*Obviously I suggest you consult with your physician before taking any of these products, this is simply an informational post. One last one I would recommend is a Pre-vitamin D supplement especially if you live in a climate where you only see the sun 4 months out of the year.****
*This article has not been approved by the FDA
There I said it. Now anything I say after that can be totally made up and false and I am covered. This is how the supplement industry works. They have to put this in small print on the back of the bottle or package and they can market their product anyway they want. Make false claims about what the product does and claim that its “all natural” or “non GMO”. Does anyone know what “all natural” means anyway?
In fact, there are a lot of supplements that are placebo pills that are marketed so well that people buy them and due to thinking they are getting some benefit actually do. My favorite example of this is when I was learning about “Lactate buffering” in college. This is an old school technique of delaying the muscle burn your feel that causes you to slow down while exercising. Lactic acid builds up in your muscles and causes fatigue, not allowing you to push harder. Taking a high dosage of calcium carbonate or “tums” delays the build of lactic acid in the muscles. Sounds pretty awesome right? There are drawbacks to this as your kidneys must filter this excess carbonate out which may lead to kidney stones and kidney damage. (But you wont get indigestion) At the gym one day, a guy told me he started taking this awesome supplement called extreme endurance. He said he felt way less fatigue during his workouts. I looked at the back and sure enough the first ingredient was “Calcium Carbonate”. I asked him how much it was and he said $70 for a bottle. I told him he could get tums at the dollar store for $2.
The take away here is that supplements are very much marketing companies, not supplement companies. Most of these companies operate as a “multi level marketing” company. Generally they have a huge advertising budget and sell cheap and useless “Supplements”. Also, if you buy that 7 lb. bag of whey protein from sams club for $22 its probably because 2 lbs of it is whey protein and the other 5 is fillers and chemicals.
Supplements need to be just that, supplemental to your diet. Many times if people are lacking Vitamin C, their first thought is to get a vitamin C supplement. Eating an orange or strawberry seems like a lot more work. The problem is these foods offer a lot of different nutrients not just the vitamin C. They also have fiber, water, and phytochemicals (smaller nutrients that don’t show up on the nutrition label). As you can see I am a supplement minimalist, although I will dabble with a few supplements that I feel wont do any harm. If you are a very busy person or an athlete who trains a lot, supplementation may be a good answer to make sure you are getting key nutrients.
Here is my list of supplements I recommend plus a link to buy if interested. Click on the supplement name to buy.
1-Cod Liver Oil, Fish oil, Omega 3s
If you eat pasture raised eggs, avocados, fish, flax seeds, or grass fed meat you generally will not need to take a supplement. However if its one of those days you feel you wont get enough of these I recommend taking this. Omega 3s may help improve our fat burning capabilities, reduce inflammation in the body which helps recover after a strenuous workout and may prevent cardiovascular disease.
Recommended Brands
2-Super Greens
If you eat your vegetables with every meal, again this is not necessary. I generally put it in my smoothie in the morning just to get some extra nutrients (Blog on smoothies). I also like this for young athletes who struggle to eat enough vegetables or if any at all. This should not be thought of as “well I take super greens so I don’t need to eat vegetables.” These are basically dried vegetables that are condensed into powder form.
Recommended brands-
Genuine Health Greens (This is the most researched brand on the market)
3-Whey Protein
This is a staple of anybody looking to make gains from their workout. Getting protein in liquid form is great way to get some extra protein in post workout. I would not recommend substituting this for a meal, again this should be a supplement to food. Don’t settle for cheap protein powders. Obviously the best whey (Pun intended) is to get plain bland whey protein, you can mix it with cocoa powder and some stevia or monk fruit if you need some extra taste.
I recommend only 40g a day of protein supplementation unless you are an elite athlete that trains 5-8 hours a day.
Recommended brands
Garden of Life Organic Protein
I don’t think you can beat this one for the price.
4- Creatine
This is a highly debated topic on if, when, and how much creatine to use for athletes and just plain active people. My opinion is that this is one of the most researched and safest supplements (in proper doses) that you can use. Cycling on and off is ok, but I prefer a continuous small dose daily, 5g to be exact. Creatine is thought to help with athletic performance, most commonly with intense activity such as lifting and sprinting.
Recommended brand
1 serving of this will give you 5g of creatine daily.
I haven’t done my homework enough yet on whether CBD is something we should be incorporating with our athletes, but seems like it may be something to consider.
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Wouldn’t Tums at the Dollar Store be….a dollar?
Not at “Dollar General”….I have trolls, I finally made it