Like many nutrition decisions, seeking out a prenatal vitamin is one of these overwhelming decisions. Interestingly, more and more people are looking into taking a prenatal vitamin when they aren’t pregnant—but is that a safe option? And are there any truly significant health benefits that can come from taking a prenatal vitamin if you aren’t expecting? Prenatal vitamins were originally designed to meet the unique needs of women who are planning to become or are already pregnant....

First, it’s worth noting that everyone responds to acupuncture differently. For me, certain needles, or filaments, caused a dull ache, but beyond that I didn’t really feel them at all—partially because they are so thin. There were occasionally sensitive spots, like my knees and hips, but I’ve since been told that there was a purpose to those sensations. (More on that, later.) This experience jibes with what Toni Haugen, L.Ac, a licensed acupuncturist who works out of Buffalo, New York, has seen with many of her patients....

It was a massive but. Sandi was a fashion magazine editor who often worked long days and felt a near-constant stress to look fabulous. But early menopause had sabotaged that confidence, leaving her feeling frustrated and confused. It wasn’t just miserable physical symptoms like sleeplessness, brain fog, mood swings, an “arctic level” (as she called it) sex drive, and dreaded hot flashes that she suddenly experienced out of nowhere—Sandi was also going on an emotional and spiritual journey that many women don’t anticipate or experience until later in life....

For example, a Type Two’s wings are One and Three. There is debate about whether every type is equally influenced by its two wings (known as two-wing theory) or if only one of your wings is the dominant wing that affects your personality (known as one-wing theory). In one-wing theory, a person’s full Enneagram type is expressed with both their main type and associated wing together. So a Type Two could be a 2w1 (a Type Two with a One wing) or a 2w3 (a Type Two with a Three wing)....

In truth, I naturally gravitate toward food that’s best (and perhaps complimentarily) described as trash. I’ve never met a bowl of sugar cereal I didn’t love. Pizza rolls for dinner? I’m there for it. I started developing healthy recipes so I could enjoy cookie dough milkshakes without feeling sluggish and waking up with the inevitable constellation of pimples starring my forehead. And for a long time, that worked for me. I had my green smoothies in the morning, brought leftovers for lunch—except for the exceptions....

Since we can’t rely on food to get our vitamin D to where it needs to be, and trying to score enough of the sunshine vitamin from the actual sun is—ironically—a complicated, caveat-riddled can of worms in and of itself (and a topic for another day), that leaves us with one tried-and-true route to healthy vitamin D status: supplements.* Vitamin D also plays a crucial role in thyroid function and supports a healthy pregnancy....

Since we can’t rely on food to get our vitamin D to where it needs to be, and trying to score enough of the sunshine vitamin from the actual sun is—ironically—a complicated, caveat-riddled can of worms in and of itself (and a topic for another day), that leaves us with one tried-and-true route to healthy vitamin D status: supplements.* Vitamin D also plays a crucial role in thyroid function and supports a healthy pregnancy....