I bet many of you have implemented chugging down vitamins in your morning routines. Caring about your wellbeing is great, but do you really need those vitamins, though?
I never gave this topic much thought until I read this. With the way it’s advertised as ‘caring for your body’, we think, what harm can it cause? Apparently a lot! A lot of the time, we go along with anything we see on social media without putting in our own research and finding out if the new trend is necessary, safe, or even something we really desire. Btw, I like the collages you make.
Exactly! We are being pushed so much alternatives (disguised as trends) that can seriously harm ourselves without putting much thought into it and it is slowly getting out of hand! Critical thinking is truly losing us and I need people to start making use of it before it’s too late! Mindlessly putting money into things we don’t need just because is not the flex we should be aspiring too! And thank you, I love collages so I am so glad I now have an outlet to publish them 😌
I really enjoy your take on this! Ugh, I’m in the US and have noticed this vitamin trend you are referring too. It’s really just gotten absurd, people are taking supplements for everything! I’ve struggled with an eating disorder since I was 11, sending you sympathy that you had to go through that ❤️
All my sympathy to you too, I hope you are doing better! 🥰 What sparked this article was TikTok video posted on Pinterest showing a girl, with a really balanced diet, hauling all the vitamins she takes daily, and it was mind-boggling because in that same video she was showing how she eats and all and claiming she was very healthy which made the whole TikTok absurd because, if she has a healthy body, she did not need to supplement at all!
Aww, thank you! It’s a work in progress 😅😅. Yeah, it’s quite strange to watch vitamins be pushed by people eating a healthy varied diet. I mean, we have a more broad access to fresh fruits and vegetables than ever before in human history, yet we are told to take a pillbox full of supplements and other junk every day!
Love this take! And you’re right, most people with balanced diets don’t need to take vitamins. I sometimes feel like vitamins/supplement culture is being pushed as a solution to the food access problem we have in the U.S. Processed foods (which prevent people from getting the nutrition they need) are a huge problem for many people here, but instead of investing in increasing access to organic foods/greens/balanced diets, it just becomes another avenue for capitalism to sell us surface level solutions to major systemic problems. Is it reaching to say that there is a link between the rise of supplement culture and the efforts of cities all over the U.S. to shut down community gardens/limit how people access fresh foods?
Ana!! You are so on point with the link between supplement culture and shutting down community gardens! If anything, capitalism hates when people can help each other efficiently and have access to basic needs on their own, so it restricts or completely removes those needs and you have no choice but to rely on what is given to you as "the only solution" to solve your problem! I follow a creator on Instagram who makes content about foraging and she explained how black and brown communities were kept at bay from even their own gardens so they wouldn't be able to sustain themselves as many families passed down recipes and medicine made from their own foraging! And when you think of it, a component of colonialism is to destroy accessibility to nature resources to indigenous communities who rely heavily on them! It is an ecocide to further accelerate the genocide of those indigineous communities!
I take vitamins for the same reason I don’t take antidepressants: for their placebo effect. I know for a fact I do need some of them (like I’m anemic) and the others just make me feel good. Usually when I take them I also make myself a nice infusion and have a full breakfast. When I don’t I skip breakdown altogether. What can I say, I’m an all or nothing kinda girl…
(Not saying antidepressants don’t work for anybody, just that since I didn’t believe they’d help me my therapist advised I don’t take them at all because the nocebo effect (the opposite of placebo) is real).
I am anaemic as well and because of it, I need to supplement with iron daily! I explained everything in my piece that I get regular checkups at the doctor to check how my body is doing and what it is lacking! And that is something I have observed of people taking vitamins for the sake of it even though they don't need it but because it might make them feel good because it is a way for them to take care of their body?
That’s why I was mentioning the placebo effect, I think believing that it helps is what helps most.
For me, I also have a number of health issues that are all inflammatory so taking anti-inflammatory plant based supplements helps (or at least it doesn’t hurt) because I can’t be taking actual medication everyday without causing more damage.
I agree with you though, instead of eating vitamin C, eat an orange or broccoli! I also have vitamin D deficiency so in addition to the supplements my doctor prescribed I’m implementing a sun cure. Everyday I lay in the sun and try to expose as much skin as appropriate to help my body synthesize it. It costs nothing and it feels great. Highly recommend!
I do the same with the vitamin D! And yes, when you already have health issues, the body is not functioning as intended so it needs a little help and supplement are necessary! I am zinc deficient because I effed up my body with an eating disorder and now zinc is always super low and can’t produce certain enzymes rendering my body incapable of digesting some food, so I need to supplement as well for that
I meant that I skip breakfast, not breakdown. Though i like to think we can also opt out of breakdowns, like i could feel like shit but I have dance lessons so I’m skipping it today!
I never gave this topic much thought until I read this. With the way it’s advertised as ‘caring for your body’, we think, what harm can it cause? Apparently a lot! A lot of the time, we go along with anything we see on social media without putting in our own research and finding out if the new trend is necessary, safe, or even something we really desire. Btw, I like the collages you make.
Exactly! We are being pushed so much alternatives (disguised as trends) that can seriously harm ourselves without putting much thought into it and it is slowly getting out of hand! Critical thinking is truly losing us and I need people to start making use of it before it’s too late! Mindlessly putting money into things we don’t need just because is not the flex we should be aspiring too! And thank you, I love collages so I am so glad I now have an outlet to publish them 😌
I really enjoy your take on this! Ugh, I’m in the US and have noticed this vitamin trend you are referring too. It’s really just gotten absurd, people are taking supplements for everything! I’ve struggled with an eating disorder since I was 11, sending you sympathy that you had to go through that ❤️
All my sympathy to you too, I hope you are doing better! 🥰 What sparked this article was TikTok video posted on Pinterest showing a girl, with a really balanced diet, hauling all the vitamins she takes daily, and it was mind-boggling because in that same video she was showing how she eats and all and claiming she was very healthy which made the whole TikTok absurd because, if she has a healthy body, she did not need to supplement at all!
Aww, thank you! It’s a work in progress 😅😅. Yeah, it’s quite strange to watch vitamins be pushed by people eating a healthy varied diet. I mean, we have a more broad access to fresh fruits and vegetables than ever before in human history, yet we are told to take a pillbox full of supplements and other junk every day!
Love this take! And you’re right, most people with balanced diets don’t need to take vitamins. I sometimes feel like vitamins/supplement culture is being pushed as a solution to the food access problem we have in the U.S. Processed foods (which prevent people from getting the nutrition they need) are a huge problem for many people here, but instead of investing in increasing access to organic foods/greens/balanced diets, it just becomes another avenue for capitalism to sell us surface level solutions to major systemic problems. Is it reaching to say that there is a link between the rise of supplement culture and the efforts of cities all over the U.S. to shut down community gardens/limit how people access fresh foods?
Ana!! You are so on point with the link between supplement culture and shutting down community gardens! If anything, capitalism hates when people can help each other efficiently and have access to basic needs on their own, so it restricts or completely removes those needs and you have no choice but to rely on what is given to you as "the only solution" to solve your problem! I follow a creator on Instagram who makes content about foraging and she explained how black and brown communities were kept at bay from even their own gardens so they wouldn't be able to sustain themselves as many families passed down recipes and medicine made from their own foraging! And when you think of it, a component of colonialism is to destroy accessibility to nature resources to indigenous communities who rely heavily on them! It is an ecocide to further accelerate the genocide of those indigineous communities!
Oh, amazing! What's their @, I'm not on Instagram but maybe I can find them on Tiktok
@/blackforager and she is also on TikTok, pretty sure of that! Under the same handle, I suppose? And her full name is Alexis Nicole 🤗
I take vitamins for the same reason I don’t take antidepressants: for their placebo effect. I know for a fact I do need some of them (like I’m anemic) and the others just make me feel good. Usually when I take them I also make myself a nice infusion and have a full breakfast. When I don’t I skip breakdown altogether. What can I say, I’m an all or nothing kinda girl…
(Not saying antidepressants don’t work for anybody, just that since I didn’t believe they’d help me my therapist advised I don’t take them at all because the nocebo effect (the opposite of placebo) is real).
I am anaemic as well and because of it, I need to supplement with iron daily! I explained everything in my piece that I get regular checkups at the doctor to check how my body is doing and what it is lacking! And that is something I have observed of people taking vitamins for the sake of it even though they don't need it but because it might make them feel good because it is a way for them to take care of their body?
That’s why I was mentioning the placebo effect, I think believing that it helps is what helps most.
For me, I also have a number of health issues that are all inflammatory so taking anti-inflammatory plant based supplements helps (or at least it doesn’t hurt) because I can’t be taking actual medication everyday without causing more damage.
I agree with you though, instead of eating vitamin C, eat an orange or broccoli! I also have vitamin D deficiency so in addition to the supplements my doctor prescribed I’m implementing a sun cure. Everyday I lay in the sun and try to expose as much skin as appropriate to help my body synthesize it. It costs nothing and it feels great. Highly recommend!
I do the same with the vitamin D! And yes, when you already have health issues, the body is not functioning as intended so it needs a little help and supplement are necessary! I am zinc deficient because I effed up my body with an eating disorder and now zinc is always super low and can’t produce certain enzymes rendering my body incapable of digesting some food, so I need to supplement as well for that
I meant that I skip breakfast, not breakdown. Though i like to think we can also opt out of breakdowns, like i could feel like shit but I have dance lessons so I’m skipping it today!