It's Eric Bakker the naturopath from New Zealand. Thanks for coming back. I'm a naturopath.
How long does it take for a vitamin supplement to work? Okay? Herbs or vitamins or different
types of pills or liquids or stuff that you take, how long does it take for it to
really act in the body before you can feel, "Wow! This has done something to me." Okay,
that's a very, very good question and there's no one straight answer to that.
There is a couple of pointers I'll throw at you, some interesting things. All right?
I once asked a very clever nutritional biochemist friend of mine what the most
important vitamin was to take. And he said, "Oh, there's an easy answer to that, real easy."
I said, "What?" And he said, "The most important
vitamin is the vitamin you're lacking." And I said, "Well, how do I know that?"
And he said, "Take a multi." He said, "Take a multi. Take a really high quality multi,
like three or four a day." And he said, "You'll soon know if you're lacking something."
He said, "Before the week is out, you will know if you're lacking something." So if
we analyze what I just said to you, the most important thing for you out there
is what your body needs. Okay? Not what my body needs, it's what your body needs. For example,
you may be low in zinc. Okay? You may be low on something else. So you could take XYZ. Well,
I shouldn't have said ... You could take ABC, but because there's no Z in there, no zinc in there,
it may not do much for you at all. Okay? So everyone has got different nutritional
requirements. Some people need a lot more. Some people need a lot less, but how fast do
these things work? Well, it depends also on your diet, what you're eating, how much you're eating,
or how little you're eating, what you're drinking, what your lifestyle is like, your stresses are
like. Okay? It depends on many, many different factors how quickly a supplement will work.
The biggest thing I found in the clinic always with people was many people are not reliable
and regular in taking supplements. We've got a category of people that are bang on. They're
bulletproof. They take them exactly when they should take them and they just keep taking them,
and they get the outcome. Then we have another group of people that take them sporadically here
or there. "Oh, where's my pills? Oh, yeah, I'll take one today." And they come and visit me.
"Did you take your supplements?" "Ah, I haven't had time."
"How do you feel?" "I still feel like crap."
"Okay. See you later." And then you get the other person
who's not quite so slack. They've sort of got the intermittent slackness, where they'll take them
for three or four days. Then they'll forget to take them because they're too busy. So
there's all sorts of supplement takers. All right? But as I said, the diligent ones who are
on the nose every day, they take it at set times. They eat their meals. They'll have
their little bowl of yogurt and cereal with all fluffy flowers on it, whatever you want.
And then they have their drink in the morning and they have their supplements, and they're bang on.
"Oh, it's 7:46. It's time for my breakfast." There's people like that out there. There really
is. You don't have to be like that. You don't have to be like Rain Man. Okay? Like Dustin Hoffman,
but you do have to be reliable and regular when it comes to taking things.
Personally, I'm usually one of those reliable, regular people who take things,
but I'm not anal about it. But I can tell you this: Taking a good magnesium or a B complex,
I notice the difference within about two days, if I need it. I generally know what I need now
through intuition. So if I think, "Wow, I need some more magnesium," I'll top it up. And usually
that night I'll have such a good sleep and I'll notice such a difference that I'll think, "Okay,
it's now time to step up the magnesium intake of the diet, much higher than I've done before."
So that's another key thing that you can do. Okay? Take supplements. When you start noticing
that they're really giving you the change, the desired change, say to yourself, "Now,
what can I swap this out for, for a food? Is there some food I can take that's not
going to irritate my gut that's got a similar action to these supplements?" Because remember,
foods are medicines. All right? But you'll often find a combination of some supplements long term,
like vitamin C or fish oil or things like that, along with a good diet is really,
in my opinion, the best answer, because you're getting the best of both worlds. All right?
So coming back to the original question, how long does it take for a supplement to work?
How long does it take for you to work? You know? That's probably what you want to
ask yourself. How long does it take for you to get motivated to take the supplements?
Maybe you need two or three containers of the same pills, to have them in different locations.
Maybe you need to sit, look at my beautiful Apple Watch. Isn't it a beauty? $3 I paid for this.
So it's got five alarms on it. Okay? So I can literally set an alarm every three, four hours.
The only thing it does, drives Tracy crazy when she hears beep beep, beep beep, beep. "The
bloody watch of yours again, turn it off."
I don't like those Apple Watches. I find them too flash. But anyway, that's what I'm
going to say. Take them regularly. Be reliable. Watch what happens. Okay? If you don't notice
within a five to seven day period something on that supplement, you probably don't need
to take it, in my opinion. You should really notice a difference when you're taking it.
Okay? Really notice it. Sometimes with chronic, long term sick people it can take a bit longer,
but if you take the supplement according to how you were prescribed and eat a good diet,
you should really start noticing some outcomes. The last tip I'll leave you with:
Make sure you're hydrated. Okay? Because this stuff works really well
with supplements. All right? It's meant to go with them, together. All right? Thanks for tuning in.