What Supplements Should I Take?
Whole food is always a better choice than supplements! I put this right up front so that nobody gets it twisted. Supplements are safe, useful and effective, but they are intended to supplement your diet. It’s right there in the name. Our bodies operate best with whole foods.
That said, from my experience working with clients over the years the odds of you getting everything you need from whole food alone is basically zero. But before we talk about fat burners and testosterone boosters and all the supplements people normally get excited about, it’s important to clarify something.
If you don’t have your foundations covered, then you are 100%, absolutely, positively wasting your money buying supplements.
Your body requires certain nutrients in order to run the processes that give you the ability to operate efficiently, train hard, burn fat and build muscle. Something like a testosterone booster may help accelerate progress if all of your foundational needs are taken care of, but without it a test booster won’t do squat because you don’t have the ingredients necessary for those physiological processes to occur.
It’s kinda common sense if you stop to think about it.
So I’m going to list the top 6 supplements that I recommend to just about everyone I come into contact with. Does this mean you have to take all 6 of these to be successful? Absolutely not. Does it mean every other supplement is a waste of money? Nope. But just about anyone would benefit from them, while any other supplements beyond these are only useful in certain niche situations.
I will also include a link to the specific products I use and recommend. Ordering through these links will give you free shipping as well.
Whole Foods
I know I mentioned this above, but it bears repeating. Make sure you’re doing everything you can with whole food and that you’re using supplements to fill in the gaps. Work to get a source of protein in every meal. Eat a large variety of fruits and vegetables. If it fits within your dietary restrictions, try to get in fresh, wild caught, fatty fish a few times a week. Drink a gallon of water a day.
Multivitamin
No matter what your fitness goal is, you should take a multivitamin or daily nutrient pack that covers all your baseline needs as a living, breathing human being. Your body needs a certain amount of essential vitamins and minerals each and every day just to effectively function. They are like the tools your body uses to work on itself.
There are so many health issues that stem from vitamin or mineral deficiencies that it would be ridiculous to try and list them all. So instead I’ll just list a few that will slow down your fitness progress in particular.
- slowed metabolism
- poor recovery from training
- decreased will power and brain function
- increased signs of aging
- decreased hormone production
- decreased energy levels
…and the list goes on and on.
Most people do not get nearly enough fruits and vegetables to provide their body with all the essential vitamins and minerals, phytonutrients and antioxidants it needs. You can think of a vitamin pack as insurance for your body. It will fill in all the known and unknown gaps in your nutrition to make sure you’re operating as efficiently as possible, and stay healthy for a long time to come.
There are literally thousands of multivitamin supplements out there to choose from, but it is always best to go with a capsule when it comes to vitamins. This is because when it comes to hard pressed tablets, some companies will put a million things on the label and then compact it (with literally tons of pressure) and press it together to make it swallowable. But it ends up being so compacted that your stomach struggles to break it down before you pass it.
Some even use petroleum-based coatings that make it easier to swallow, but that just makes it even harder for your body to make use of those nutrients. All of this means with that hard pressed tablets you are getting very little to no value from the vitamins inside.
I use and recommend 1st Phorm’s Microfactor. Get free shipping here.
Greens Powder
This one’s really not worth overcomplicating. Almost no one is eating as much fruit and veggies as they need to for optimal health.
If you’re anything like me (and most people I think), you tend to gravitate towards the same handful of fruits and veggies over and over. They’re your staples, or they go with everything, or they’re the only things your kids will eat… Whatever the case, the fruits and veggies you do eat probably aren’t as diverse as they could be, so there is just no way to be sure you’re getting the wide array of nutrients that are out there.
Your immune system, your recovery, your performance, and every other bodily process… A greens powder is just another way to be certain your body is getting everything it needs to operate at 100%.
My preference is a product called Optigreens-50 because it also gives a dose of digestive enzymes and probiotics for gut health – another part of the body that has huge implications on your health and well being, and a topic for another article.
Click here to get free shipping on Optigreens-50.
Fish Oil
The benefit of fish oil comes from the big dose of omega-3 fats within it. Most Americans get way too much omega-6 fatty acids, especially as compared to their omega-3 intake. Part of this is because so many of the foods that are staples for us contain high levels of omega-6 fats, and part is that the few foods that contain high levels of omega-3’s are relatively uncommon.
You absolutely should look for ways to get omega-3 fats through whole food sources before considering supplementing, but unless you’re eating a large portion of fatty fish like salmon or sardines 3-4 days a week consistently I can pretty much guarantee you’re low on omega-3’s.
Here’s a short list of some of the other more common sources of omega-3 fats:
- walnuts
- mackerel
- herring
- oysters
- anchovies
- flax seeds
- chia seeds
How many of those are a daily part of your dietary routine? Take a look at some of the more common sources of omega-6 fats and see how that list compares:
- peanut butter
- chicken thighs
- eggs
- almonds
- cashews
- pork
- grain fed beef
I’d venture to guess that second list represents a much bigger chunk of your diet than the first. Be aware that none of the foods on that second list are bad. So you can be eating very healthy and still have an imbalance in your fat intake!
So lets take a look at some of the cons and symptoms of an omega-3 deficiency:
- depression
- anxiety
- low energy
- poor quality sleep
- depression
- poor concentration
- joint pain
- dry skin
- brittle hair and nails
And more. This means making sure you’re getting enough omega-3’s could give you improved mood and cognitive function, less joint pain, better sleep, healthier hair skin and nails… there are even some studies that suggest supplementing with omega-3’s can be beneficial for fat loss!
The benefits are enormous, and virtually everyone could use a boost in this department. Fish oil is a no brainer.
My go to is a product called Full Mega. It’s a high potency fish oil which means the pills are reasonably sized (no giant horse pills), you don’t have to take a ton of them to get a decent dose of omega-3’s, and no nasty fish burps! (If you know, you know)
Free shipping on Full Mega
Post Workout Shake
Ahh yes, the post workout window of opportunity… if you’ve been into fitness for any length of time you have surely heard someone mention that you should drink a protein shake after your resistance training workouts.
They were correct.
The processes that need to occur for your body to recover from strength training (namely, protein synthesis) are dramatically heightened for a short period of time after your workout. That “window of opportunity” starts closing the moment you finish your last set, and within an hour or so protein synthesis is back to baseline.
This means that if you are not giving your body what it needs to take advantage of this window and optimize your recovery, you ARE leaving progress on the table. It’s just that important.
And I don’t mean it’s only important if you’re trying to gain muscle mass. In fact, when you’re trying to lose fat and eating less food, it makes it even MORE important that you’re doing everything you can to maximize recovery!
There are two things that you’re body is craving post workouts – protein and carbs.
So why do we need a post workout shake? If whole food is better, why don’t we just eat some chicken and rice?
Because food takes time to digest. By the time your body breaks down the chicken and rice to be processed, you’ve missed your chance. That makes it vitally important that the nutrition we take in post workout can be digested as fast as possible.
1st Phorm’s Postworkout Stack (Phormula-1 and Ignition) is my go to for several reasons. Yes, it is the fastest digesting combination of protein and carbs available on the market but it also:
- Tastes amazing
- Mixes super easy
- No chalky taste
- Mixes thin and easy to drink – who wants to drink a milkshake postworkout?
- Uhh… and it comes in Root Beer Float flavor!!
Check out the postworkout stack here for free shipping.
Meal Replacement Protein
I put a meal replacement protein at the bottom of the list for one very important reason…
WHOLE FOOD IS BETTER!
If you’ve read my “Nutrition for Fool Proof Fat Loss” article, you might remember that all diets that account for total protein and total calories are equal in terms of creating changes in body composition. This means that once you’ve calculated your macros, it’s very important that you hit your protein goal each and every day!
For some people getting to (approximately) 1 gram of protein per pound of goal bodyweight is tough! If you’re just not able to get all the protein you need in from whole food alone, or if you have a busy day and won’t be able to eat your planned meal, a meal replacement protein like Level-1 is a great way to fill in that gap.
I’m a fan of this product for some of the same reasons as Phormula-1. Low temperature processed protein means better digestion and no bubble gut, it mixes super easy (no chunks!), and they just taste amazing. We have a 6 year old in the house who is constantly asking to make smoothies. If even kids like it, you know it’s good!
Get free shipping on Level-1