About The Vitamin Gal
Welcome to The Vitamin Gal!
I also help you to choose which natural, organic and otherwise healthy products are right for you and your loved ones.
About Me – The Vitamin Gal
Over the past 25+ years, I have acquired a lot of information on nutrition, and on how vitamins and other supplements can assist with having a healthy body – often also assisting with a healthy state of mind. In short, I have discovered that among other things, nutrition and natural, organic foods and products can play a very large part of healthy, happy everyday living.
A bit of a story – In my mid-twenties, I held a job for several years that involved being a liason between people (needing assistance with their health) and doctors – including MDs, chiropractors, nutritionists and other types of natural healing practitioners. In the course of this job, it became necessary for me to learn about various types of ailments, as well as finding out a good deal about which types of vitamins and other supplements can be used when addressing specific types of difficulties.
In short, this job was all about one thing: Finding out what was a person’s physical problem was, and sending them in the right direction for real help.
During this time, I discovered something that was both pretty surprising and a wonderful relief…
We Can Be Our Own Best Experts When it Comes to Our Health.
Why I Created This Website
Usually I would hear back from them, and they would say to me, “Hey, that worked!”
A bit of a disclaimer here: I am absolutely, positively, not a licensed practitioner of any kind of medical or other health practice. I am simply someone who happens to be pretty well-educated through experience and “book learning” on the subject of nutrition and health, and I happen to give a damn about my and others’ well-being and happiness.
Something that makes me sad: Hearing a story from someone who got onto some sort of dangerous prescription drug, or took their doctor’s advice on some sort of surgery on a problem that probably could have easily been handled with simple chiropractic or nutritional treatment.
(I especially feel discouraged when I hear about a parent who has put their child on some sort of mind-altering or otherwise dangerous medication for a “disorder” when quite possibly the real problem could be nutrition-based – or something else that could be much more easily and safely addressed. By the way, you can find out more about that here, and you can find some great alternatives here.)
What I Believe
On Nutrition, Vitamins and Other Natural Remedies:
- Natural and organic foods and other nutrition make a big difference in one’s energy level and overall health
- Drinking water – a lot of it – is under-rated.
- A very large majority of physical problems can be addressed by natural means, including vitamins, supplements, herbal and other remedies.
- Medical doctors (MDs) have their place in this world, but too many people rely on them when simpler, more practical, and more workable solutions are available.
- “Getting in the basics” – enough sleep, healthy food, plenty of veggies, lots of water – can handle (or prevent) many, many physical problems.
- The occasional “no-nos” (pizza, cheeseburgers, ice cream, etc.) are some of life’s joys, and are an absolute must. Uh, once in a while that is.
On Life In General:
- No one knows more about, or is more of an expert on you, than you.
- At least 5 or 6 doses of laughter a day is a must.
- If something seems complicated, or is complicated, there is something wrong with it.
- “The News” on TV should be outlawed. (Or, at least replaced with real news that people need to know instead of “all the worst news that makes people afraid to walk out their front door.”)
- Walking (or jogging) daily provides more mental therapy than any psychologist or psychiatrist on the planet could ever give.
- See someone who could use some help? Help them. Follow that impulse to help – don’t hold back. Now… how does that feel? 🙂
- Children are the smartest people on the planet – they see life in a very simple light, with simple values and have much wisdom to pass along.
- People should absolutely, positively do what they love for a living – or at least work toward that goal.
- For God’s sake – have some fun!
My Goal With This Website
I hope that this website in some way helps you or touches your life even in the smallest of ways. Either you get a little tiny tidbit of information, a helpful tip, or perhaps are even using the site as a regular resource to find out about vitamins and other remedies.
One of my favorite things in the world is hearing back that I have helped someone. So, if I have, or if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or use the contact form on this website. I would love to hear from you!
All my best to you,
Tonya
TheVitaminGal.com
Author: Tonya B.
Tonya is the founder and creator of The Vitamin Gal.
With her long history of learning and experience on health, vitamins, supplements and nutrition in general, she enjoys sharing her knowledge and tips with her friends, family and with you, our visitors.
What could be done to help spinal stenosis? Loved your post! I so agree with what you’ve said.
Hi Cherie! So good to hear from you! 🙂
I did some digging in on this, and from a resource that I trust, I found out a bit more about spinal stenosis. From what I understand, spinal stenosis is caused from narrowing of the bone canal, where nerves travel. There are a number of natural treatments recommended for this, including chiropractic and exercise. (There is a lot more information to it than that, but that is the general idea.)
Also, in terms of natural vitamins and supplements, there are a couple of recommendations that I found:
Two really good articles on this I found are here and here.
Hope that helps, Cherie!
I love what you plan on doing with your site and I am going to utilize your needed service right away.
I have a friend that is said by doctors to have “chronic urticaria” or “chronic hives”. She is 25 years old, has never been allergic to anything in her life or is she sick. Suddenly, one night, she started having these swelling on her skin. The thing about it is, that the hives only appear at nights and disappears in the morning, but leaves red shades on her skin during the day and then the process repeats.
What are your recommendations, what herbs or vitmains may help?
Hi Sheree,
My understanding is that this type of thing (sudden, chronic hives) are most often caused by some kind of an allergic reaction. The fact that they only happen at night is very strange, and makes me think: “Has she changed something?”
It also makes me wonder when exactly at night they occur – is it before or after she heads to bed?
Here is what I would say is probably happening – her body has either developed a new allergy of some kind, or she has had a “latent” one (never before activated until she came into contact with something that set it off).
There are two general things that I would do:
1. Find out what is causing it:
* I would try to narrow down anything that is new in her life – has she started eating something new? Or done anything new? Some examples – perhaps she changed a laundry detergent for her sheets (for example if the reaction is occurring after she goes to bed). Basically look for anything that has changed that is time-coincident with the reaction, or happened/changed right before the reaction started taking place. If you (or she) come up with something, try taking that out of the picture (stop eating the food, stop using the detergent or whatever) to see if that changes anything.
* If the above doesn’t work, I would find a naturopathic doctor or chiropractor who provides a service called “kinesiology” for their patients, and go see that doctor. (Kinesiology is a special kind of muscle testing that works VERY well to zero in on causes of things, including allergies.)
2. Soothe the itching immediately:
There is one product on the market that comes to mind, that should provide great relief when applied to the skin. It is called Seraj All Natural and Organic Citrus cream. It contains Vitamin C (a good amount of it) which is incredibly healing and soothing to the skin. This should ease or stop the itching. You can find that cream here: http://shop.serajallnatural.com/Citrus-Scented-Cream-ccrm2009.htm (As a note, it is available in a sample size in case she wants to try it out before purchasing a larger size.)
Other than the above, I would hesitate to recommend anything further, since really what is needed to eliminate the problem completely would be to zero in on finding out exactly what is behind the hives. Either by process of elimination (as I describe above), or by seeking help from a professional (also mentioned above).
Hope that helps!!! =D
Thanks for replying.
She has not changed her eating habits or has she changed detergent, sheets or anything.
The hives appears around 6-7PM when the sun starts to set. It appears no matter what. She could be cooking, watching TV, walking etc. It just appears. So that is really strange.
I will pass your recommendations on to her. Thanks again.
Hi again Sheree,
I get it – and I agree, that is really strange!
It seems very, very likely to me that there is some kind of allergy happening – as I mentioned before, finding a practitioner who also provides kinesiology testing would help to zero in on what is causing the reaction.
You’re welcome, and I hope she solves this very soon! =)
Hi
Vitamins really confuse me and never know which ones i should take, i suffer with haemacromotosis which is an iron overload. do vitamins contain iron? as i have to be careful not to take in too much iron.
I really would like to start taking vitamins but really not sure what ones i should take?
Nice post 🙂
Hi Sharon!
Not many vitamins or supplements actually contain iron – some multiple vitamins and minerals do, but only if they say that they do on the label.
If you’re looking to start taking vitamins, but not sure where to start, I would get a good natural multiple (without iron). When I was taking multiples, I always liked the “Alive” brand.
I found one of their multiples that even specifically says “No Added Iron” on the front label, and I checked the ingredients and Iron is not on the list. You can find that at Swanson Vitamins.
Also – I found out some interesting (and I believe helpful) information for you about natural solutions for haemacromotosis. =D
There is a supplement that actually helps to reduce the buildup of iron and remove it safely from the body – Turmeric. You might recognize the name because it is actually used as a spice. However, you can’t just go buy the spice at the store and take it – there is a bit more to it than that.
Here is what I found out:
1. The active ingredient in Turmeric is called Curcumin.
2. Curcumin is not easily absorbed by the body, so the Turmeric/Curcumin supplement needs to be purchased in a form that is better absorbed, so it is recommended to buy it as an extract (this looks like a good one). I also found an article that recommends taking it with a few peppercorns in order to further aid in absorption.
Tumeric is actually an antioxidant – there are a few others that come recommended, also good for helping to control levels of iron in the body – they include calcium, green tea and milk thistle.
Hope that helps!! =D