Do I need to take supplements?
It depends. Do you workout? Do you eat vegetables? Are you concerned with having optimal health?
The thing with supplements is, the food we eat no longer provides adequate minerals and vitamins to for fill our daily nutritional requirements. This is because the soil that our food is grown in, is absolute shit. It’s been used in over use for hundreds of years and then we killed everything good in it with all the pesticides and DDT as recently as the 1960s, from which we have not yet recovered, so now we need to supplement our diet even if it’s “perfect”, in order to get adequate nutritional requirements met daily. Even organic farms in America suffer from low soil quality. This will take hundreds of years to change.
That’s the first point, and that applies to all humans living in America. Who, by the way, don’t eat a balanced diet anyway… So that’s an extra reason for why they need that extra help. The air is not clean, our water is not clean, we need to filter the toxins in our environment, and the xenoestrogens that we inhale and slather on our bodies, out of the body in someway, and high quality supplements aim to do just that. That being said, all supplements are not created equally. Quality is king. More on this later.
The third point, is that when one trains like an animal, and everything one does is intended to put muscle on one’s body, one needs to really optimize one’s nutritional situation, and hormones, and the level of inflammation. When one trains every single day, one is technically doing quite a bit of oxidative damage, from which one recovers during adequate sleep, and with proper nutrition. Training in the gym in a bodybuilding style requires additional nutritional support in order for the body to be able to keep up with that much output. High levels of cortisol are great for creating an anabolic state during training, but this needs to be brought down when gym time is over each day.
One other point I will stress, Is that like food, All supplements are not created equally. Quality does matter. It’s not worth it to take things from the bargain bin or from any low-grade supplier of supplements, (this is where I’m an absolute snob, sorry!) and I say don’t take it unless it’s super high-quality, so spend your pennies wisely and get the good stuff, because it really does make all the difference in the world. There are exceptions. Vitamin C, is vitamin C. Go bargain there. But, fish oil and even magnesium, make sure there are quality controls. Supplements are unregulated. This means companies can put whatever they want in there. Make sure there is some level of transparency, and it’s never a bad idea have to third party quality checks.
How do I know which are good, and which are pure marketing? Some simple guidelines. If it contains magnesium oxide, it’s bargain bin and not worth buying. If they’re willing to skimp on magnesium, it’s a good bet nothing else will be of high quality either. Same with zinc oxide, or anything “oxide”. It’s like well vodka. Also, with fish oil, buy the good stuff. Fish oil, like all oils, will go rancid, and quickly if allowed to oxidize or sit out too long. If it’s been in the store for a while, it’s likely gone bad. Buy fresh from cold - pressed, cold sourced fish like metagenics or Nordic naturals. There are other food brands, too! Those are just easy to find.
Some mass companies do you have high-quality supplements, but Amazon luckily creates a way for us to buy the supplements we need at a reasonable price. I can help you to source the best ones and show you what to look for. Half the trick with supplement sourcing is to know what one is looking for... and to not be fooled by expensive marketing.
One last reason to consider taking supplements is to combat the xenoestrogens that exist in our environment today, that didn’t exist in the environment of our ancestors. Xenoestrogens are man-made or synthetic versions of plastic, or estrogen, that we either inhale, slather on our bodies or eat along with our foods every day, unwittingly. Simply living near certain man made structures can cause one to accumulate more plastics internally, like certain factories. Likewise with working on a conventional farm, one is exposed to heavy metal toxins that get stuck in the internal organs - only to be removed through specific detox protocols involving infrared technology and seaweed. Using non BPA water bottles, that have been left out in the sun, and drinking their contents allows micro plastics to accumulate internally - again, only to be removed by specific detox protocols.
Additionally, the stress of today’s world - traffic, alone - causes high levels of cortisol which correspond with low levels of growth hormone and testosterone. Humans have to work harder than ever to be healthy in today’s techno-current, petrol-based, stressful world. Some of these toxins simply can’t be avoided. Today’s male population has lower levels of testosterone than ever before, and women and men have higher levels of xenoestrogens than ever before.
There are ways to eat certain foods to combat these Xenos. For example, cauliflower and other cruciferous vegetables contain high amounts of DIM, which help the body to detox from exogenous estrogens. One can also take a DIM supplement. I do, daily. Contact me for details on which to procure. One can also eat high amounts of phytoestrogens, which directly combat xenos, like flaxseed meal, which is an amazing superfood.
Does one need to be a on a juice-only cleanse for multiple weeks per year to combat these environmental toxins? No, not necessarily. Eating a healthFULL diet and taking proper, smart, few supplements can help one to manage, while not totally disturbing one’s general quality of life. Although... Q of L can always be improved by focusing on one’s health...
At the end of the day, the choice to use supplements comes down to the results you want and the dedication with which you’re putting into your process. If you really want to do things perfectly, and really take care of your body and prevent injuries and illness, proper supplementation is absolutely vital. Some trainers believe that proper supplements are the absolute first step before even getting into the gym, because they help your hormones to cooperate properly with the stress of the gym, and with the stress of daily life, which our ancestors didn’t really used to have the same way that we do now. The difference that supplements will make in a physique, can be huge if one is suffering from extremely high levels of cortisol, or other stress related hormonal situations. For the intense gym go-er however, who’s hormones are fine, the difference made by supplements will be a few percents. Maybe 5 if done properly. When one really starts to dial things in, that extra five percent of help becomes really helpful. Fewer injuries, faster recovery, faster brain, fewer colds, fewer mental breakdowns, fewer insecurities caused by losing hard earned muscle while dieting... these are great improvements made by supplements, not to mention the amazing health benefits of lowered inflammation, healthier organs, vitamin and mineral balances and enough b and D3 vitamins to fuel the hardest and longest of days. For me, I’ll stick to using the supplements I’ve come to know and love. If you have specific questions, this is one of my areas of specialization, so please comment below or contact me through my other social medium or email. Transformation starts from within. 🌟🌟🌟
Disclaimer: To be clear, I am not paid by any supplement company to promote anything whatsoever. I am as skeptical as the next person and over the years, with lots of research and continued education, I have found my rhythm with the supplements that muscle test well for me and actually make a difference. Each person is different.