As the saying goes, food isn’t nutrition until you eat it. The same could be said for taking (or as I’d say “eating”) Nutrilite™ supplements. Trouble is, it can be difficult to shape the healthy habit of daily supplementation into a daily routine, especially when you’re just starting. If this is you, you’re not alone. Turning any behavior you want to do into an action that you actually do – consistently – requires more than a little nudge.
A meal trigger can help you remember your supplements
If you’re looking for a simple way to remember to take your supplements consider using your meals. It’s called the meal trigger, and I can’t think of a better way to turn your desire to nourish your body into a daily habit than by using this method.
Linking your supplement intake to a meal can help increase your chances of remembering to take them. Of course, different lifestyles call for different approaches. But, if you think about it, your daily routine probably includes at least one or two regular meals or snacks. These are perfect times to help you remember your supplements. Plus, with very few exceptions, taking supplements with food promotes optimal nutrient absorption.
Here are five meal triggers to try, depending on your lifestyle:
1. Breakfast is ideal for most busy parents
For busy parents of active kids, breakfast tends to be the most consistent meal of the day. Use this regular routine to remind yourself (and your family) to take your daily supplements. Keep your supplements on an easy-to-reach pantry shelf to make it even easier to add them to your morning routine.
2. Lunch is perfectly suited for business people
For the corporate crowd, lunch time may be a better meal to use as a reminder to take daily supplements. Why? A mid-day break is fairly routine for office workers. This is true whether you’re working in a corporate office or at home. If this is you, lunch may be the best mealtime trigger for you.
3. Dinner is great for people with late schedules or young families
Dinner is likely to be a regular meal for all types of night owls from shift workers to students to others who have late schedules. It’s also a great time for families as it may be the only meal when the whole gang is around the table. If you or your family fall into this category, using dinner as your prime time to take your daily supplements may be your best approach to help jog your memory.
4. Post-workout meals can work for athletes
If you’re an athlete (or active adult) with a regular training schedule, consider taking your supplements with your post-workout recovery meal or snack. You can keep extra supplement bottles in your gym bag for convenience. Even better, why not try a travel-size supplement container?
5. A travel-size supplement container can help everyone
Whatever your lifestyle, you probably have busy days when your supplements are not within reach when you need them. You can solve this problem by using a travel-size supplement container. Fill it with a day’s worth of your supplements and toss it into a purse, gym bag, or briefcase for on-the-go access wherever your day takes you.
For me, this habit goes way back to when I was a young boy. My father would encourage me to keep my Nutrilite supplements close at hand. So, even when I was playing baseball, I would keep a tin container in my pocket with my Nutrilite supplements. I still smile when I think of my father’s wise words and the sound those supplements clinking in my pocket as I ran around the bases.
The bottom line
You may have heard me talking about “eating” your Nutrilite supplements. To me, “taking” your supplements has a pharmaceutical ring, while “eating” your supplements connotes adding the necessary nutrients to your diet that are found in food. Of course, you don’t literally eat your supplements. Although interestingly enough we did have a Director of Research & Development back in the 1990s who chewed his Nutrilite Double X supplement just to make the point that it was indeed a food supplement!
A daily supplement program is a great way to help just about everybody get the nutrients they need to meet the demands of today’s hectic schedules. To me, the foundation of a supplement program is a high-quality multivitamin like Double X or Daily supplements. Since breakfast and dinner are usually our routine meals, that’s when I typically take my Nutrilite supplements, including Double X supplement.
I truly believe that a quality multivitamin is like dietary insurance that can help fill any nutrient gaps between what we eat and what the body needs. This is true at every age. Let’s face it, where by choice or circumstance, we all have those days when we don’t eat as well as we would like.
Your supplement program may also include other products to support your personal needs such as immune health, heart health and beyond. That’s great too, but to me the foundation of a good supplement program starts with a quality multivitamin.
Whatever your supplement program, taking your supplements at the same time as meals (or snacks) can help you turn this easy-to-forget behavior into a daily habit that can help ensure optimal nutrition.
Cheers,
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