Vitamins: There are no magic pills.

Magic beans, I tell ya!

When I was probably four or five, my mother would serve my brother and I orange juice and a "Fruity Pebbles Flintstone Multivitamin" with our breakfasts. I liked the vitamin, as it looked like a Flintstones character, was sweet enough to be mistaken for candy and would be an unexpected color every morning. I don't remember when she stopped serving them to us, but for some reason she deemed us 'healthy enough' at some point.

When I was in my early 20s and living in my first post-college apartment, I soon started feeling a bit run down. I didn't think to alter the lack of sleep, massive amounts of diet coke or sugary carb bombs masquerading as meals. Instead of actually changing a single damn thing in my life, I went down to a local drug store and perused the massive wall of vitamins and found one that had a little bit of everything. And by 'little bit', it was close to 100 to 500% of every vitamin the USDA lists on the back of food. If a little is good, then more is better, obviously.

Suffice to say, after one pill a day for about 2 weeks, I started feeling….strange. Still run down, but my head was fuzzier, joints rubbery, sense of balance slightly tweaked and a little bit nauseous all the time. On a hunch, I stopped taking the vitamins and within a few days, I was back to my run down self.

I was probably taking massive overdoses of all sorts of otherwise harmless substances, but really, should I do the research and find the right vitamin in the right dose to maximize my health? Probably not.

Many medical studies show positive health effects from higher vitamin levels. The only problem? These studies often can’t tease out the effect of the vitamins from the effect of other factors, such as generally healthy living. Studies that attempt to do this typically show no impact from vitamin use — or only a very tiny one on a small subset of people. The truth is that for most people, vitamin supplementation is simply a waste of time.

Good health is not good for business. So buy more vitamins to get HEALTHIER!

Just like last week, the studies that seemed to show that vegetables makes people superior also might have shown that superior people eat more vegetables. Ipso facto, people who take vitamins are healthier, because healthier people take vitamins. That Flintstone chewable as a kid probably didn't make me magically healthy, but the habit my mom got from serving it reminded her to be mindful of her kids health, thereby coloring some of her nutritional choices for us.

So if we were to reject all vitamin pills and supplements, I guess we would all keel over from malnutrition and deficiencies of the micronutrients that make us live, right?

To be clear: Serious vitamin deficiencies can cause serious problems (scurvy in the case of vitamin C, rickets in the case of vitamin D, beriberi for vitamin B).1 But if you live in the developed world and eat a normal diet — even a pretty unhealthy one — you will be nowhere near this kind of deficiency.

Despite the panic and fear surrounding our American food supply in 2014 (and I'll admit, sometimes I've been part of the noise that helps foster this), it is pretty impossible to be deficient in the a great majority of micronutrients as long as you don't have an eating disorder (hello pizza guy!) or digestive impairment. Junk food in our diet is pushing out the vegetables, fruit, whole grains and other stuff that has naturally occurring sources of vitamins. Many years ago our AP flour became 'enriched' with various vitamins, salt became iodized and the majority of Americans are getting their vitamins through refined food. These things were mandated by law because despite the profit required by the morally corrupt food industry, a public decimated by malnutrition would kill the economy. And so the hamster wheel of capitalism keeps spinning, powered by that lil' hamster named you.
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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2820cal

Not the greatest eating week, and skipped the weight lifting again, but got some good miles in, and life is interesting.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2390

SLEPT: 10pm-5:30am, 1:30-2:30pm,  8.5 hrs
Body sore, dehydrated last night from a fast 100 miles on the bike Sunday. Good to test the boundaries, even better than plans got canceled and I got to lounge around, order in food and (try to) get to sleep early. Was going to wake at 4, but pushed it off because I knew I could get my chores done if I woke at 5:30. I was right.

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, Steel cut oatmeal, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, falafel, split pea soup, health salad, pickles, 620 cal 

PM SNACK: 4 pm, momma salad, Grazebox seed mix , 260 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, mahi mahi, asparagus, poppa salad with caesar dressing, 600 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, popcorn, +/- 300 cal
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TUESDAY COUNT: 3420

SLEPT: 11pm-6:15am, 1:45-2:45pm, 8.25 hrs
Up a little late last, let myself "sleep in" as there is still lingering soreness from Sunday's ride. Hopefully will get a long-delayed weight-lift in tomorrow.

AM SNACK: 6:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 8am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, Fage whole yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, madras lentils,  pickles, 680 cal 

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox nut and roasted bean mix , 260 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, grilled chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, poppa salad with Cesar dressing and fresh tomato, 570 cal

EVENING SNACK 1: 7:30, 2 kind bars, 1 kid granola bar, peanut butter with chocolate syrup, +/- 700 cal

EVENING SNACK 2: 11:30pm, 1 Stouffers French bread pizza, some kraft mc n cheese, +/- 600 cal

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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 3354

SLEPT: 12:30pm-6:15am, 5.75 hrs

Work stuff, a conversation with a new friend, life being good, just kept me up late thinking. Skipped weight lifting and ate too much, let's just not make this a new habit. Ate horribly at a rare ballgame in the evening, really messed with my system.

AM SNACK: 6:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:30am, steel cut oatmeal 450 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, grilled chicken breast, roasted brussel sprouts, quinoa,  pickles, 645 cal 

PM SNACK: 3:30 pm, momma salad, Grazebox cracker mix , 220 cal

PM SNACK 2: 5pm, poppa salad with Italian dressing, 180 cal

PM SNACK 3: 5:45pm, 2 vegtable samosas, +/- 200 cal

DINNER: 7:15pm, cheese steak, garlic fries, frozen lemonade, +/- 1500 cal

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BIKE CREDIT: 650 cal
THURSDAY COUNT: 2370

SLEPT: 11pm-1am, 4:30am-7am, 1-2:30pm,  6 hrs

Cheesesteak sat poorly. Couldn't get back to bed so I rode early, got more sleep when I got back, and took a nice nap at work. After shock of stadium food with me through the first part of the day. Skipped caffeine and granola bars for the ride because I didn't want to yak. Had an active late night with a nice friend, had to eat a little before bed.

AM SNACK: 1:15am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:30am, fate whole yogurt with almonds, honey and vanilla, 450 cal

LUNCH: 2:45pm, chicken sausage,  pickles, diet coke,  230 cal 
Stomach still a little tichy, tossed my broccoli and black beans. Black beans a little freezer burned, gonna toss the remainder of that batch.

PM SNACK: 4 pm, momma salad, Grazebox pistachios , 200 cal

PM SNACK 2: 5pm, poppa salad with fresh tomato and Italian dressing, 180 cal

PM SNACK 3: 7pm, kind bar, 200 cal

DINNER: 8:30pm, vegetarian Ethiopian food, +/- 800 cal

EVENING SNACK: 1:30am, 1 Stouffer's French bread pizza, peanut butter & chocolate syrup +/- 800 cal

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FRIDAY COUNT: 2570 cal
Great dinner out with a friend I don't see nearly enough.

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 9am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, fruit smoothie, 500 cal

LUNCH: 12:45pm, almond butter and grape jelly on toasted whole wheat, health salad, pickles, 600 cal

PM SNACK: 4 pm, momma salad, cheezits , 310 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, Lobster roll, pork belly, 1 beer, ice cream, +/- 1000 cal