Magnesium

oh, we need magnesium too?? what is that for? that's so many...

I'm also taking emergen-c every day... does that account for some of it?

you can take a cal/mag

If you want to know what the different supplements are for, I'd suggest Googling them. Knowledge is power!

well it says online that green vegetables have a lot of magnesium and that you need it to regulate blood sugar levels... since we are eating so many green veggies i just wanted to know how necessary it is for this diet in particular because we are on a tight budget. i cannot take calcium supplements so the cal/mag is not an option for me but it might be for my husband.

ann5555, I opted not to take the IP cal/mag supplements. I couldn't stand the horse pills. I've also heard that inorganic calcium such as what is found in those might be associated with calcium deposits in joints and breast tissue. I also quit the other supplements after awhile and just stuck with my MD prescribed vitamin D tablets.

I felt fine for the 7 months of P1. (I experienced hair loss toward the end. It grew back after a few months. I don't attribute it to vitamin deficiency but more likely due to calorie/fat deficiency and hormone shifts as my fat stores released hormones. A percentage of IPers & other calorie-restricted dieters experience this).

You may want to look up magnesium deficiency. It is very common.

I don't think we are going to do the cal/mag either. Do you think the potassium is necessary since we are cutting all salt out of our diet? we are on week 2 of P1... someone told us to try B12 for the hair loss, what do you think? I just feel like we are taking SO many pills for this diet. We just came back from the store and now we have:

vitamins, fish oils, potassium, pro-biotic, emergen-c, B12 and my husband is already taking raspberry ketones and wants to add green tea extract...

Someone told us that we will lose more weight if we take the supplements. Obviously I don't want any nutritional deficiencies.. but I feel like we are taking too much... should we stop taking some once we are done with P1 since we will be adding the rest of the food pyramid in slowly? Thanks!

Before spouting off my opinions, I guess I should say that I don't have underlying health issues and am 60 yrs old. We're all different.

Re salt: actually IP encourages you to use salt liberally to make up for the salt your kidneys will start losing in your urine in P1. (This is due to your lowered insulin secretion on IP--insulin normally tells the kidneys to hang onto sodium).
Re potassium: you can buy it in the store where they sell salt--it's cheap and you can sprinkle it on your food.
During the first few weeks of IP, your body undergoes some water & mineral shifts. The clinic should give you a handout, or you might find it in the 3FC IP stickies about how to recognize symptoms of low sodium, low potassium.

I don't know about B12 for hair loss, but I think you get plenty of it in animal products. There is a thread about hair loss & people suggest all sorts of things, most consistently Biotin and/or Inositol. I'm no expert but my opinion, for what it's worth, is that these won't make a difference. If it's going to happen it will happen. There aren't controlled studies to show that supplements or shampoos will make any difference. I surely didn't like my hair falling out but I was thrilled that I got the weight off. The word from IP is that the hair loss affects a minority of people and is temporary most of the time. I would ask the clinic about this at the start, and also find the 3FC thread (try googling 3FC and hair loss).

Will you lose more weight with the supplements? If you developed a vitamin deficiency, your weight loss would be affected as would your overall health. I felt that the veggies, meat, & oil would meet my needs for 7 months. I've just never believed that vitamin supplements did much, if any, good. Many people feel "better safe than sorry." As for special supplements to boost your weight loss--is that what the green tea and rasberry ketones are for? --IP really works & you don't need to do anything else but follow it. The pounds will come off!

My two cents on Biotin. I started taking it in November. I have no idea if I would have lost hair, but my hair is growing like crazy and in great shape as is my nails. I am going to keep taking it.

I have to chime in here...I take a multivitamin made for folks in their 50's that is from GNC, B12, fish oil, calcium, D3 and a probiotic. The way I look at spending $$$ on vitamins is my body is like my car...I spend $$$ on my car to keep it in good condition and I need to do the same for my body.
I would stay away from the rasberry ketones you do not need them on this diet.

The salt, potassium, and magnesium are essential on low carb plans. Do your research!
Omega 3 essential period. For anyone on any plan unless seafood and high quantities of pastured meats and eggs are consumed daily.
Raspberry ketones and green tea extract not so much. Instead of emergen c, just take a time release c (less $$)

Wow. I've never used emergen c so I didn't know that!

I just looked online
Vitamin C, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc, Manganese, Chromium, Sodium, Potassium, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Quercetin, fructose, citric acid, natural flavor, tapioca maltodextrin, malic acid, silica, glycine, aspartic acid, tartaric acid, and cysteine hydrochloride.

Yup. Stay away from it on Phase 1!

Showgirlaz,

Thanks for your post, it was very informative for me. The more I learn about IP, the more excited I get about starting!!!!

I was pretty sure it was on this site, it was a picture and it looked like it was a danish or something.. people said they would use one of the WF fruit spread with it.. etc. Darned if I can find it. This site is a beast for me and its going to take time getting use to it. Thanks!!