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All Vitamins are NOT created equally-Excellent Comparison Chart



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Many times, I see pre and post op asking about high quality Vitamins. I see so many patients pounding away with sub-standard vitamins, and they really don't realize what they are missing. I realize a lot of surgeons recommend Flintstones or even some of the adult gummies, but really we have to be our best advocates for our best overall health.

Jill over on ObesityHelp has compiled a spreadsheet, and it is on a live downloadable file. You do not have to sign in to download it. Just click on the spreadsheet, and you can either choose to OPEN or SAVE it as an Excel Document.

This will give you a breakdown of exactly what you are getting. She has broken it down to a 1 dose be it a capsule, tablet, chewable, etc.

I've sent Jill a message on OH to ask her to throw my chosen Multivitamin in the chart if she has a chance. If she does I'll let y'all know how it compares.

Anyways, just more geeky research from me. I told y'all I'm always trying to learn as much as I can, and want to share as much as possible in hopes it makes someone's journey a little easier.

VitsComparison.xlsx - Windows Live

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Thanks Tiff but I Cannot open the file. I have excel but it says client integration is disabled

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I am getting the same error as delawaregal. Would you mind posting the top two or three Vitamin brands. I am taking Flintstones, but would be happy to switch to something higher quality. THanks for sharing!

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Crap, I wonder if Jill knows that the file is messed up. I'll shoot her a message on OH since she isn't a member here, and find out if she can repost or fix it.

Centrum Complete with Iron

Twinlab Daily with Iron

Bariatric Advantage with Iron

GNC Solotron chewable with bioavailable Iron (I take this one, and it was right up with the Centrum, and was pretty close to some of the others listed on the chart that were higher)

I considered switching to the Twinlab multi with Iron but a few others said they were huge pills. Not my thing, so I've stuck with my Solotron with bio iron, and have never come up deficient in any of my labs. I did request to have my copper, zinc, and selenium ran this last time since Jill pointed out that my GNC vit doesn't have those, but my levels were normal as were all my Vit A, B, C, E and D, and D3. My vit b and B12 were perfect. So, I'm not going to fix something that's not broken.

These are the top ones off the top of my head. I'll try to track Jill down on OH, and get the info back to y'all.

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I had to download, save it and then open it before it would work for me.

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You can open it if you download it to your desktop or PC first then open in excel. :thumbup:

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so today at work we had a celbrate Vitamin rep at the new pharmacy that opened up at our hospital. he told me that the Vitamins that i am taking are not what my body needs. i am so confused and don't know what to do. we take a multi vites-gummy-by vitafusion that we found at sam's warehouse. i can't swallow a huge capsule. my Calcium is also one that has carbonate in them from GNC. i chew up 4 waffers everyday in hopes of getting some calcium in my body. help me get unconfused. also the bariatric coordinator that took over the first one that i had in dec. wants to see me in her office to discuss my vitamins, nutrition and just to seat with me and i guess go over somethings since my surgery. i haven't sat down with anyone except my doctor and his nurse since my surgery. go figure. that is where chattanooga,tn is lacking in there wls program. i don't know how others are feeling about the support in the wls team but we need more in this area. it is great in the beginning when you are trying to get appoved but once the surgery is over, well basically you are on your own. again help me. tell me what you guys are doing for calcium and multi vit.?

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      · 2 replies
      1. Selina333

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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