Supplements
On a regular basis I get asked tons of questions regarding everything you could possibly imagine in the fitness and health field and even ones you can’t. But when I’m out socializing or meeting new people and they find out what I do for a living, typically they end up asking about this supplement, or that product, or how one supplement is better than another. One way or another eventually the topic of supplements gets brought up. So for this month’s newsletter I have decided to talk about supplementation.
Generally speaking supplements suck! Yes, I know that is not a very technical nor proper term but the fact is most supplements are really crap and can create more harm than good.
Did you know? That many major fitness magazines are either owned by or heavily affiliate with a major supplement manufacture. For example EAS is linked with the magazine Muscle media, Weider is linked with Flex Muscle & Fitness and Twin lab is linked with Muscular Development.
Did you also know that there is almost no regulation to any of the supplements sold in the US? Basically this means that anyone can put together a supplement using junk ingredients, blatantly lie on the nutritional label and typically not get caught until a good deal of damage has been done. Since there is no regulation or standardized testing much of the time you are not actually getting what it says on the bottle and furthermore you may be getting a good deal of cheap fillers and other waste that you would never knowingly put into your body.
So what can be done about this you ask? Well to be honest I don’t have an answer for the supplement companies as a whole but I do have answers on how you can inform yourself and become a smarter shopper.
1) On the whole most mainstream supplements found in GNC, Vitamin Shoppe, popular magazines etc are junk. You’d be surprised but most of the time these companies which fill the shelves of such stores spend more money…way more money on advertising and marketing than they actually put into the container. These companies make a killing selling a dream in a bottle. Avoid them at all costs!
2) Most supplements sold in bulk or for a “cheap price” like at Costco, Sam’s club or your local grocery store are also garbage! Listen, it is not always true but much of the time you really do get what you pay for. Let me put it this way if you owned a Royals Royce (by the way you all do, and it’s called your body) would you take it to Wal-Mart to get serviced? Then why would you buy your fish oils from Target or Costco?
3) Generally I have found that the best quality supplements can not be found in most stores. Mothers Market and Whole Foods do have some exceptions but on the whole the really good supplements which do work are not main stream. For example some of the best stuff is typically labeled Physician Grade “meaning it is a medical grade food” thus it almost always has to be prescribed by a doctor or health professional.
4) Check the company out. Do they have doctors leading the team on the development of the product? Do they have independent or third party studies backing their claims? Or is this some fly by the night company promising tighter glutes, six pack abs, and 25 lbs of fat loss in the next 7 minutes all from using their product? Does the product use organic ingredients? What are the ingredients? If the list is longer than your arm, and you cant’ pronounce 90% of the ingredients, it is probably garbage!
Here is what I do like and have found to be very beneficial in truly getting people healthier and looking better naked!
- A good quality Fish Oil – Personally I believe that Nordic Naturals is the best on the market today but there are a few other companies which are also up there.
- A good quality Green’s product – Before starting my business, I did 6 months of research and experimentation and found NanoGreens10 to be the best greens available on the market today. For those of you who are not in southern California you can check it out here http://www.mybiopharmacy.com/a/1616/
- Last but not least, a good quality Protein Powder – I think there are a few companies around that have created a top notch product. For most purposes I like a whey isolate, preferable cold filtered, with minimal ingredients and nothing ending in “ose.” All of the best that I have found on the market typically use Stevia as a sweetener and have fewer ingredients than you have fingers on your hands.
Confidently, I can tell you that you are now more aware of the supplement industry than 90% of the American public.