Supplement Scheduling: When and How to Take All Your Different Supplements

How do you know when to take all of your different supplements, especially when some of them need to be taken on an empty stomach? And what do you do if some of your supplements are not compatible with each other? Read on for some guidelines, tips, and a real-life example.

Here are some tips to help you determine your supplement program:

• Take the supplements that are absorbed the fastest, first.
• If a substance doesn’t specify that it should be taken on an empty stomach, it’s probably okay to take it with other substances.
• If an herb is recommended to be taken on an empty stomach, is it because an empty stomach is a prerequisite for adequate absorption, because food interferes with its absorption? Or is it because it is a substance that needs to have a clear surface to apply its healing properties? Supplements like slippery elm, aloe vera juice, and marshmallow root all fit into the latter category and can therefore easily be taken together as they are all trying to accomplish the same thing.
• When a supplement says “take on an empty stomach,” that means 20 minutes before a meal or 2 hours after a meal.

Now that you know the basic guidelines, sometimes you still need to experiment a bit to find the best schedule for maximum potency and effectiveness of your supplements. Let’s take a look at an example, so you can see how this plays out in real life.

Colitis Supplements

Krista suffers from colitis, so she needs to take the following products to repopulate her gut with good bacteria, relieve gas, bloating, and diarrhea, eliminate heartburn, and heal the mucous lining of her intestines:

• Probiotics (beneficial bacteria for the GI tract – empty stomach for powders – 3x/day)
• Psyllium husk powder (for diarrhea control 2x/day)
• Deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL): before or after a meal to relieve heartburn
• L-Glutamine (empty stomach for diarrhea control – 3x/day)
• N-acetyl glucosamine (NAG) – empty stomach for intestinal repair – 3x/day
• Slippery elm (empty stomach to heal the mucosal lining of the intestines 3 times a day)
• Aloe vera juice (empty stomach to heal the intestinal mucosal lining)
• Multimineral and Multivitamin (3 times daily for whole body health and to replace nutrients lost through malabsorption and fecal loss)

Krista’s problem is that she doesn’t know which ones she can eat together, how far apart they should be, or how to arrange them at mealtimes. Given that she is taking many supplements, and many of them three times a day, she can easily see why she is so confused.

She is especially confused as the probiotics state on the bottle that any herbs should be taken at least 2 hours apart from the probiotics as many herbs have antibacterial action and therefore will kill the good bacteria in the probiotics.

Experimenting with your supplement program

First of all, Krista needs to be aware that even our foods can contain natural antibacterials (like garlic, onions, etc) and Natren has had to set a time limit that applies to a wide variety of substances in all concentrations/ powers. For example, if she is taking wild oregano oil or olive leaf extract, she definitely cannot consume the probiotics before 2 hours, as she would be wasting her money. However, other supplements (and foods) are much less potent against bacteria. Therefore, she may be fine if she implements one of the following supplement programs.

The main difference between the two schedules below is whether you want to take your probiotics before each meal or whether you’d like to take just one large dose before bed. This is where experimentation comes in. Your body will definitely prefer, and do better with, one or the other. You’ll have to try each one for a week at a time and see which schedule benefits your body the most.

Schedule 1

Before a meal:

• take probiotics in powder form
• wait 20 minutes, then take the NAG, L-Glutamine, Slippery Elm, and Psyllium (these supplements can be taken together because, although they all require an empty stomach, they are compatible with each other), then eat and take the Multivitamin/Multimineral with your meal
• after the meal take the DGL (deglycyrrhizinated licorice)

Before going to bed:

• take probiotics in powder form
• wait 20 minutes, then drink Aloe vera juice

PRAYED

Schedule #2

Before every meal:

• take NAG, L-Glutamine, Aloe vera juice, slippery elm and Psyllium (these supplements can be taken together because, although they all require an empty stomach, they are compatible with each other)
• wait 15 minutes, then eat and take the multivitamin/multimineral with your meal
• after the meal take the DGL (or in this case, you can also take it before the meal, if you prefer, since you are not consuming the probiotics at this time)

Before going to bed:

• Take 1 – 2 teaspoons of each Probiotic powder

Krista will need to experiment with both schedules and see which works best for her. Probiotics may work better for her in multiple doses and may not be affected much by the other substances, or they may work better taken alone in a large dose. Again, the only way to find out is to try and experiment.

The reason people need to experiment with their supplements is because everyone’s body and condition (or pathology) is different. Some people are very sensitive and respond to certain herbal medications and not others. And some people need aggressive supplementation no matter what herb it is, while others are very sensitive to all supplements.

When it comes to a supplement like high-potency probiotics, for example, some people’s bodies respond more favorably to taking it in powder form on an empty stomach. And other organisms prefer controlled-release probiotic capsules that are taken with food. Again, the only way to find out is to experiment.

You’ll also get a “gut feeling” about which supplements to take and when. Our own bodily wisdom trumps any manufacturer’s instruction sheet, so definitely follow your intuition first. If you have the ability to listen to your gut or follow your intuition, you can ask your body directly when and how it wants the supplement. Put your hand on your stomach, while holding the grass with the other hand, and ask. Or place your palm on the grass and wait for guidance. This is how some medicine women/men receive the wisdom of plants. They simply hold their hand over the plant and knowledge flows to them about how to prepare the plant, what parts to use and how to take it.

If you’re not at that level of fluidity with your body wisdom, in the meantime, follow the supplement scheduling tips above, match them with your own intuition, and experiment.