Use this guide to save on the products you need and see which ones you can live (healthily) without.
Vitamins
Worth it? Yes, if your food choices aren’t cutting it.
Most experts say you don’t need to take vitamins if you eat a diverse mix of fruits and veggies, lean meats, legumes, and whole grains. Problem is, if you don’t eat well, are a vegetarian, have a food allergy, or are pregnant (or hope to be)—categories that include most of us—you might not be getting the nutrients you need. In that case, an inexpensive multivitamin may give you peace of mind. Look for a brand that has 100% of the daily recommended values of vitamins and minerals and has the USP seal, which means that U.S. Pharmacopeia, the organization that verifies the ingredients and quality of dietary supplements, has given it a thumbs-up. Store-brand multivitamins go for about $3 to $6 for 100 tablets, compared with about $8 to $10 for brand names. Don’t spend money on additional supplements (fish oil, vitamins D and C) unless your doc has ID’d nutritional gaps. For instance, if you aren’t getting enough calcium from dairy (1,000 milligrams for 19- to 50-year-olds), pop a daily Tums with calcium (150 tablets cost $5 to $6).
Pumped-up toothbrush
Lazy brusher? Enter bells and whistles.
If you regularly brush and floss, you can stop reading. For the rest of us, the novelty of a fancy brush might help with the twice-daily two minutes required for healthy pearly whites. “Power toothbrushes can be worth the cost because they can help you brush for the appropriate amount of time,” says Charles Perle, DMD, of the Academy of General Dentistry. Also, electric toothbrushes with rotation-oscillation action actually work better than manual, research says. We say whatever gets you brushing is healthy.
Prescription drugs
When available, generics can save you money.
“If a generic drug is available, it’s almost always smart to buy it,” says Don Kemper, CEO of Healthwise, a consumer-health-information company. Generic prescription drugs are legally required to have the same active ingredients as brand-name varieties, although they must look slightly different, so they may be a different color or shape. But they definitely cost less: Pharmacies receive $32 for generic meds, compared with $111 for name-brand versions, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation; and co-pays for generics are about $11, on average, compared with $24 to $38 for name brands.
Ask your doctor about the generic type of any prescription drug you take. If she thinks it’s right for you (in rare instances, there may be a reason you should stick with a brand name), have her check the “Generic OK” box on the prescription.
Fancy bathroom scale
Weighing in can help with weight control—no matter how basic the scale.
If you’ve ever shopped for a scale, you know there are models that seem to do everything but cook your dinner. They measure body-fat percentage, hydration numbers, body mass index, even bone mass—and, of course, your actual weight. You also know that having a scale is important: Dieters who weighed themselves regularly melted more pounds over two years than those who didn’t, according to a University of Minnesota study, and people who stepped on a scale every day lost the most. But do you need the $100-plus model with all the extras? “Unless you’re a competitive athlete, probably not,” says Cedric Bryant, chief science officer of the American Council on Exercise (ACE).
That said, digital scales, which are a bit pricier, are easier to read than analog and are generally more accurate. Look for load-cell technology, an advanced version of the levers and springs found in older (and cheaper) models; your scale will need less calibration and be less likely to break down over time. Make sure it has the ability to zero out before you step on it, and weigh yourself a few times on a hard surface to see if it’s consistent. Cheaper digital scales start around $20 and will likely be made of plastic, which is fine if the underside that contains the weight mechanism is made of metal. Beyond that, it’s all about aesthetics. If the fancy glass model will get you to weigh yourself, you’ll pay a little more—but it’ll be worth it.
By Kate Ashford
Related Links:
Comments (14)
Peace of mind does not equate to health. Good nutrition in food or supplementation is not inexpensive, but your health is priceless. This article is misleading people.
Generics can be great, but I would highly caution people about them when it comes to psychiatric disorders. I have been diagnosed as bipolar and I’m an anticonvulsant, Lamictal, which recently came out in generic. Anecdotal evidence, according to my doctor is showing that the generic, lamotrigine, isn’t working in the same way as the brand name (there’s some molecular difference, albeit slight). I tried the generic and it didn’t work for me. I’m still trying to recover and work back up to where I was. So, sometimes it pays to go for the name-brand in that situation. But like anything, talk to your doctor.
Also be careful of the generic for Dilantin, treatment for epilepsy. It doesn’t work as well.
I’m going to go ahead and vehemently disagree with “popping a daily Tums” for calcium. It’s not a bio-available form of calcium, and you don’t want to mess up the acid levels in your stomach. Eat dark green leafies for calcium content, especially when mixed with acidic foods, like tomatoes.
Fish oil is cheap if your like most Americans you arent getting much Omega-3 fatty acid.
Omega-3 fatty acid is good for you and this has been shown with test after test.
Unless you eat fish(or even more unlikey – flax seed) several times a week you probably should be taking it.
I agree that health is not found through purchasing commodities. Rather than spend resources on a scale, expensive scales are readily available at any health club, school nurse or gym, local clinics and numerous other placess. No need to have your own. Every fat person has a scale at home!
Instead of focusing on products or what the scale says, just keep “moving” toward fitness, activity and eating for maximum health. Fish & flax oil – Right On! Tum’s – not a whole food, forget it.
All in all, this article is rather useless. It really does very little to tell you what you need and what you can do without.
Yeah, I’d also caution against cautioning people about generic medications.
“After a pharmaceutical company develops a drug, that drug is granted a 20-year patent, which means that no other company can make it for the entire duration of the patent. After those 20 yrs are up, however, other companies are free to copy the drug and create generic versions. Generic drugs are regulated by the FDA and are required to meet the same guidelines as their brand-name counterparts: the active ingredients, the dosage amount, and the way in which it is taken. This is called bioequivalency, which means that the same amount of active ingredient(s) is/are delivered to the body by the generic medication as by the brand-name drug. The FDA requires that the generic medicine have a comparable bioavailability to that of the brand-name drug.” (GoAskAlice.Com + http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=46204)
What you are probably experiencing is just a mental thing since you may be assuming you would experience when switching to a generic. Think about it: is Bayer aspirin any different than your local supermarket’s aspirin brand? Yeah, it works the same way for every other medication.
A bit disappointed in the comments, the article didn’t seem to be particularly misleading as pointed out by one reader.
Also, disappointing that US readers are picking holes in the article when, as a country, they are the ones most in need of health advice.
Stop eating so much!! Oh, and good luck with the election :)
I have to disagree with some of your comments.
The only thing you don’t receive nutritionally from being vegetarian/vegan is B12. If as a vegan/vegetarian, you do eat the variety sans meat/fish, you’re doing excellent. And as far as recommending dairy as a source of calcium. What terrible advice. It’s far better to derive your calcium from broccoli or other sources than the brainwashing the dairy industry has done. Peace out.
One of the best things you can do for your health is to drink “green juice” every day, since most of us don’t get all the leafy greens in our diets. Run through a juicer a few kinds of lettuce and dark leafys (kale, dandelion greens, chards), a couple apples and a lemon or two. Drink it every morning and don’t eat for half hour to an hour. Taking it with that fish oil the author was flip about helps all those awesome vitamins get to your cells.
Warning: taking calcium supplements in pill form doesn’t help avoid osteoporosis! Your body doesn’t recognized synthesized vitamins and most of it it lost in urine. That is throwing away money. Those leafy greens pack a tremendous amount of calcium your body can use.
Advice: Read about nutrition from a variety of sources and find a mix that works for you. No two bodies are alike.
I will disagree with the vegan/vegetarian comments. Your body is designed to consume a variety of foods, meat included. This has been proven in study after study. We, residing in the United States (the term American applies to anyone living in either North or South America), consume way too much meat and not enough other proteins and way too little fiber. We tend to want to supplement with vitamins to make up for our poor dietary habits. Real fish and other like foods bring in more than just Omega-3s. They bring in iodine, which helps regulate our metabolism. Food should be ‘home-made’ not mass produced. Going to the fast food joint should be an exception rather than the rule. Fats, even fish oils, should be low rather than a major portion of the meal. Closing, we eat too much red meat, not enough fish and everyone should eat a salad, with non-fat ‘dressing’ at least twice per day. Eat more fish as well.
I noticed that most people are commenting on food. How about your teeth? Brush at least two times a day. I use a powered brush because it makes me brush longer. Floss daily and see your dentist at least once every six months. This will prevent spending a lot of money and time fixing ‘preventable’ problems. Also, your oral health is key to your overall health.
Right on Stephen! Vegan is the way to go. Veg is a good start. Be conscientious about what you eat and vary you diet. To steal a quote “Eat food. Not a lot. Mostly plants.” If you don’t like a certain vegetable, prepare it differently and try it again. Tastes develop with age.