Proven Supplements: What IS worth taking?

✅ The Supplements Mentioned (All third party tested, NSF Certified)**

- **Creatine** (performance, recovery, brain function).  - https://s.thorne.com/CRSRx

- **Caffeine** (energy, focus, endurance) -  https://s.thorne.com/kI4DJ

- **Whey Protein** (if you struggle to hit protein intake). - https://s.thorne.com/emFVt

- **Omega-3s** (for brain, heart, & joint health). - https://s.thorne.com/cfP6Q

- **Magnesium** (for sleep, stress, & recovery). - https://s.thorne.com/oSHVT

- **Vitamin D + K2** (for bone & immune health). - https://s.thorne.com/cdcOL

- **Probiotics** (for gut health & immunity). - https://s.thorne.com/XDzMc

- **Multivitamin** (for overall nutrient support). - https://s.thorne.com/S0qS2

Episode Citations
1. Creatine – Performance, Muscle Retention & Brain Health
Kreider, R. B. et al. (2017). "International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine."
🔗 https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-017-0173-z
2. Caffeine – Energy, Focus & Performance Booster
Grgic, J. et al. (2020). "Caffeine ingestion enhances exercise performance: A meta-analysis." British Journal of Sports Medicine.
🔗 https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2020/03/06/bjsports-2019-101765
3. Whey Protein – Muscle Growth & Fat Loss
Hulmi, J. J. et al. (2010). "Effect of protein/essential amino acids and resistance training on skeletal muscle hypertrophy: A case for whey protein." The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
🔗 https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/92/5/1080/4597392
4. Omega-3 (DHA & EPA) – Brain, Joints & Inflammation Support
Calder, P. C. (2018). "Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and inflammatory processes: Nutrition or pharmacology?"
🔗 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6130902/
5. Magnesium Bisglycinate – Sleep & Stress Management
Abbasi, B. et al. (2012). "The effect of magnesium supplementation on primary insomnia in elderly: A double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial." Journal of Research in Medical Sciences.
🔗 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1756464612002466
6. Vitamin D + K2 – Bone & Immune Health
Holick, M. F. (2007). "Vitamin D deficiency." New England Journal of Medicine.
🔗 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2687140/
7. Probiotics – Gut Health, Digestion & Immunity
Ouwehand, A. C. (2018). "A review of gut microbiota and its impact on obesity and metabolic disorders." Journal of Functional Foods.
🔗 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6359935/
8. Multivitamin – Nutrient Insurance for Deficiencies
Gaziano, J. M. et al. (2012). "Multivitamins in the prevention of cancer in men: The Physicians' Health Study II randomized controlled trial." JAMA.
🔗 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/1357267

Transcript

0:00

Hello, beautiful people. And welcome back to the show. So why are some health professionals touting these supplements as a holy grail? Why are other health professionals telling you not to take any supplements and that they're poison what's going on here? I think supplements are one of those sectors of the fitness industry that you really have to sort through some crazy information to get some good information. Today. We're going to talk about the supplements that are almost always worth it for people. So by the end of this episode, you're going to be able to confidently go buy supplements. That make sense for you that are not always out of money and are from a reputable place. Mostly going to link the supplements below so that if you do want to buy them from a reputable brand, those are all right there., there are countless reasons that the supplement industry is a complete shit show. And the biggest reason for this is the supplement industry is not FDA regulated. It is not considered a food or drink. What does that mean? Basically I can put water in a bottle and I can sell it to you. And I can say, this is vitamin D. This is protein. This is protein. And there is not anything checking up to make sure that I'm telling you the truth. Scary right. But Heather, that doesn't make any sense. Oh, I know. I know. So companies can just put whatever they want in these supplements and no one cares. yup. It is determined as a health supplement and not a food or drink. No one is checking on what is in that supplement. And if you're like, would companies actually do that? The 2018 study published in JAMA that found nearly 800 dietary supplements were contaminated with unapproved pharmaceuticals is Cohen 2018. All of these studies that I'm going to reference are going to be linked below. So you can look at them if you would like to. And I also have another one here. So a study from Harvard medical school found that supplements didn't contain what they claimed or worse than that. They're not only found that it wasn't what was on the label. They found harmful contaminants. There was like heavy metals. There was toxins. So these cheaper supplement brands, if you're getting something and you're like this price doesn't make sense. Everything else is more expensive. There are a lot of reputable supplement companies out there, but the ones that are not reputable or dangerous, you're better off just saving the money and not taking anything. So this is not a new problem. And because of this, there are many third party testing companies out there. And all that means is that the supplement brand themselves, they will pay another company to essentially verify the information that they put on the bottle. This means the supplement is usually going to cost a little bit more, but you are getting what you are paying for, which is always nice. And not only are you getting the ingredients that you paid for, but you're getting them in doses that are actually effective. So it doesn't have this like microgram of whatever you're supposed to be taking and they call it this X, Y, Z, and you're like, I'm not getting results. Or is there not enough within that supplement for you to even see the benefit? It could be either. So the most common third party testing labels you will see are NSF certified for sport. This is probably the most common by a lot.. That's going to be really helpful for a lot of athletes when I was competing in weightlifting and I'd have to get drug tested. This ensures purity of what is on the label, but also that there's no banned substances. Not too long ago, a bunch of athletes at the CrossFit games and in the Olympic weightlifting circuit popped for this banned substance, but they popped in amounts on the test that wouldn't be therapeutic. AKA, they wouldn't be effective. So it didn't really make a lot of sense. Why are they taking these illegal drugs chance and getting banned, but they're not even taking enough for it to make a difference in their sport. Later come to find out they were all taking this specific brand of protein. And I think pre-workout that banned substance was in and they held up those bands. So those athletes were not allowed to compete and they held up the standard. So being NSF certified, if you are competitive in any way very important that your supplements are NSF certified. Don't skimp on that, and then be banned for four years because you just didn't check a label. USP certified. This claims that the product is the ingredients that it claims it is, but informed choice, informed sport, NSF certified. Those are going to be pretty much the highest level of third-party testing. You can get, it's going to ensure no banned substances. It's going to ensure that it's purely what it says. It is on the label. And also usually that the doses there's no proprietary blend, which essentially just means we made a smoothie of the cheapest ingredients we could find, and we're selling it to you. That can be really helpful. If your supplement brand does not have any sort of third party testing, you just don't know what's inside just as simple as that. And that sucks, but it's just the way it is. They absolutely could contain with inside, or they could absolutely contain sugar and nothing else. And it can just be sold as whatever, just be aware of it. I would say almost any reputable supplement brand is going to have some form of third party testing. The other major issue with supplements is that you should be supplementing for something like, think about the word supplement you are supplementing. For a purpose. We don't want to be adding in random things to the mix just because we heard they're good. Good for what? That's the point where we're getting to here. So when you are supplementing, you can ask yourself, what am I trying to fix? Am I already getting these nutrients from food and would improving my diet or lifestyle in a very simple way, helped us instead. The fuck was that. Did you hear that? Burgess flying to this window, like I'm literally so confused. Okay. I think it's fairly obvious we cannot afford a studio. So if you could leave a review, it would most definitely help. This is ridiculous. But essentially think about what you are trying to address within your life. You never hit your protein goal. Whey protein is going to be very helpful if you can't get enough omega-3 is you never eat fatty fish. You need a DHA or omega-3 supplement. We're going to talk through these. with all of that known, and the fact that I'm not your doctor will never be your doctor cannot give you medical advice all under our belt. What are the supplements that are actually worth it? These are the supplements that are worth it for most people living in average lifestyle. The first one, the list and something I recommend to almost everybody is creatine. Creatine is one of those supplements that. The more research that seems to be done. And the more research I see. The better it gets like the cheapest version of creatine is seemingly the most effective creatine is something that's already found within the body. It's also something you'll find if you're eating a lot of red meat, it's just something we supplement because the dosage is not quite as effective as it could be.. So creatine has been proven to help Millions of things, but first and foremost, creatine is so good for longevity it's neuroprotective. So what that means is your brain has these synopses and they form together. When your brain creates these neural synopsis, this the stronger it gets like your recollection of your phone number. That's going to be a really strong sense. It's something you repeat all the time. Then as long as we use those synopsis, they stay strong. The more connections we have and the stronger they are, the better our brain is functioning. Think about people that speak more than one language, but then all of a sudden they don't use a language for a very long time. That synopsis, they created where they were really, good and really strong and really understood it. And they could recall it quickly is going to start to prune a little bit. And all that means is that connection in the brain is going to weekend. When these connections are strong, our brain is healthy. We're functioning. We can recall things quickly. All of that. As we age, as certain lifestyle factors kick in those start to prune. Creatine is going to wrap around those neural synopsis and not only prevent them from coming apart, but it's also going to promote plasticity. Plasticity is what we want. It's basically the ability for our brain to form new connections and strengthen the ones that already has creatine. Being a part of this process is one of the biggest factors in it coming out, being so good for longevity and all of these studies. The fact that we know Creotine does promote neural health in such a profound way. That alone, I think is reason enough. But if that wasn't enough, creating also plays a major role in ATP production. And you're going to get those extra benefits from the lack of fatigue, from pushing a little more weight, all of that, but it's also going to help you recover, which is the bigger part here. When Korea team first was popularized, people were calling it a steroid people like all of these things, because it's very important for all of these amazing processes that especially if you are trying to get the most out of your gym efforts. It's 100% not a steroid, but it is a hundred percent going to help. And I would genuinely go look at the studies on this cause they're phenomenal. One of my favorite studies on creating that I highly recommend looking at if you don't know much about it is there's a meta analysis from the journal of international society of sports, nutrition that confirmed all of these claims. Significantly enhances strength, muscle, mass, and recovery. What more could you ask for. But wait, Billy Mays, there's more, Christian has little to no side effects. I haven't had, I think one person in the hundreds, if not thousands, I have recommended it to that has ever had an issue with it. And the issue was it seemed to upset their digestion. I think that was completely standalone case. It has never really shown any side effects for any client that I've worked with. It's one of the most researched supplements. It keeps coming out to be proven effective. You just need creatine monohydrate you need five grams. We don't need to do a loading phase. You don't need to take more at first five grams daily. It doesn't matter when you take it. It's just important that you remember to take it. So if you can take it at the same time every day, it's going to help you remember. Creating does help pull water into your muscles. So make sure you stay hydrated with it, but it is one of the most researched and effective supplements on the market. Creatine monohydrate you don't need anything fancier than that. Let's talk about whey protein. This is just the cheat code for protein intake and I will just say. Anytime a client comes to me and they're like no, I eat so much protein. Like they don't. If you think you eat a ton of protein, you probably don't need as much as you think you do. And statistically, you definitely don't eat as much as you think you do. And that's okay with that being said, Anyone struggling to get enough protein from their daily food intake, anybody who needs something on the go. So they don't come home feeling on pig and eat the entire couch. Anyone trying to preserve muscle while losing fat. It's a really easy way to up the protein within your day. And I think that a lot of people could stand to benefit from adding a protein shake for people that are looking to lose fat and keep their muscle. I recommend having a protein shake 30 minutes before the meal, you are most likely to overeat. I think that can be wildly effective in preventing overeating. And if you're a person that struggles to get enough in, and you're looking to put on muscle, having a protein shake with your dinner and having that at the same time. So you don't feel that overly full, that can be really effective, but adding in protein either way. It's usually going to be a good thing. You're going to recover from your workouts better. You're not going to be as hungry. It's a great snack. It speeds up your recovery. Everything that protein does within the body, which is countless, things. Our body also burns the most when digesting protein compared to carbs and fat, we're going to use more calories breaking down those calories than other calories. It's harder for your body to store that as fat, just because it's a more difficult mechanism. If you are adding protein to your day, it's seldom going to be a bad thing. And this drives me nuts. Whey protein is just milk. And it's food. It's not the special magic concoction. It is milk. That is separated way as a by-product. When you separate milk, you can get that concentrate of the proteins that milk contains, and you put it in powder form, and now you have whey protein. So when buying protein. You don't need to buy protein for women protein for this protein, for that. What are they adding in? If you need that thing? Great. But if it's protein for women, It sounds good, but what are they adding in that makes it that way? Are they adding in collagen for your hair, skin and net? What is in it? And number two, think about how ridiculous that sounds. If there isn't anything added to it. Would you buy chicken breast for women? Chicken breast for toning. It's chicken. It's just chicken. This is just protein. Unless you're buying something with a bunch of additives in it. There's no reason to get anything besides just plain whey protein, whey isolate. When you are picking out a protein, if you are like, oh, this does have this extra thing in it. You're more than likely going to be better off getting a protein and then a separate supplement that is actually dosed correctly. For that thing that you wanted added in any way will probably be cheaper combined. Don't get caught up in the marketing tactics of this type of protein. That type of if you are getting away protein, especially you are getting all of the amino acids you need. And you're going to want to look for 25 to 35 grams of protein, a serving, and there shouldn't be this insane amount of carbs, probably under 10, preferably under five. If you are dealing with something that has tons of fat, I would say it should have under five grams of fat. It shouldn't be something that takes up tons of calories in your day, because if you're a person that's dieting and you're really hungry, you're trying to lose fat. Be careful about replacing too many calories each day with something you drink a protein shake, as opposed to eating like chicken, like you're going to be less full from that shake than you would be if you ate that. So I think it's something you should add in. It shouldn't be something that all of a sudden this is replacing every meal. Next omega-3 so Daj EPA. Brain joints inflammation. It's going to support all of those things. And I think that, especially if you're not a person that eats fish. Fatty fish two to three times a week, which is most of us, that's honestly like a pretty expensive thing to do. And it's a lot of fish you should be taking this it's so, good for so many things. If you deal with inflammation, joint pain, brain fog you're focused on heart and brain health. Long-term. Adding in an omega-3. Should probably be something you consider. One to two grams combined EPA and DHA per day is ideal. and if you look on the label and it says triglyceride form, that's going to be the most bioavailable, which is just going to mean that our body has the easiest time absorbing that vitamin and using it. It's going to improve cognitive function. It's going to reduce inflammation. It's going to prevent inflammatory chronic diseases. It's a really good addin overall. So by reducing inflammation, we're helping with recovery and joint pain. And it's also really good for forming memories. That's something that's really essential is DHA in that process. Your heart's also supported by these it's going to help your heart produce a healthy blood flow rate. It's just going to improve most functions within the body. So magnesium by glycinate is next. This is different than magnesium citrate. And I think that's why a lot of people try magnesium and they're like, it just didn't do what I thought it would do. This is why. If you were a person that is supplementing magnesium for the sleep, the anxiety effects, the calming effects. If you struggle with sleep muscle tension, if you're a person that drinks a lot, this can help restore those magnesium stores that alcohol does deplete magnesium by glycinate is going to be a game changer for you. 200 to 400 milligrams right before bed. It's going to relax everything in your body. Within the body in order to feel calm, magnesium is really essential. And a lot of the things we do day to day does end up depleting it. And then once we're a little bit depleted in magnesium, we start to feel anxiety. We start to feel tense. We start all of these different things. Cortisol is a huge buzzword lately and magnesium by glycinate specifically is so, good for cortisol regulation. It's something, especially if you live a very high stress lifestyle or you have trouble sleeping, definitely add that in right before bed. You'll see a huge difference. Okay. This one is for my people in the places that get cold. And then you hide inside and we're sad all of a sudden, like two months into winter. And we're like, I hate everyone. Why do you hate everyone? And we don't have a reason other than we just do. And a lot of that has to do with vitamin D. So vitamin D is so important for our mood, but also our bone health, our joint, how the, it does a million things within the body. And if you live in a place that gets cold or gets less sun at certain seasons, you are more than likely going to be low. I am a huge test don't guess person when it comes to supplements, especially supplements that are not water soluble, AKA, they store within fats in our body. So they're not as easily peed out. You can technically overdose on those. It's difficult, but you can overdose on non water soluble supplements. So in fat-soluble supplements, which does include vitamin D and vitamin K, which we'll talk about in a second, this is something I normally would tell you to go to your doctor, get some blood work, make sure that you aren't overdoing it. But then I've been in this industry for a hot second, and I kept getting that blood work back and almost nobody was getting enough. So I do make an exception for this. I like vitamin D plus K supplements. Vitamin K is going to make it more available for your body to absorb and also use more readily. So taking those two together can be really helpful. You're going to look for 2000 to 5,000 IUs a day. Sometimes doctors will prescribe higher, but especially if you're just adding it in for general supplementation, start there. This is one of those supplements that taking it with food helps it absorb better. So keeping that in mind as well. Probiotics are next on the list. I think I'm going to do a gut health episode pretty soon because I, so many people ask about it and it's so important, but I'll try to keep this relatively reasonable. Anyone struggling with digestion, bloating, mood, anything like that? Your gut health is the primary place where your serotonin is produced. When your gut is not in a good space, it's in a state of dysbiosis, the good bugs in your gut, which we all have, unfortunately, and the bad bugs in your gut, which we also all have. Unfortunately, you want a bigger balance of good bugs when we're in dysbiosis, the bad bugs are starting to outnumber. That's the easiest way to think about it. The good bugs, we can feed them. Prebiotics and probiotics are going to help those good bugs stay high in numbers and keep the bad bugs at bay. Along with this like 85% of your immune system is housed within your gut. So if you are someone that's always sick, you're a person that any time you even see someone with a cold you're immediately have a runny nose. The next day, this is something that I would really recommend. You want one with multiple strains? Ideally you want one that's refrigerated. Those tend to be a little bit higher quality. If you can get a probiotic that's in the trillions, not billions. It will say it on the label that's always something that's helpful. Boosting immune functioning, boosting your mood, boosting your mental clarity and pretty much just feeling better overall because your gut interacts with nearly every single system in your body. So if you are struggling with your gut health, adding a probiotic can make everything feel way better and I think it can be a big game changer for a lot of people.. So if you're a person that struggles with digestion, bloating, health issues, gut issues, anything like that really recommend getting a probiotic. I have two honorable mentions here. First is a multivitamin. A large-scale study published in the journal of American medical association found that multivitamin users has a lower risk of cancer and other nutrient deficiencies. And that was a study in 2012. It's one of those things where most people just aren't getting everything they need to, most people are eating crappy now, and then they're not getting all of these different things. They are picky, you don't eat perfectly, you didn't have a solid to whatever it is. If you're a person that doesn't eat like a robot, you're probably missing out on some micros. Micros just being vitamins and minerals. When we're talking about a typical American diet, vitamins and minerals fairly low, unfortunately, even the soil that we're using, it used to be more nutrient rich. We're not getting as much out of the foods that even come out of the ground anymore, as we used to, which is a sad reality, but supplementing can make a difference. I will say most green supplements are triple the cost and they don't taste good. And they're the same exact thing as a multivitamin. So that's a tidbit there that I would pay attention to. The other thing is caffeine. Caffeine is. Something that is so simple, but it is so effective. It has a study after study that it reduces fatigue. It can be great for pushing through you get more reps in your workout, all of these different things. It's not magic caffeine. If it's in a pre-workout, if you like beta alanine and you like the tingle, if you like, whatever, that's separate, it's a separate ingredient. But if you're just looking for the boost, bought coffee, a caffeine pill, you don't need a $200 frickin pre-workout to get the same results. Caffeine is caffeine. I like to see my clients between one and 300 milligrams a day. If they are choosing to use caffeine more than that, we start to see cortisol effects just a little bit, but it can be really great right before your workout. It's going to help you get better results overall. So what are worth it? Korea team. For performance recovery brain function. Whey protein. If you struggle to hit your protein intake. Omega threes. Brain heart joint health, mental clarity. Magnesium. If you're stressed, if you don't sleep well, if you're really tense. Vitamin D and K2 for bone health, immune health crappy mood during the winter. And probiotics, and this is going to mainly impact your gut health. So at the end of the day for supplementing, most people can stand to add in the ones I just said, all of them are going to be linked below from reputable sources. However, If you are not. Doing the basics supplementing is not going to help. If you are never working out, you're eating like crap. You're not going to the gym. You're dehydrated. You're not sleeping. Cover your big basics. First are supplements are going to be a complete waste of your money. If you think about how supplements work within the body, they are essentially acting on a system to make that system function better. If you are trashing that system and then taking a pill thinking it's going to fix it. It's not going to. And I think that this is a huge misnomer. Is that supplements fix something. They help your body. That is their job. It's to help your body optimize all of these different processes. You have to get those processes in motion in the first place before that can happen. So don't waste your money on crappy supplements and supplement for something specifically. Don't just pull them out of the woodworks and expect big changes. And if you don't know what supplements make sense for you send me a DM. I'll give you a supplement recommendation completely for free if you've stayed this long. If you would like one, I don't want this to be a big confusing thing and everyone wastes so much money on them. So DME, if you need to, all that information is below, along with my YouTube. All of the links to the supplements and. otherwise, I will see you guys in the next one. I hope you have a fabulous rest of your day. Bye guys.