Supplement Advice?

[ms-gates]

I've been struggling with anorexia and bulimia for a few years and tested positive for gluten intolerance (not celiac) in September 08. Right now I'm in a heavy bout of bulimia, but I'm working on recovering. Unfortunately, my anorexia makes everything worse. In addition to being vitamin/mineral deficient from my GI, I also have compounded effects from my eating disorder. All I'm taking for supplements now daily are a flintstone viatmin, 2 acidophilus before bed, and 2 potassium tablets. I also have osteopenia.

Does anyone have any good brands and/or advice about what amount of vitamins I should be taking? I know I need more calcium, vitamin D, B vitamins, and iron, but there's so many choices out there.

I'm having such a hard time right now trying not to binge on gluten-free/non-gluten-free foods alike. The past two months have been awful. I guess also, does anyone have this problem and consider certain foods "safer" than others? Like less likely to lead to a binge or feeling like I can't stop eating?

[RiceGuy]

Many on this board seem to benefit from vitamin B12, B-complex, magnesium, vitamin D3, calcium, iron, and multivitamins in general. Most brands are not all that good, including flintstone's. I'm sure you can do much better with quality supplements.

You'll likely get many recommendations, but what I look for is the right forms of the various nutrients under consideration. Cheap supplements typically use forms which aren't well absorbed and utilized. I think health stores are more likely to be carrying the better products. Not all brands are good about labeling, so make sure it specifically stated gluten-free, and whatever else you need to avoid. NOW Foods and Source Naturals are pretty good about labeling. Freeda is another.

If you haven't done so recently, I think it'd be wise to get tested for deficiencies. Be certain to get a copy of the test results. Then you'll have a better idea of what to focus on.

As for what to eat to help with the binging and such, I'd suggest nutrient-rich foods. Prepare as much of your meals from scratch as you can. Use spices, various colors, textures, and good healthy fats. These all help provide a better sense of satiety.

It may be tough at first, depending on the severity of the deficiencies. I used to have a ravenous appetite, and just couldn't stop eating. But it was because my body was starving, due to malabsorption. Eventually however, the gluten-free diet and supplements helped, and I no longer feel overly hungry all the time.

Hope you feel better soon!

[Takala]

It's very likely the gluten intolerance, triggering the auto immune conditions, that is doing this, so don't blame yourself. It messes up your gut lining so that you cannot absorb the nutrients as well, but your body is still trying to keep your blood chemical levels functional, so it "raids the pantry" of your existing bones and body organs and cells, and with erratic eating, the blood sugar spikes and crashes also help create the cravings.

Source Naturals is a good brand for vitamins, and I've also had good luck with Nature Made, which says "no yeast no starch no gluten" right on the label. I take a multivitamin, a B- complex vitamin, calcium citrate with vitamin D, (good ol' over the counter, easily found "Citracal", and a "Posture D" (Tricalcium phosphate, which has phosphorous and vitamin D and magnesium). I just read the labels for how much is supposedly recommended per day, as the pill sizes vary. I also, when I remember, take 1/2 of a magnesium maleate tablet because supposedly that form of magnesium is easier to absorb than magnesium oxide. But if I take too much, like a full tablet, it has a laxative effect that I don't want.

If you eat a lot of fruit, (and who doesn't like fruit, it tastes sweet and is supposedly better for you than junk food ) and consume a lot of fruit sugars, your metabolism can get further whacked out in terms of how it uses calcium, even if you are getting the Recommended Daily Amount, unless you also consume adequate magnesium. (colaborating information on this can be found on PubMed) This is why a lot of people like to demonize "high fructose corn syrup" in soda pops, and you can see this in how the fast food marketers always try to "supersize" the sodas, because they know that the more soda and high fructose corn syrup one consumes, the hungrier the person will feel, instead of feeling fuller, and they'll want to order more food with bigger buns and extra fries because they crave those carbs. It's the sodas and extras that make the profit for the fast food joints, not the entrees.

When I first went gluten free about 6 years ago I was so screwed up, I had to eat a modified Specific Carbohydrate Diet (no grains ! ate an awful lot of nuts and nut meals used in baking, instead ) without the dairy yogurt they recommend, either, so that is why I thought it was a good idea to take the Posture D's with the phosphorous. I have since, in the past 2 years, been able to expand my diet quite a bit, and now can eat non lactose dairy and non gluten grains in moderation, so my supplements might be a bit of an overkill- except then that I am also getting to the age where "normal" women start to have age and hormone related bone loss.

I also had kidney problems that were relieved by going gluten free AND by taking calcium supplements, which is the exact opposite of most people. My kidneys were working overtime trying to harvest my ratty, chewed up looking spine for blood calcium, and depositing their crystaline handiwork in my bladder, leading to repeated infections and inflammation. This is why I am a big fan of the calcium citrate. DO NOT TAKE "TUMS" antacids for supplemental calcium, because it is a different form of calcium, and can make this type of condition worse.

With iron, if a multivitamin with iron makes you pukey, go to one without it, and instead, if you can stand the taste of it, try taking some blackstrap molasses every day, it doesn't take much, just lick it off the spoon, or add it to something else you made, and try cooking all your food that you can in a cast iron pan. I make a lot of gluten free quick bread in a pre heated and oiled cast iron pan. And I don't mean that fluffy cardboardy rice and tapioca stuff, I make nut meals/flours and add sorghum, millet, amaranth, the higher protein types of gluten free flours. And I use a lot of olive oil in it, and an egg. This stuff, with added sunflower seeds, is seriously dense enough that a single piece will kill hunger and last for hours when combined with a protein- I tend to eat this before hiking, for example.

In terms of food cravings and feeling "full" and sated, the higher fat and protein diet you can do, with the less carbohydrates from grain, the less hunger cravings you will experience. Atkins was right, in that regard. This means a lot of eggs, nuts, avocados, olive oil, real gluten free mayonnaise, tuna, meat, hemp milk, plain high fat gluten free yogurt, hard aged cheeses if you can stand it, homemade trail mix of nuts and dried fruits, gluten-free coconut macaroons, coconut oil, coconut milk in your tea, real butter if you can stand it, etc. I also find that if I eat a small amount of really high quality dark chocolate every day (like a single square off a Ghiradelli semi sweet baking bar) I don't go crazy with the chocolate cravings that are triggered when a much more sugary fake type of chocolate is eaten.

I avoid anything that says "low fat" like the plague, because chances are, it was made with starch fillers to replace the fat, and those starches are processed differently by the body, much more quickly, and if you don't burn them off by exercise, they spike the blood sugar, and then you crash, badly, and have cravings again. I know I feel very light headed and desperately hungry all the time on the typical American high carbohydrate diet of cereals, breads, cookies, and battered and starched and fried bread things, and that I have to discipline myself to eat vegetables for at least 2 and preferably 3 meals a day. This meant that mid morning yesterday, for example, I found myself nibbling on a small snack plate of nuts, some chopped apple, cheese, and salad greens the way a regular person would eat a pastry. I'm thinking "fat and protein from nuts, magnesium from nuts, apple taste good, cheese protein/calcium, eat the greens." I knew if I didn't do this by the time I got to lunch I'd be ridiculous and I had already eaten some rice earlier- too much easily digested "white" grain carbohydrate does not work for me in terms of just having well being. Sometimes I make myself eat a vegetable snack in the late afternoon, also, telling myself that I can have a reward of a Lara bar if I eat that first and am still hungry. This morning in the fridge, there's a half an avocado and a half tomato sitting there that I'm eyeballing for a snack later, when they will be sprinkled with olive oil and salt. For dinners, I make sure I get a decent meat or fish protein always- I'm not afraid now to eat a decent steak or a burger, altho it's becoming sometimes a bit "politically incorrect" to not be striving to be a vegetarian, oh well.