Stolen From Zack's Blog

Day14

The following has been taken from Zack's blog! Good read!

Supplements - What I'm taking and a little research

Insert all legal disclaimers that this is not meant to be medical advice; I'm not a nutritionist/dietitian, etc., etc. But, I dug in and did quite a bit of supplement research right around the end of last year. These are the 4 that I decided my diet was lacking and have been happy with the results on each. One reason we've all decided to do this diet is because we have taken a greater interest with what we're putting in our bodies, so make sure to do your own research as well and get a good idea of what you're getting naturally before any supplementation. This is what I've got:

1. Vitamin D: Being on Paleo, due to no dairy, and the fact we live in the Midwest and won't see the sun again until June, vitamin D was the first thing I picked up. Here's a great article on the ins and outs of D from EatMoveImprove: http://www.eatmoveimprove.com/2009/10/a-closer-look-at-vitamin-d/

So far I’ve noticed a great improvement in overall stress levels, this with a little bit more demanding period right now at work. Some of the athletic performance increases noted in the article are tougher to opine on , I’m moving up in all ways right now, but it’s hard to pinpoint a cause since this isn’t the only thing I’ve changed in my diet and workout philosophy.

2. Magnesium: There's plenty out there on most of us being Magnesium deficient. Spinach is a pretty good natural source, but no food seems to have it in great supply, so like vit D, tough to get naturally. I know there's a whole book called the Magnesium Miracle, I've heard referenced often on Robb Wolf's podcast, a chapter in Protein Power Life Plan and on Mark Sisson has a couple blog posts on its benefits, here's one: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/magnesium-and-butterbur/. Basically it is the ying if you think of calcium as the yang.

Robb Wolf recommends the Natural Calm, but I just found a Magnesium Citrate powder on Amazon (Subscribe and Save is a wonderful thing). Everything I read said do the citrate because it is more usable by your body and if you can handle powder do powder again because of ease of absorption and use by your body. Do the powder in hot water, you want it to dissolve in the water before taking it. I did it once in cold water, just stirring it up and got a little bit bloated. It went right away, but hot water avoids this issue. I’ve noticed much better sleep since starting this.

3. Probiotics: Just got rolling with these. These are the good bacteria that are supposed to line your gut. When sick, especially when on antibiotics, the body doesn't discriminate, it flushes everything. So, the idea of probiotics is to reseed your gut. My main reason for taking them has been that I've upped my protein and want to make sure my body is absorbing as much as possible. Here's two good links: http://paynowlivelater.blogspot.com/2009/11/supplements-what-i-take-and-why.html and http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-to-primal-supplementation/
So most bottles you'll pick up say to work your way up to 1/meal. These two blogs and others I found say it doesn't need to be daily. For people of have used these in the past let me know your thoughts. Here's the plan I'm using. 2 weeks at 1/day, then back off to every other day, then to once a week and keeping with that unless I get sick, then I'll start this routine over. The thought here is that these guys multiply on their own, so once I'm set up, I should be fine to back off to more of a maintenance deal. I could be off base here and would love to here other people's thoughts.


4. Fish Oil: See some of the above links and the Paleo hand book Bryce handed out. Great anti-inflammation qualities (good for leaning out) and helps get your Omega 3's and 6's back in balance. Probably most are taking some amount of fish oil already, seems to pretty much be the official Crossfit supplement. Meals where I’m eating fish or grassfed meat, I usually skip the pills. All other meals I throw back a pretty good handful.

That’s what I’m up to supplement wise. Hopefully it’s somewhat helpful. None of these are too far out there. There’s info on all of them on WebMd and the Mayo Clinc’s sites as well, so pretty mainstream. I’m monitoring everything the best I can. It is of course tough since we don’t live in a vacuum and rarely can single out direct cause and effect, but I’m happy so far with these.

I’m looking forward to hearing from others on this topic as well.