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First off, why all the bundles?
If you’re a regular Wholesome Story customer, then you may have noticed we recently made bundles….lots and lots of bundles.
Bundles are a way to help our customers know what products can be used together and for what purposes.
Whether you call them stacks or bundles, it’s no secret that most supplement lovers take more than one product at a time. But, not all combinations are safe or effective.
We want to give our loyal customers a way to safely combine more than one product for improved support and peace of mind.
Are Bundles Safe Though?
Not always, no.
There can be safety concerns in taking several supplement products at once. Since we believe that supplements are powerful, effective tools to promote health, we must also acknowledge that they are powerful enough to cause issues when used inappropriately.
Some brands do sell inappropriate, and possibly unsafe, bundle combinations. Let’s take a peek at an example.
For example, we found a fertility bundle from a popular company (who shall remain unnamed). At first glance, it looked like a great stack. It’s got a tea, a supplement, and some cute, little lozenges. But, is it safe? Maybe not...
What’s not safe about it?
There are certain vitamins and minerals that are unhealthy to take too much of, and many supplement companies don’t pay a lot of attention to this.
Case in point, the bundle in question contains a LOT of folate:
1200 mcg folate = max serving in the fertility sweets, per package instructions
800 mcg folate = amount provided by this bundle’s fertility supplement
2000 mcg/day = daily intake from bundle
According to the Institutes of Health, approximately 1000 mcg is the max amount of folate that someone should consume daily. 1
So, if you were to take everything in this bundle according to package directions, you’d be getting twice the daily recommended max amount of folate.
But, you still need to account for food, and for this demographic, probably a prenatal. Let’s add those in too.
455 mcg folate = average daily folate intake from food 2
600 mcg/day = average daily folate included in most prenatal vitamins
3055 mcg/day = Fertility Sweets + Fertility Supplement + Food + Prenatal
This is over three times the Tolerable Upper Intake Level (UL) of 1000 mcg/day. Yikes!
Are Wholesome Story Bundles Safe?
We work very hard to ensure that our bundles are safe for most people. They don’t contain potentially harmful amounts of any nutrients, or any nutrient/herb combinations that could cause issues. Hooray!
For example, let’s compare the bundle above to one of our own fertility bundles, the Basic Baby-Making Bundle, which includes our Mama-To-Be Fertility Support Tea, our Prenatal & Postnatal AM/PM, and our Women’s Probiotic & Postbiotic.
Not only does our bundle provide an appropriate dose of folate, at 600 mcg/day, but it provides nutritional, herbal, and microbiological support for a whole-body fertility support experience. (We think this is a lot better than just throwing B vitamins at the issue and hoping for the best.)
How do you ensure safety?
Dietitian-Created
Not everyone is qualified to create supplement bundles. To ensure that we’re making safe recommendations, only qualified professionals with education and experience in healthcare and herbal supplements, can create Wholesome Story bundles.
While many companies sell bundles, not all brands create bundles that have been vetted by a healthcare professional. Wholesome Story has done this.
Every bundle is curated and/or vetted by a registered dietitian. From start to finish, we put safety first.
We Don’t Exceed ULs
We make sure not to bundle supplements that exceed Tolerable Upper Intake Levels (UL) when combined. (Remember a UL is the max safe dose according to the Institutes of Health.)
Many vitamins and minerals have UL’s:
Fat-soluble Vitamins: 3
Water Soluble Vitamins: 3
Minerals: 4
When you’re trying to figure out if you should take two supplements together, you should check to make sure that when you combine them, the total amount doesn’t exceed the UL for any applicable nutrients. If there is no UL for a nutrient in question, then don’t worry about it.
You can find tables with the UL for vitamins and minerals here and here, respectively.
But, if you’re not a fan of math, and/or you don’t trust yourself to bundle supplements safely, you can choose from our pre-bundled options at WholesomeStory.com.
You’re welcome, friends!
Combinations that work
How do you decide what products to bundle together?
The goal of our bundle combinations is to provide a more comprehensive support system than can be gotten from a single product or type of product.
It can be super intimidating to try and find a group of products that work well together. We made effective bundles to help save you some time and effort.
Take a peek at our Chill Out Bundle, which provides a multi-pronged support system for helping your body to find the relaxation it needs. Our Women’s Daily AM/PM Multivitamin provides nourishment from vitamins, minerals, and carefully chosen herbs, our Myo & D-chiro Inositol supports hormone balance, our Ashwagandha supports healthy cortisol levels (cortisol is commonly referred to as the “stress-hormone”), and our Delicious Spiced Dandelion Tea provides soothing, digestive and detoxification support to keep things clean and running smoothly.
We apply this whole-body, multi-system approach to all of our bundles.
Some More Examples:
Our Immune Support Bundle offers NAC for powerful antioxidant support, DIM & Magnesium/B6/Zinc for an immune system boost, and Tummy Time Digestion Support Tea packed with traditional herbs to support the immune system’s best friend, your gut.
Our PMS Bundle contains our Women’s Daily AM/PM Multivitamin with 100% of essential vitamins + turmeric extract to nourish your lady bits and help reduce cramps, Myo & D-Chiro Inositol for supporting overall hormone balance, Vitex for PMS symptoms like mood swings, irritability, and breast pain, and of course, Tummy Time Digestion Support Tea for bloating and soothing PMS-associated gut discomfort.
Our Gut Health Bundle has our Women’s Daily AM/PM Multivitamin to nourish the gut with 100% of essential vitamins, our Women’s Probiotic & Postbiotic to encourage a healthy microbiome, Spearmint capsules to support digestion and reduce bloating, Tummy Time Digestion Support Tea that’s full of soothing herbs to comfort tired gut tissues, and Delicious Spiced Dandelion Tea to support digestion and encourage detoxification.
As you can see, we’re all about supporting the body, not over-selling you on trendy ingredients.
Summary
Not all supplement bundles are safe or effective, but at Wholesome Story, we work very hard to ensure that our bundles are. We want our customers to experience the benefits of safely stacked products that play well together and provide support from more than one angle.
All of our bundles are dietitian-created and/or approved, so you can have peace of mind that a healthcare professional has signed off.
Of course, you should always check with your own healthcare provider to make sure that any supplement or bundle you take is right for your unique body and situation. Just because a qualified expert has approved it for general use does not mean that it’s a good choice for you, specifically.
If you want more information about how to safely choose supplements for yourself, you can check out our blog post How to Buy Supplements - 10 Tips to Help You Get High-Quality, Safe Products that Are Right for Your Body.
Happy supplementing to you all!
Questions
Find us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok! Are our teas as delicious and nourishing as we hope? Do you have questions about them? Let us know your thoughts!
In parting, remember that eating healthy, whole foods, and lots of plant foods is one of the simplest, safest, and most effective things we can do to promote good health in our bodies. As with every preventative/restorative measure though, sometimes these changes alone are not enough to help our bodies function the way we want or need them to.
If you are struggling with health problems, please contact your doctor or other healthcare provider such as a Naturopathic Doctor, Dietitian, or Mental Health Professional, to see if they can offer appropriate guidance and care. We at Wholesome Story believe that healthy communities require community effort, so we advise you to keep your healthcare community aware and involved in your journey as you pursue better health.
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Sources:
Educational content only. This article is not medical advice. Talk with a healthcare provider before you change your diet or start a supplement. *These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
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