Supplements I use and recommend to clients that you may find useful in convenience, bridging nutritional gaps, and performance enhancement.
For comprehensive information on various supplements I outline below, I recommend you explore Examine.com.
As a rule, I encourage you never to put anything in your body (orally or otherwise) until you understand why you are doing so and how it works to achieve your desired outcomes.
Also, I encourage you to support reputable brands with quality ingredients. Quality and assurances of quality are always worth spending the extra dollar for.
Below you will find product recommendations that I currently enjoy and use with Amazon affiliate links for your convenience. I receive a small proceed at no additional cost to you which helps keep the lights on. Thank you for your support.
Index
- General Food Supplements
- Deficiency Support
- Digestive Support
- Performance Enhancement
- Cognitive Enhancement
Updated for 2022.
Coming soon: Vitamin D3, Caffeine, Beta-Alinine, Caffeine with L-Theanine. Chapter on common vitamin deficiencies(zinc, magnesium, vitamin d).
1. General Food Based Supplements
General food supplements are designed to help in reaching the nutrients you obtain from food but otherwise may find challenging due to food preferences.
Protein Powders
Protein powders are helpful if you aren’t getting enough protein from whole foods, or if you find the need for convenience and portability. If you find you have stomach trouble from milk based powders or prefer vegan, I would recommend a vegetable based powder such as pea, rice, hemp, soy isolate or a blend of a few mentioned. Note, most vegan / vegetarian protein powders will be higher in fats and carbohydrates than their milk based counterparts so plan accordingly.
- Whey Gold Standard by Optimum Nutrition – Amazon.
- Organic Vegan Protein Powder, Garden of Life – Amazon.
Fish Oil
Fish oil is rich in DHA and EPA, two essential fatty acids our body must receive through our diets that are responsible for a functional metabolism and reduce our risk for a host of diseases (cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes among them). Aim for 1-2g of EPA+DHA daily either through food or supplementation. Note, pay close attention to the label and the listed EPA + DHA content, not just the total fat content.
Superfoods and Greens Supplements
Green and superfood products typically consist of powdered vegetables and fruits with the intent of “supercharging” your diet with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. Most are complete, overpriced bullshit. Personally, I always avoid blends of said category of supplements as they are often significantly under-dosed in effective ingredients and overdosed in cheap and unproven filler.
However, there are a few whole foods I enjoy adding to my morning smoothies for a variety of health benefits. These include spirulina, matcha, or unsweetened coca powder.
2. Deficiency Support
A majority of Americans are lacking in at least 2 or more vitamin and minerals which impacts their overall health. The most common are vitamin d, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, potassium, b12, and iodine. The best solution is to ask your doctor to test your vitamin d levels during your next blood draw, and refer you to a nutritional panel to see what your diet is lacking in.
Multi-Vitamin
If your diet is loaded with vegetables and fruits of all colors and you regularly consume quality protein sources and varied fats, a multi-vitamin in my opinion is not needed.
Personally, I rarely recommend a multi-vitamin and instead favor seeing your doctor for a blood panel to determine nutrient deficiencies and supplementing accordingly.
Most multi-vitamins are packed with cheap and low grade filler ingredients, heavily overdosed in what you don’t need, and heavily under-dosed in what you do such as zinc, magnesium, calcium, and vitamin D.
Article: Should you take a multivitamin? Examine.com
3. Digestive Support
Digestive Enzymes
Digestive enzymes assist in helping to break down proteins and dietary fats in the gut and can significantly help digestion issues.
Fiber Supplements
It’s tough to hit the recommended 30+ grams of fiber a day unless you are crushing two pounds of vegetables like a champ.
Adding a fiber product to your shakes will help with digestion and and gut health. Psyllium husk powder is a great place to start, which can be found in any grocery store as Metamucil.
4. Performance Enhancement
Creatine Monohydrate
Creatine is an excellent supplement for improving overall health and athletic performance. While creatine has been discussed in the athletic context quite extensively, it has some amazing regenerative effects on all tissues of the body including brain. 3-5g per day is recommended.
Pre-Workout Blends
Effective pre-workout blends primarily incorporate three proven ingredients to boost athletic performance. Creatine, beta-alanine, and caffeine. Unfortunately, most blends use substandard ingredients that are under-dosed coupled with flashy marketing to try to make up the difference. Personally, I choose to skip pre-workouts altogether and supplement creatine separately.
5. Cognitive Enhancement
Nootropics
Nootropics are a category of supplements for cognitive enhancement by way of increasing focus, knowledge acquisition, memory recall, and mental clarity. I personally choose to skip nootropics at this time, but should you choose to explore the world of cognitive enhancements I find Reddit to be a simple way of exploring the rabbit hole.