Supplements page

[abbsman]

Hey Guys,

It's Nick here

I had a some questions about supplements

First off here is what i take every morning

Fish oil- One teaspoon
Multivitamin- Generic Brand- One Pill
Probiotic- One pill

Maca powder- One Teaspoon
Calcium Powder- One Teaspoon
Vitamin B Complex- 25 droplets


What else would you recommend to take for optimum health and life longevity?

I have noticed a huge difference between the pills and liquid form, liquid tend to be MUCH better, is their any brands you would recommend or liquid versions that you have found to be awesome.

Thanks!

Nick

[Lawyerchick12]

hmm thanks for starting this Nick. I have been thinking about supplements recently especially since I am VLC and as much as I try, I know there might be some nutrients I won't be getting much of consistently.

Anywho I take Whey, multivitamin, Vitamin D and Magnesium at the moment.

I am interested in your pill vs liquid form theory as my magnesium is in pill form but was advised that liquid might be better overall for faster uptake.

I already drink whey protein as it helps with my lifts.

[Paleobird]

I'm VLC and I don't take any supps at all. If you include some liver and bone marrow/bone broth, you're really not missing anything. Also VLC doesn't mean never eating another veggie again. Spinach and kale are multivitamins.

[Lawyerchick12]

Ya I know.....just don't have the time to shop and/or cook a lot of things right now....so my diet has been repetitive and I never said anything about not eating veggies.

At any rate, be it my ever inquisitive or profound inability to accept anything anyone says at face value without MY personal research, I will continue to supplement as it personally helps me mentally at least as I go VLC.

[Ollie]

Depends what your gaols or needs are.

I think the staple big 3 for anyone are a multivitamin, fish oil, probiotics.

But some other useful supps would be magnesism oil, digestive enzymes, protein powder, phosphatidyl serine (for stress), Melatonin (for sleep), 5-HTP (for the blues), and creatine.

[Paleobird]

Ya I know.....just don't have the time to shop and/or cook a lot of things right now....so my diet has been repetitive and I never said anything about not eating veggies.

At any rate, be it my ever inquisitive or profound inability to accept anything anyone says at face value without MY personal research, I will continue to supplement as it personally helps me mentally at least as I go VLC.

I didn't say you shouldn't supplement, just that I didn't feel the need. The living in fear of veggies thing is just an oft repeated but untrue criticism of VLC that I hoped you weren't buying into. Good to know you're not.

You have a very good point that if you are not getting much variety in your eating, VLC or otherwise, then you might come up short somewhere nutritionally.

[Lawyerchick12]

Its cool P.Bird....god I know what you mean. I wondered what some of those VLC extremists ate all those fats and protein if they did not include veggies....


Naaah just been busy the last couple of weeks and started thinking more about supplements as I just have had time for much these days....the good news is I have lost 4 more lbs without exercising (I used to be a huge exercise nut and never lost or sometimes even gained so that's kind neat) Viva VLC!

[SarahW]

You know, I used to really stress out about my vitamin intake. I was constantly "ugh, I didn't eat 5 servings of vegetables today, I'm sooo deficient in everything." I think the food pyramid + yahoo health articles puts a lot of people into this constant guilt-trip, which is why we're such suckers for fake sugar that has B vitamins "to boost" and Total cereal, and get the "way to go me!" feeling (that commercial, I lulz every time I think about it).

I've been playing around with FitDay recently, and I have absolutely no idea just how accurate their Nutrition breakdown is, but if you throw in some eggs and some good meat and dairy you hit 100% RDA pretty easily. If you're consistently not quite there on something you can research which foods are good sources of it and try to add it in. I've recently found out that Brazil Nuts are pretty much a Selenium pill, and tomatoes have tons of potassium.

Just me, but I read an article once (maybe on yahoo health) which quoted a scientist as saying that "Americans have the healthiest urine in the world" because of all the unabsorbable nutrients in our fortified food and supplements. That line has always stuck with me, which is why if I'm looking for selenium I'd rather eat a brazil nut. And for trace minerals I make bone broth with kale and kelp and Himalayan pink salt.

But fish oil, yeah, I think 95% of Americans probably have to supplement that.

[JamesS]

Hey Guys,

It's Nick here

I had a some questions about supplements

First off here is what i take every morning

Fish oil- One teaspoon
Multivitamin- Generic Brand- One Pill
Probiotic- One pill

Maca powder- One Teaspoon
Calcium Powder- One Teaspoon
Vitamin B Complex- 25 droplets


What else would you recommend to take for optimum health and life longevity?

I have noticed a huge difference between the pills and liquid form, liquid tend to be MUCH better, is their any brands you would recommend or liquid versions that you have found to be awesome.

Thanks!

Nick

First of all you should be taking a good magnesium with the calcium. Taking a lot of calcium without magnesium is just asking for health problems. This is because calcium contracts muscles while magnesium relaxes muscles. So an imbalance of calcium and magnesium with a much higher ratio of calcium can lead to high blood pressure, constipation, migraines, muscle cramps/spasms, bronchiole constriction, etc. This is why calcium channel blockers or magnesium are used to treat so many of these conditions.

Acdified forms of calcium and magnesium, such as citrate or malate, are the best absorbed and most beneficial. The carbonates and oxides are the worst. This includes calcium carbonate found under the names oyster shell, dolomite and coral.

As for the claim that liquids are better I strongly disagree. Liquid minerals are OK, although they often contain poorly absorbed forms of the minerals. Liquid vitamins and herbs though are a joke. Water promotes oxidative destruction of these things rendering them useless in a very short period of time. For example, back in high school we tested the stability of the common synthetic ascorbic acid ("vitamin C" sold in health food stores. We exposed samples to light, low heat and moisture. After 40 minutes we tested each of the samples for vitamin C content. In all three samples the vitamin C had already been completely destroyed. Even fruits and vegetables lose vitamin content rapidly as they sit around on the store shelves. And the same reason herbs need to be dried as quickly as possible after being harvested without a lot of heat and out of direct light. The longer it takes for the herbs to dry the more of the nutrients and other active compounds are destroyed by increased oxidation due to the presence of moisture. This is why I rarely use teas or tinctures for medicine. I prefer powders or capsuled herbs, especially when using them for nutrition.

As for other recommendations, one other thing I would highly recommend is chromium polynicotinate. Along with magnesium the chromium helps to maintain proper blood sugar levels, which has been shown to help reduce "aging". Chromium polynicotinate is 300 times more effective than chromium picolinate, but the same cost.

Silica is also essential since it is the most common deficiency of aging that lead to many of the "aging" disorders such as wrinkles, osteoporosis, osteaoarthritis, emphysema, diverticulitis, etc.:

Alt/Trad Medical Review

I don't like horsetail grass (shavegrass) for silica though for various reasons including its vasoconstrictive properties.:

Alt/Trad Medical Review

I prefer either food grade diatomaceous earth or bamboo shavings, which are the highest sources of silica. Seaweeds, nettle leaf, butcher's broom and couchgrass are also great sources.

[JamesS]

I'm VLC and I don't take any supps at all. If you include some liver and bone marrow/bone broth, you're really not missing anything. Also VLC doesn't mean never eating another veggie again. Spinach and kale are multivitamins.

Spinach and especially kale are also rich sources of oxalic acid that bind various nutrients like calcium and magnesium blocking their absorption. Therefore I would not recommend making these a major part of the diet.