Supplements are just that – they “supplement” your food. They were never there to replace food. If you are not eating whole foods and just using supplements – you are losing out what whole foods can provide.
Here’s my supplement list based on order of importance:
- Multivitamin
Because we might have not enough of a particular mineral or vitamin. It’s a catch-all. If you are a very active person, you might have to up the dosage. Daily dosages are typically too low and meant for sedentary people. - Fish Oil
Improves brain function, helps with joint pains etc. Just make sure the EPA and DHA amounts are enough for you. Don’t just buy any Fish oil. The dosages I use are definitely higher than sedentary people. - Vitamin C
It helps with overall immunity. Dosages in multivitamins are usually low so you would need to supplement it with this. 1-2g a day is usually enough. I’m usually on 2-3g.
I do mega-dosing especially when I feel off and know that i’m starting to get run down – 1g every other hour. Don’t believe me? Try it! - Whey Protein
It’s hard to get 2g of protein per pound of bodyweight at my bodyweight and a full time job. So supplementation of this is a must. It’s the most crucial for pushing protein synthesis. Whey is a milk protein that has a high level of branched-chain amino acids. - Creatine
Let’s get serious. No amount of eating red meat would allow you to get the optimal amount of creatine. Creatine works in a number of ways. For one, it increases the amount of fast energy in your muscles needed to perform reps in the gym. The more of this fast energy that’s available, the more reps you can do with a given weight, allowing you to get bigger and stronger in the long run. Creatine also draws more water into your muscle cells, placing a stretch on the cell that increases long-term growth. Most recently, creatine has been found to increase levels of insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in muscles, which is critical for stimulating growth.
So there you go. That’s entirely my opinion. You might put Whey as the main supplement to get – that’s up to you. But I believe that you have to have your base nutrients right, make sure that nothing is lacking. Then comes everything else.