Vitamins? While not guaranteed to help level up your character faster, they will make it easier for you to fortify your body and mind while going about your adventure. Not every player gets an adequate amount of minerals and dietary aid in their day-to-day lives, so I do have a few recommendations for you to round yourself out a bit.

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First of all, know that you can harm yourself with supplements if you’re going overboard. Only take the labeled amount per day, and don’t pile a whole bunch of pills together and top it off with a multivitamin in hopes of really boosting your body’s production of “good stuff.” You could accidentally build up excess and your character may turn into a toxic slime creature. Also, never take vitamins or any other type of pill if the expiration date has passed – At the point of expiration, the medication (in theory) has started to break down and is not stable / as effective anymore. Toss them and get new ones.

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Multivitamins can be a good idea if your diet is all out-of-whack or you can't / don't eat certain foods, but only in the instructed doses. There are many different kinds based on your body and age range, and it can be a bit of a chore to pick which one suits you best. As your diet gets healthier and you proceed to a better weight, you will probably have no need for most vitamins, as you will already be receiving them from the proper food you eat. Of course, again, everyone is different.

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Supplements? There are a few pieces of the puzzle that most of us aren’t receiving enough of – Calcium and Vitamin D.

Calcium. Ooooh-oh yeah-ahhh, a badass motherfucker!

Calcium is obviously important to keep good bone / tooth structure and health as well as boosting the neural system and muscles. You can grab calcium from dairy products, fish, beans, dark-leafed greens, raisins, and soy beans. If you’re not getting a good amount of these, feel free to supplement with calcium citrate or calcium lactate in an instructed amount. If taking a multivitamin, make sure you’re not already getting a good dose of calcium before adding another pill to the mix.

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Vitamin D is important, and a vast majority of us do not get enough of it - especially during this past year in the pandemic! That’s because you get a nice dose of it from the sun, and a lot of you have been raiding dark dungeons throughout most of your days (torch light does not count). To get a good dose of vitamin D, shoot for a level of 1,000 or slightly less IUs per day. Fortified foods might also contain vitamin D, but this is the one category where it may be easier for you to get your dosage from a supplement since a lot of us are almost completely untouched by the sun’s presence. Two bits of warning, however – As with calcium, make sure that your multivitamin doesn’t already contain adequate vitamin D to avoid taking too much. Please note that some calcium supplements already contain vitamin D boosters because they work hand in hand with the body. Read your labels!

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A lot of people think vitamin C pills are an amazing cold fighter, or that taking a whole lot can prevent symptoms from happening in the first place, but don’t believe the hype. There’s not a ton of evidence of either when it really comes down to it, as everyone's immune system can vary, and by the time you're showing symptoms, it's too late. Vitamin C is a good thing to have around if you’re not getting a lot of it in your diet, sure, but never ever will you need to go over 1,000 milligrams per day. Instead of gulping one of these pills every day, try eating a good amount of broccoli, oranges, grapefruits, peppers, pineapples, strawberries, tomatoes, papayas, peaches, or melons.

A fish. While it looks goofy as Hell and smells gross, it provides good nutrition.

Planning to bring a new little adventurer into the world? Make sure you’re getting 100% of your daily recommended dose of folate or folic acid through your foods or multivitamin. It will lessen the chance of birth defects, especially Spina Bifida.

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Remember this above all else: Supplements are just that – supplemental things. They are there to step in for vitamins, minerals, and sustenance you aren’t normally getting, and are in no way to be considered a complete replacement for getting the nutrients you should from a healthy diet.

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As far as herbals go in the dietary department, beware, hero! Several of these "shrinking potions" can make you lose weight, sure, but the vast majority of it will be water weight. That means it dehydrates you and forces the water from your body. This becomes completely useless as you gain the weight immediately back after stopping these pills or having a normal few days of drinking liquids. The other usual herbal weight loss products are only appetite suppressants - These trick your body into not thinking it’s hungry when it actually is. That might sound useful, but they are very habit-forming, mess with other areas of your body’s systems, and you will probably start gaining weight again just as soon as you are able to shake off the pills again. In short, weight loss pills not only work very short-term, but they pretty much can do nothing but harm.

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And now, without further ado, a list of ingredients to watch out for. If you see these, please don’t hesitate to drop your sword, shield, warhammer, or bow to flail your arms whilst running away and screaming warnings to the rest of your party. Some of these ingredients have been proven highly harmful to a large portion of the population, others are passable for the average person and yet randomly lethal to others, and the rest are just additional bullshit that does absolutely nothing but build up in your bellies: