Vitamins, supplements, herbs... what do you take?

[Shawn-San]

The title pretty much sums it up. Just trying to get an idea of what some of you may take as dietary or workout suppliments.

 

[Flea]

This subject comes up every so often, but it's a good one, and bears repeating.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

After giving it a lot of thought and some research, I've changed my mind with respect to vitamins and supplements, I take nothing at all. I take Metformin for my diabetes, and that's it. I am beginning to suspect that the vitamin and supplement business is nothing more than a racket, pushing overpriced boxes of stuff that does more or less nothing.

I thought about chondroitin/glucosamine for my bum knee, but at the prices they charge, after six months of the stuff, I could pay for the surgery I actually need. Forget that.

 

[Shawn-San]

This subject comes up every so often, but it's a good one, and bears repeating.

Thanks for the link.

 

[Omar B]

I take you basic Centrum Performance multivitamin.

 

[Shawn-San]

I am beginning to suspect that the vitamin and supplement business is nothing more than a racket, pushing overpriced boxes of stuff that does more or less nothing.

I agree, most of the stuff out there is a complete waste of money and does more harm than it will good.
Personally, I take a multivitamin, and omega 3 fish oils. After working out or participating in class I'll drink a protein shake followed by some glutamine and sometimes some added amino acids. I've noticed a huge change in my muscle recovery times by just adding a little glutamine.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I agree, most of the stuff out there is a complete waste of money and does more harm than it will good.
Personally, I take a multivitamin, and omega 3 fish oils. After working out or participating in class I'll drink a protein shake followed by some glutamine and sometimes some added amino acids. I've noticed a huge change in my muscle recovery times by just adding a little glutamine.

That's a fair amount of money right there. I just don't have it to spend.

 

[Bruno@MT]

I used to take vitamins most of my life.
These days I've pretty much stopped doing so.

I take 2 things I'd count as supplement:
- eggs, several times per week. the yolks are just loaded with all kinds of good stuff that are hard to come by in other foods.
- multi-fruit juice. I buy the kind without added sugar, colorant, or other things. Lots of natural vitamins, and it tastes good. This makes up for the fact that I don't eat fruit at all.

 

[David43515]

I get Tumeric from the spice wrack and mix a 1/2 tsp with a glass of water once in a while. Tastes bitter as heck, but it`s a mild anti-inflamitory. That`s about it.

 

[Hudson69]

I occaisionally take a multi-vitamin, if I am getting sick I will drink Emergen-C and right before a military PFT (fitness test) I will take a load of Gakkic (I think that is how it is spelled) but this last one might just be psychosemantic for me to do better but it is supposed to let me have more energy for a harder/heavier workout.

 

[zDom]

My father, a physician, says if you eat right, you should be getting all the vitamins you need.

I don't (although, thanks to a great GF, I'm eating better than ever ...) so I take a multivitamin daily.

 

[JWLuiza]

Chondroitin and Glucosamine have some mild support in the literature for effectiveness.

Emergen-C, Airborne, etc has been shown to not work in RCTs.

You have to be eating pretty crappy to be missing stuff.

I don't take anything. I just try to eat a variety of foods.

 

[angrywhitepajamas]

After giving it a lot of thought and some research, I've changed my mind with respect to vitamins and supplements, I take nothing at all. I take Metformin for my diabetes, and that's it. I am beginning to suspect that the vitamin and supplement business is nothing more than a racket, pushing overpriced boxes of stuff that does more or less nothing.

I thought about chondroitin/glucosamine for my bum knee, but at the prices they charge, after six months of the stuff, I could pay for the surgery I actually need. Forget that.

You may have to suppliment any way depending on how high your blood sugar gets you may have to start supplementing different vitamins, electrolytes, and minerals to compensate for decreased leveles of water soluble vitamins due to increased urine out put, acidification due to chronic hyperglycemia, as well as sbsequent and progressive demineralization of the bones from chronic hyperglycemia and/or ketoacidosis. but check with your doctor/diabetes specialist and a nutritionist first to see what may be necessary.

 

[kravi]

I do all the cooking at home, and am careful to make sure that we eat right. That should cover all needs, with lots of dark greens, etc.

But just in case, I also drink at least two cups of matcha a day (during the work days, not so much on weekends), take a multi-vitamin, good fish oil supplement (not quite enough good fish in our diet) and weigh protein.

I take the weigh protein after working out, and in the evenings before bed. That is it.

--kravi

 

[Marginal]

Right now I'm using One A Day sports vitamins.

The main reason I still bother is that the sport blends actually do seem to help my recovery times. (I'm not sore the next day when I take 'em.) That aside, I don't see anything wrong with hitting any nutritional gaps I may inadvertently have. The other stuff will just pass on through.

I'll also use protein powder for my workouts. Overall cheaper than buying a bunch of steaks, and less painful than trying to down a gallon of milk a day or something.

 

[yak sao]

I have had success with glucosamine chondroitin in the past for joint pain, but I've kind of fallen out of the habit.

I've had good results from bromelain as an anti inflamitory when I had tennis elbow.
When I start to feel under the weather I'll pop a little echinacea and vitamin C.

But for the most part I just try to eat right.

 

[xJOHNx]

Vegan Diet
Loads of water
Tea: echinacae, nettle root, ginseng, ginger and so on..

Loads of wild berries from the forest around here.
An occasional multivitamin.

 

[Bruno@MT]

Vegan Diet

I disagree with you.
Have you ever read Taubes' 'Good Calories, Bad calories'?
We've lived for hundreds of thousands of years on animal products. It's what our bodies were made for. It's only since a couple of thousands of years that we started eating differently. Evolutionary speaking, not nearly long enough to have made our bodies adapt.

I am in the opposite camp. Meat, fish, cheese, nuts, whole butter, lots of eggs, ... specifically egg yolks are very rich in minerals and vitamins. I also eat vegetables of course, and I eat low amounts of carbohydrates. I am lean and sinewy. My fat percentage is 11 or something like that, I am in good health, have good cardio and my bloodwork is ok.

What is supposedly better about vegan lifestyle?

 

[Mark Jordan]

I've tried all. Now, I'm alternating multi-vitamins with an herb supplement.
Supplements and vitamins can help fill in the nutrient gaps but it's not a substitute for a well-balanced diet and exercise.

 

[xJOHNx]

I disagree with you.
Have you ever read Taubes' 'Good Calories, Bad calories'?
We've lived for hundreds of thousands of years on animal products. It's what our bodies were made for. It's only since a couple of thousands of years that we started eating differently. Evolutionary speaking, not nearly long enough to have made our bodies adapt.

I am in the opposite camp. Meat, fish, cheese, nuts, whole butter, lots of eggs, ... specifically egg yolks are very rich in minerals and vitamins. I also eat vegetables of course, and I eat low amounts of carbohydrates. I am lean and sinewy. My fat percentage is 11 or something like that, I am in good health, have good cardio and my bloodwork is ok.

What is supposedly better about vegan lifestyle?

Cholesterol and heart-diseases run in the family. The "fruste" elements for those two are very high.
So everything that has to do with animal protein is a bit of a risk for me, especially from eggs and red meat.
That as well as my bloodgroup that is more likely to benefit from a veg diet.

You are right that our bodies are not adapted for a full herbivore diet, but it's the thing that made me lose 18 kilo's of fat and made me look alot more muscular.


I don't eat the hollow calories like white bread, white pasta and white rice. Everything brown and full of fiber. Even then I try to minimize it to 1 portion a day.
I mainly eat tons of fruit and vegetables, alot of them raw now that the weather is nice.

Evolutionary speaking we only ate little amounts of meat, as it wasn't available everyday until we started having cattle and even then meat was not an everyday thing. We can digest meat but the length of our colon (as well as the predecesors) suggest that we were primarely living on fruits, nuts, berries, veg and little amounts of meat.
Now that we live in a world in which you can choose to be vegan, I like to be it. But that's just my moral and ethics concerning animal wellfare.

I'm certain that if you would see me walk down the street, me being vegan would be the last thing on your mind. I'm 1.77 meters, tattooed up, stocky and as bronzed as if I have been living in Greece for the last 15 years (even in wintertime).