The case for sound nutritional supplementation

It's a busy and hectic world out there, we wake up early in the morning for work, then are up late at night socializing or working and somewhere in the middle of that we need to fit in time to execrcise, vacation and eat. In a perfect world we would all be shopping at an organic market buying wholesome organic produce and meat on a regular basis and using it as a mainstay of our diet on a regular basis.
Unfortunately very few of us live in this "perfect world".
Is it doable - yes. Does it take a bunch of planning and preparation? yes.

Sadly, the majority of people out there knowingly or unknowingly subject themselves to sub par nutrition, either from making poor food choices in general or from shopping at stores that don't ensure a high quality in the produce and meat.
To make matters worse, people will hit up the closest Bartells/CVS and buy some random "one-a-day" multi-vitamin to remain healthy.
The result is that they generally have low energy throughout the day, have the tendency to put on weight, often have mood swings, get sick more frequently and recover from illness more slowly.

I only eat organic grass fed beef, free range chicken and pastured eggs. I buy my produce only from whole foods or from independent farmers. I don't drink milk and I don't eat bread, rice and pasta. Despite all this I still feel like I fall short on a micro-nutrient level.

I haven't found a convenient way to get 5000IU of vitamin A, 30mg of Co-enzyme Q10, 300mg of Alpha lipoic acid etc etc only through "sound nutrition".

Enter supplements......

Think of Diet as "building material" for a house.
Exercise as the actual action of putting the material together.
Supplements as the screws, nuts and bolts that hold everything together.

There are times when my diet goes to hell, but my supplement regime is always consistent. The net result is that my performance and body composition does not take that big of a hit.
if I miss a couple of meals or eat a couple of really bad meals, my energy levels don't suffer too much.

The problem is that all supplements are not created equal. Let me reiterate that. ALL SUPPLEMENTS ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL.

The supplement industry is not regulated, there is no way to actually be sure what is in a bottle is in a bottle!

Do not buy supplements over the counter at a pharmacy. one step better is to go to a supplement store such as vitamin life, seattle super supplements or whole foods and ask about this brands are the best.

One step even better is to choose a line that is endorsed (preferably voluntarily) by world class athletes and doctors and has peer-reviewed literature to back it up. I can forward you on to a couple of great companies.... eg. Juice Plus, advocare, melaleuca. (btw, I thinkAdvocare is by far the best).

it's surprising though that even "reputed" companies put sub par ingredients into their product line.

Here's an example some of you will be able to relate to. The Pro Club in Bellevue, WA has a program called the 20/20 lifestyles program. It's very expensive, but does produce good results.

The supplementation program of 20/20 consists of a multi-vitamin, Fish oil and calcium.
I tried to research the supplements, but could not find out who the manufacturer was.
The calcium supplement has calcium in the form of carbonate/citrate which probably has bioavailability of around 30% (please correct me if I am wrong). Furthermore it doesn't have any magnesium in it! how the hell are you going to absorb the darn calcium?
Adequate calcium intake is integral to fat loss.
in the Multi-vit, none of the minerals are chelated and so again the bioavailibility and absorption will be less than optimal. Lastly there is no Co-enzyme Q10, no Inositol or a bunch of other important co factors.

Here's another shocker, there are no probiotics or digestive enzymes as part of the supplementation program. So even if the vits were high potency and bioavailable, they will porbably not absorb very well since the persons digestive system will likely be a mess.

Ok so here's the deal.
1. start with a good pro-biotic supplement
2. ensure your multi-vit is super high quality
3. ensure your Omega 3 supplement is super high quality (put the softgels in the freezer, if they cloud up, they contain impurities - swtich brand to something better)
4. BCAAs and L-glutamine
5. all other performance supplements:
- protein powders
- pre and post workout mixes
- Night time recovery formulas (ZMA, Gaba, L-Theanine etc)
- Energy drinks and Thermogenics.

6. Specific, therapeutic stuff
- Milk Thistle, Turmeric extract, Extra Alpha lipoic acid, resveratrols, adaptogens, fruit/vegetable extracts
- Co-enzyme A, CLA, cleanses, etc etc.

That's how you build your supplement foundation that will serve you.