The In-Between Stage: Supplements and Nutrition

Supplements:
Below are a few supplements that I suggest all people should use when doing a workout regime. The first two are essential to everyone’s diet whether you work out or not. Protein is extremely important after a workout to rebuild your muscles that you essentially just shredded. An example of a food alternative to this would be to eat high-protein low-fat food, such as Greek yogurt or a natural high-protein, low-fat smoothie. A recovery formula is also important throughout your workout because it helps reduce fatigue, increase endurance, and replenish essential nutrients your body loses during the workout.  An example of a beverage alternative would be a sports drink such as Gatorade or Vitamin Water.  Please keep in mind that the food alternatives will not produce the same results as these scientifically produced, high concentrated supplements. Below is a list of supplements I use and have experienced significant improvements with:

·         Multivitamin – taken with the first meal of the day. There are many good multivitamins out there and I don’t think that one is overly better than another.  When picking a multivitamin for myself, I make sure that there is a significant amount of Calcium and Iron (VERY important for females – men, no additional iron is necessary in your diet). Other than that I simply do a cost analysis and make sure I keep an eye out for dosage size. It is very likely that a serving size ends up being 2 or 3 multivitamins.

·         Omega 3 fish oils (1000mg) – taken with the first meal of the day (some suggest adding to each meal of the day)

·         Whey Protein (protein shakes) – taken post work out. There are other forms of protein such as soy protein that many also take. When I pick my protein, I tend to look for a powder that has high protein content while keeping a low calorie and fat count.

·         Recovery formula – taken during workout. There are many different types of recovery formulas out there. I personally like ones that have the main ingredient of Amino Acids.  Amino Acids aid in increased performance, which is my ultimate goal throughout my workout. A popular one that I have used in the past is Scivation Xtend.

Nutrition:

As mentioned before, I want to tailor my diet without making any drastic changes, for I enjoy the social aspect of my life and indulging from time to time. Below are merely suggestions that I am going to follow and are healthy tips that can be found in most places online.  Obviously, the more drastic of a change you make, the faster you will achieve your results, however, drastic changes in diet are very hard to maintain. If even the below guidelines seem difficult to follow, remember that 70% of your physique is your nutrition and only 30% is your workout, so the more changes you make, the more you will see a difference.

·         At least one gallon of water/day

·         Focus on a high protein, low fat diet

·         Limit carbs to slow digestive carbs (yams, oatmeal, whole grains)

·         Focus on adding wholesome/natural foods (fruits, vegetables)

·         Reduce/Avoid:

o   Processed foods

o   Foods high in saturated fats

o   Sodium

o   Refined sugars

If you are looking for more of a structured diet plan, please refer to my blog posts about clean eating. Clean eating is a good guide for everyone to follow, though tends to be difficult at times. Just remember, as is with every lifestyle change (diet), if you fall off the horse, the sooner you get back on, the easier it is and the better you feel. The longer you wait, the more you risk sinking back into that rut.