Why Women Need a Multivitamin

As I’ve mentioned many times before, I’m naturally fairly cautious when it comes to supplements.  

I’d rather fuel my body with whole foods and save that extra money – let’s be honest: supplements can be EXPENSIVE.

When it comes to the best supplements for women, NOTHING replaces the big rocks:

1. Training
2. Nutrition
3. Balanced Metabolic Hormones

But with that said…if these first pieces of the puzzle fall into place for you, and you want some ways to reach the goal of optimal fitness and fat loss, supplements can play a role as a “small rock” in your plan.

I’ve already shared some of my top supplements for women. If you’re not 100% sure that you’re getting all of the micronutrients that your body needs each day, I highly suggest considering a multivitamin to keep your body, bones, muscles and skin supplied with the right amounts of vitamins and minerals.

But the truth is that even women who pride themselves on eating a balanced, nutritious diet can still benefit from taking a multivitamin.

Here are a few (of the many reasons):

Why Women Need a Multivitamin

1. 1. Multivitamins make up for missing micronutrients: If you’re not sure you’re getting all of the micronutrients that your body needs, a multivitamin is crucial. The majority of women, even healthy women, who get the recommended amount of protein, carbohydrates and fats (macronutrients), still miss many key micronutrients in their diets. The most common micronutrients that over 90% of women’s diets lack, include: iron, folic acid, iodine and vitamin B1. If you’re concerned you may be affected, taking a daily multivitamin can supplement your dietary intakes of these vital nutrients.
   2. Multivitamins protect your bones: In addition to making up for missing micronutrients, daily multivitamins provide a great way to protect your bones. Many women’s diets are severely low in calcium and vitamin D, which may help to reduce your risk of developing osteoporosis as you get older. Be sure to look for a multivitamin that includes BOTH calcium AND vitamin D, as vitamin D is essential in helping the body absorb and use calcium. In fact, the body cannot absorb calcium at all without some vitamin D, so this is crucial when determining what multivitamin to take. Read more about the importance of bone health including what you should be doing and avoiding for optimal bone density.
   3. Multivitamins help combat stress: If you do not know the impact that the stress hormone cortisol has on your body, click here. Stress puts significant demands on your body both mentally and physically. Because of this increased stress, your body may increase your need for some nutrients. Studies show that some supplements, and even multivitamins help the body cope with the side effects of stress and rebalance the metabolism. Daily use of a multivitamin may lower cortisol levels. They also help decrease the effects of stress on the body by boosting the immune system as you work towards optimal hormonal balance.
   4. Multivitamins aid in workout recovery: You know the importance of protein to refuel your muscles after a tough workout, right? But did you know a multivitamin aids in workout recovery as well? Regular exercise is an important part of a healthy lifestyle! However, if you’re engaging in intense workouts at least 3 times per week, this drastically raises your requirements for some vitamins and minerals. For example, sweating depletes levels of magnesium, which play a vital role in muscle function. This means that if you sweat, you need to consume it in greater quantities to help offset the losses. Your muscles also need a wide variety of other vitamins and minerals in order to function too, including vitamins B1, D and E, and the minerals iron, iodine and selenium.
   5. Multivitamins improve your skin: Whether you’re looking to tighten loose skin (read here about how certain micronutrients improve skin elasticity and firmness) or to simply maintain a healthy complexion, healthy skin requires adequate amounts of a wide range of nutrients. These aid in tissue repair and maintenance of healthy collagen.
   6. Multivitamins help your menstrual cycle: I’m serious about this one! I didn’t realize taking a multivitamin would benefit menstrual health until a few years ago when I began seeing studies about the importance of taking a multivitamin that contains both zinc and vitamin B6. Both of these help maintain a healthy menstrual cycle and reduce premenstrual symptoms. You’ll also want to choose a women’s multivitamin formula that contains iron to help compensate for menstrual losses.
   7. Multivitamins help your mental function: As busy women, we need to keep our brains sharp. Healthy brain function and mental processing involve lots of of various nutrients, including folic acid, vitamins B6, B12 and E, and minerals like iron, zinc and iodine. A healthy nutrition plan is key, but if you’re not sure that you’re getting all of what you need, adding a daily multivitamin helps to ensure your brain gets the nutrients it needs to function.

How to Select the Best Multivitamin for Women

Now that you know the importance of taking a daily multivitamin, let’s talk about how to select a quality multivitamin that will give you the all of the benefits mentioned above.

Mixing and dosing a truly effective multivitamin is incredibly difficult given the way they react and are absorbed by the body, so you have to be careful with what you purchase.

Yes, you can get a cheap bottle of vitamins at the drugstore, but just like yoga pants – QUALITY MATTERS – when it comes to your supplements!

I personally use PEScience’s TuMulti Women’s formula and I love that PEScience chooses the best, most effective ingredients and delivers them in their most effective form. Most cheaply vitamins are tablets that can’t even be properly broken down and digested/absorbed…hello expensive pee.

Selecting Your Multivitamin

1. 1. Proper dosage: When it comes to vitamins, more is not better. Vitamins and minerals need to be dosed precisely. Certain vitamins have absorption thresholds. Some can even be harmful if they are dosed too high. Some minerals hinder absorption of other minerals when taken at the same time. This happens especially if the doses or ratios are not calibrated correctly. PEScience took these attributes into consideration when creating TruMulti. Other manufacturers clearly don’t even know exist.
   2. Capsules over tablets: If you’ve spent any time researching multivitamins, you have probably come across studies on the disintegration of multivitamin tablets. Disintegration essentially means how much of the tablet actually gets broken down and digested in the stomach. If a tablet does not get broken down and digested, any of the undigested pieces will have a pretty hard time getting utilized by the body. This is why I always look for a capsule. Other manufacturers use tablets because you can press a whole lot of stuff into those big tablets that feel like you’re swallowing dice. PEScience makes sure its product ensures maximum benefit, and I appreciate that.
   3. Premium Ingredients: Most vitamins and minerals exist in a number of different forms. Some are dirt cheap which is why you can find multivitamins for a couple dollars at your grocery store. But PEScience has taken the time and spent the money to use premium forms. Below are specific highlights you most likely will not find in competing multivitamins.

PEScience Highlights

• Chelated minerals: PEScience uses chelated magnesium, molybdenum, and zinc. Chelated minerals represent the cream of the crop when it comes to mineral absorption. Some minerals like calcium don’t have a hard time absorbing, so the type of calcium used is less significant. But minerals like magnesium can have significantly varying absorption rates. Magnesium oxide for example has significantly worse absorption than magnesium aspartate.
• Vitamin E Blend: PEScience uses a blend of multiple forms of Vitamin E. This helps you get a wide spectrum of your “tocos”. If you are well0versed on Vitamin E, this is one you will really appreciate!
• The Modern B12: The PEScience source of Vitamin B12 is methylcobalamin, not the cheaper and more common cyanocobalamin.
• Chromax patented chromium picolinate: So much human research on Chromax exists — I don’t even know where to begin! Just know you get the best when it comes to TruMulti.
• NattoMK7 brand Vitamin K2: Most multivitamins don’t even contain Vitamin K. Some contain cheaper forms like K1, but we didn’t skimp out here. PEScience contains the premium K2.
• KSM-66 – The Superherb: There are only a handful of herbs that we place in the “superherb” category. Herbs that we think should be taken every day due to their wide range of benefits and substantial amount of human research. KSM-66 is most known for its mood support, something everyone can benefit from on a daily basis. It allows TruMulti to be a multivitamin that you actually feel. It is a great antioxidant, and has recently been studied for a multitude of other uses like hormone support, weight management and more. No need for insignificant amounts of 20 herbs like you will find in other products. You just need one full serving of KSM-66!

While on the surface most multivitamins look the same, TruMulti was formulated with over a year’s worth of research. Each individual ingredient was precisely selected and formulated at the perfect amount for a daily multivitamin for athletes.

This product is straight forward, honest and affordable.

If you want to check it out, visit pescience.com for more info and don’t forget to use the code BEYONDFIT for 30% off your entire order!

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