Are Supplements Necessary for Achieving a Healthy Lifestyle?
Are Supplements Necessary for Achieving a Healthy Lifestyle?
A Word on Supplements
The topic of supplementation is very relevant, I believe it is necessary to reiterate the discussion and highlight some of the reasons for supplement consumption.
In many aspects, supplements are to humans what fertilizers are to plants. Supplements would not be for you if you are living in an ideal world where you work minimal hours, give time to yourself, eat nutritious food, sleep for eight or more hours, and balance your social, professional, and personal life effortlessly. However, as that’s not the case, supplements are necessary for you to maintain optimal health.
Supplements not only maintain your health or help you gain muscle mass, but they also supply the required nutrition to your body and help with weight loss and longevity. But am I referring to fat burners, shakes, or miracle muscle supplements? Absolutely not!
Our focus here is on supplements responsible for maintaining overall health. These supplements may include multivitamins, fish oil, magnesium, vitamin D, and probiotics to improve digestion.
The question that we often receive is, “Are supplements really necessary for achieving a healthy lifestyle?” Before we answer this question, let’s first discuss supplement quality.
Quality is the biggest issue with the supplements these days. You really got to look out for those red flags. Supplements play an integral part in shaping your health, and thus their quality should never be compromised.
Few of us have the opportunity to visit the labs of supplement companies and witness the process/quality norms that go into creating their products.
Here are a few simple tips that can help you spot a bad product:
- Look for “oxides” on ingredient labels – magnesium-oxide, zinc-oxide, etc. These are the cheapest nutrients and have the lowest absorption potential.
- If taking fish oil results in giving you burps, it means that it is a contaminated product.
- Probiotics should list the exact strain of the healthy bacteria used, and the content should be well into the millions.
- Supplements should have an expiration date. Beware of products listing “time of manufacture” as their expiration period.
- A good multivitamin will list the exact type of nutrient. For example, it should not list magnesium, but instead magnesium glycinate, or magnesium orotate, etc.
I recommend Metagenics as a premium supplement provider. They take great pride in providing quality products. All herbs are quarantined for 21 days and retested for quality by a third party with no financial stake in the company.
Combat Our Toxic Environment
Supplements are necessary because we live in a toxic world with poor food quality. Modern-day fertilizers block full absorption of the necessary vitamins and minerals in food.
When taking a good supplement, you will feel the benefits within the first few days. Odds are if you do not notice anything, it’s a bad product with a poor absorption rate, or the manufacturers are lying about what is in the product. For example, cheap fish oil can have elevated levels of PCBs and dioxins, which will contribute to being insulin resistant and increase cancer rate.
We live in a time when high-quality supplement support is a must! Health and recovery from training and overall wellness are dependent on nutrient status and deficiencies. Our soil nutrient is compromised from modern-day fertilizers and environmental toxins. So the soil cannot give good nutrients to plants, plants cannot give the same to animals, and animals cannot offer humans nutrients.
Everyone on this planet would greatly benefit from taking the foundation 5+1 supplements outlined below. The 5+1 nutrients synergistically work together to pack the largest punch for gains.
My favorite foundation products from Metagenics are:
- PhytoMulti Caps
- Vitamin D3 5,000
- Omegagenics EPA/DHA 1,000,
- Magnesium Glycinate
- Ultraflora Balance
- Zinc A.G.
You can find these for purchase at my online store: www.nickklein.metagenics.com
If you’re serious about your health and attaining results, supplementing with the foundation 5+1 puts you in the best position to succeed. Give your body the nutrients needed to thrive, be healthy, and succeed.
I believe the supplements included in this book will benefit you and take you where you want to be. This belief is based on my own experience as a trainee, trainer, and owner of a fitness facility, where I have observed positive results of thousands of individuals.
However, there are no guarantees that one or any of them will work for you. There is no silver bullet for instant success. In my experience, supplements can make a difference, so long as you are training, eating, and resting well.
Being a part of this industry, I have seen the nutritional malpractice that prevails and is preached. People are misguided and looted in the name of achieving unrealistic goals. Again, the key is to remember that there are no shortcuts if you are looking for permanent solutions.
