{It's A Family Thing}

I told you I would be posting some more about some of the things we do in the Maguire house to take care of our health. I have to credit this post to my Grandma Irma Jean- the patriarch of our family. I've never met another grandmother like her. Seriously. She is fun, she is loud, she is energetic, and she could probably take me to the ground in about two seconds and she is now almost 82 years old!

This is Grandma and my blurry dad. :)

My grandma is also the vitamin queen. I used to love to watch her take her vitamins when I was a little girl. I would stand in awe as she popped at least 30 pills into her mouth at one time! (Maybe not 30 but I guarantee 15.)

She has ingrained the importance of healthy living and daily supplements into our family's lives. I think it stuck with 99% of her children, grand-children and now even great-grandchildren. My grandma swears that they even work miracles for her pets. {Talk to your vet first}.

Now in my family when we speak about vitamins and such it is automatically known that we are talking about Shaklee. My grandma and dad have been hooked on their products for a long time and now most of my family is too. I became a certified member myself in July of '07.

This post isn't about pushing Shaklee, although I do think they sell a wonderful product. There are other great products available on the market, this just happens to be the brand that we use.

My point is to let you know that I believe at least taking a good multi-vitamin every day is a must for both you, your husband and your children. And taking additional vitamins based on your own personal needs is great too.

Shawn doesn't have a spleen so he takes extra immune defense vitamins. I am low iron so I take an extra iron supplement and a B complex to increase my energy. I used to be the person who was half asleep all day long and I always felt like I desperately needed a nap. And before kids I took one EVERY day! Now I feel so much better and only wish I had started taking them at a younger age.

Do your homework and choose one that is the best quality you can afford. It's not just about the ingredients either. A vitamin can have the best ingredients but it also has to be easily absorbed by your body or you will just flush it out without any benefit. One way you can test your vitamins is to put one in a glass of water and wait 10 minutes. The vitamin should be dissolved or at least very very soft in that time. Like this.

Vitamin Before

Vitamin After 10 Minutes

I really believe that all vitamins are not the same.

If you are interested in learning more about Shaklee vitamins then you can come to my house for a product overview on Feburary 2nd at 7pm or go here.

Challenge: Try taking a good vitamin(s) for 30 days and see if you don't feel a difference. And if you haven't had blood work done in a while it might be a good idea to make sure you don't have any obvious deficiencies.