor, but if you are over 30, it’s likely you are deficient in one nutrient or the other. Talk to your doctor about taking possible supplements even if from natural sources. If you don’t have access to a doctor, I suggest you start with Vitamin C. Look, you really can’t go wrong with Vitamin C.
Besides vitamins, there are also probiotics—these are supplements that have a wide range of benefits for the female gut, that is your digestive system. Hmm, do you know that your gut health regulates your mental health and even your immunity. The body is truly remarkable and there are many ways to ensure you get the best from your body. These days, there are hundreds of probiotics and vitamin brands. You can walk into a pharmacy and buy one without a doctor’s prescription. But, like all other medication, these supplements work differently in various bodies. There are people who say the supplements gave them migraines, others said it made them bloated or have diarrhea and some women said they added a lot of weight when on supplements. These side effects don’t mean that you should run away from supplements, there are truly good for our bodies, but before you buy read everything about the brand you are buying on the internet, read reviews by users and finally please check with your doctor. The claim some of the brands make about how wonderful their supplements are, have not been approved or backed by scientific research. So, before you jump on the wagon of vitamins and probiotics, make sure you have done your research and you have a thumps-up from a doctor to go ahead!