Capsule x Vitable
If you feel like 2022 has been a marathon, and you’ve noticed a serious lack of energy day-to-day, you’re in good company. Introducing Vitable — a new vitamin brand that has just arrived in Aotearoa. Delivering personalised daily vitamin packs straight to your front door, Vitable also offers expert advice on how you can boost your energy as we head into the silly season.
There’s always a feeling in the second half of the year that we’re sort of crawling towards the finish line, but for a lot of us (*raises hand*) that feeling has hit a lot earlier in 2022 than it would normally.
I mean, it’s no surprise is it? We’re coming out of one of the hardest winters Aotearoa has faced – the third pandemic winter – plus we had four times the level of flu that we normally have. So if one of your biggest health struggles now is trying to get your energy back into gear, we feel you.
“The second half of the year is where burnout commonly tends to rear its ugly head,” says Vitable Senior Content Marketing Manager and Naturopath, Stephanie Hinton. “But the beauty of this time of year is that it’s also a great opportunity to reset, and people are keen to feel vibrant and healthy for the impending warmer months.”
When it comes to our overall health, good quality supplements can play an important role. However, there are a lot of vitamins out there and we all need different things. Enter Vitable, a personalised vitamin brand that’s just arrived in Aotearoa, and is here to help remove any confusion about who would benefit from what supplement.
After taking Vitable’s quick online quiz, their AI-powered algorithm creates a unique vitamin combination tailored to your health needs and goals – out of a whopping 1.2 million possible combinations!
These daily vitamin packs are then delivered straight to your home — so you’ll never have to get confused in the chemist aisle again — and they come in plastic-free, home-compostable daily sachets with your name on it. And because your health needs change over time – regardless of whether you’re trying for a baby, focused on improving immunity or gut health – you can adjust your vitamin plan at any stage to ensure it’s relevant to your changing needs.
How Can We Look After Our Overall Wellbeing In Our 20s, 30s, 40s & Beyond
Here, we chat to Stephanie about the lifestyle changes we can make to improve our overall health and how our wellbeing needs change over time.
What are the biggest factors that women tend to overlook when it comes to our overall wellbeing — and in particular, our energy levels?
I’d say the number one impact is that of a fast-paced, stressful lifestyle. Women’s energy levels are largely dictated by their stress and sex hormones, and when these are compromised through excess caffeine, high-intensity exercise, a stressful job or home life, and carrying the mental load for other people — it can deplete their nutrient stores and lead them to feel burnt out and fatigued.
When we look at women’s overall wellbeing, typically their lifestyle could be impacting their stress levels, and therefore their mental health and physical resilience.
How can those factors change in terms of age or life stage?
The one constant which is strongly aligned with energy and dictated by a woman’s age is her menstrual cycle. It’s when young women hit both personal and hormonal maturity (around age 19-40) that hormonal balance becomes a big factor in how their energy is regulated.
Typically women at this stage of life are juggling a career or studies, have an active social life, may be exercising more, or are less active than they were as a child, and are potentially having children of their own. These huge and exciting life developments can also come with stress — which can result in delayed, absent or dysregulated periods. When a period doesn’t occur as it should, vital hormones like estrogen and progesterone that regulate our energy are out of balance, and therefore so are we.
At peri-menopausal and menopausal age (around 40-55+), the menstrual cycle is slowly ceasing. At this point, it’s all about supporting the body through a huge hormonal shift. Women at this phase of life can no longer rely on estrogen to give them the energy and mood boost they need. All of these changes, which can be coupled with the emotional toll of no longer being able to bear children, impact how the body regulates emotion, temperature, sleep, memory and, of course, energy.
What are some signs we can look for to see if we are consistently lacking in energy?
There are quite a few telltale symptoms to look out for — a common one is constant fatigue, that feeling of waking up and feeling unrefreshed like you haven’t had a decent sleep in days. You might also be relying on a strong coffee to start your day and perhaps even a coffee and sugary treat mid-afternoon to get you through. Brain fog and poor memory are also indicators that you’re low in energy.
Brain fog and poor memory are also indicators that you’re low in energy.
Physically, low energy can manifest in deep circles under the eyes, a pale inner rim of the eyes, thinning or dry hair, unexplained weight gain, brittle nails, menstrual cycle irregularities and aches in the body.
What lifestyle choices can affect our energy production – both in good ways, and not-so-good ways?
Exercise is the perfect example of something that can be wonderful or not so great for energy. If you’re feeling exhausted, HIIT workouts could further deplete your energy stores (and may even lead to weight retention) because they put immense pressure on your body. In these cases, gentle walks, weight-bearing exercises, light jogging, yoga or Pilates are better for you.
Liver loaders like alcohol, caffeine, some medications, and sugar may also slow down your body’s ability to detoxify efficiently. When this happens, we’re unable to excrete hormones — instead, they are partially metabolised and then re-circulated in the body. This is where hormonal imbalance can occur, and with hormonal imbalance comes dysregulated sleep and energy. And that’s not something you want!
What supplements or ingredients would you recommend women to look into if they want to improve their energy levels?
Look to your B vitamins found in seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, legumes, leafy greens and seeds. B vitamins help your body convert food into glucose, so we need to ensure we’re getting plenty of them daily. But here’s the tricky part — B vitamins are water-soluble, meaning they are metabolised out of the body through urine and sweat every day. If you’re not getting enough of them daily through food alone, look to a daily B complex supplement to support energy production and nervous system health.
Also, consider iron — this mineral is needed for the transportation of oxygen around the body, and women are often low in iron as they have a period monthly, which can deplete their iron stores. If you think you might be low in iron, seek help from your GP to get clinical testing. Foods rich in iron include high-quality red meat, legumes, seafood, poultry, dried fruits (unsweetened) and dark leafy greens. If you can’t get iron through food alone and you are low in iron, a supplement may be of benefit. *Do not consume supplements with iron unless you have spoken with your doctor.
Not all vitamins are created equally. Many vitamins are packed with unnecessary fillers and ingredients that have no nutritional value, and in some cases, can even cause side effects. You also want to look for vitamins that contain the highest quality ingredients, with credible scientific literature to back them so that you know you’re getting value for money.
It’s also important to look for vitamins that are designed to be bioavailable (easily absorbed) by your body.
How can vitamins be an important part of our overall wellbeing?
While I always take a food-first approach, there are a few reasons why it may be hard to get everything you need from food alone, and this is where supplements can be a great addition to your daily routine.
- Your diet: If you have a specific diet where you eliminate certain food groups or food types, e.g. vegan, dairy-free, fish-free, picky eater etc, then you will naturally need to overcompensate for the lack of nutrients that these foods can provide. Supplements can support here.
- Your life stage: At some points in life, for example, pregnancy, it is recommended that you take supplements to ensure you’re getting the necessary nutrients needed for a healthy pregnancy.
- Your quality of produce: Hundreds of years of agricultural farming and an ever-expanding population mean that soil is not as nutrient-rich as it once was. Historically, we would be able to get a bounty of minerals from our produce as it was grown in such nutrient-rich conditions. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for most people in populated cities, and this is where supplements can provide support.
As an exclusive offer to Capsule readers, Vitable is offering 40% off your first monthly pack using the code CAPSULE40. Head over here to get started on Vitable’s online quiz — what else are you waiting for? With such an irresistible deal and personalised daily vitamin packs delivered to your doorstep, incorporating vitamins into your lifestyle doesn’t get any easier than this.
