#21 Supplements do you really need them?

Firstly thanks to everyone who filled out the quiz last month, the bulk of responses came through at the top band of 70-100%. You have either been paying attention to my tips or knew it all already, either way…well done.

A question regarding the necessity of supplements came through my inbox a few weeks back, so I thought I would share my vast experience with supplements for this month’s tip. You name it…and I bet that in 99% of the cases I would have tried it (if legal of course)!

Basically the idea behind supplements is to exactly that, to supplement your dietary intake so that you are getting all the nutrients your body needs….the idea being that if the body has all the nutrients it needs it will be more likely to grow muscle and burn fat faster (when combined with an exercise program).

“Ok so it’s settled then, I should be taking supplements”...well maybe not. In most cases a healthy, varied, and balanced diet will provide the body with enough of the nutrients it needs to perform at its best, without the need for forking out for expensive supplements.

But lets be honest how many of us can say that we have a “healthy, varied and balanced diet”? I definitely know that I don’t all the time…unless by balanced I mean holding a beer in each hand. So I take a multi vitamin supplement everyday, it is inexpensive and helps make sure my vitamin and mineral intake is at least at the recommended level.

Also our bodies still haven’t adapted that well from the caveman years. This is why vegetarians will often need to take iron supplements (which is primarily found in red meat). Iron is necessary for blood to carry oxygen around the body, and lack of oxygen reaching your muscles will make you feel very lethargic.

Please note you should avoid megadoses of supplements. There is no evidence to suggest that taking over the recommended dosage will improve your body’s performance, and in many cases it can be dangerous. Therefore, taking four Vitamin C tablets instead of the recommended one has more of a chance at turning you into an orange (you are what you eat!), than helping you ward off the lurgy any better

If you are in doubt as to whether or not you need to take supplements see your doctor for a blood test and they will let you know what you are lacking in.

Now for the fun stuff – the most popular training supplements. I’m going to split this over two months because I could go on forever talking about this stuff. For this month we will look at…

Protein

The average person needs approximately 1 gram of protein per 0.75kg of body mass per day. I weigh 93kg, so that means I need to take in about 70grams of protein a day to maintain muscle. A glass of milk at breakfast (~10g), a palm sized piece of meat at lunch (~30g) and dinner (~30g) and my protein needs are fulfilled.

However, anyone who has seen me in the kitchen at work at about 8am has seen me furiously shaking up a protein drink…why? This is because when you are training heavily, particularly resistance training, your body needs more protein in order to rebuild muscle, in some cases up to double the standard recommended intake.

The average protein shake when taken with milk will contain about 30-40grams of protein, so it can be a good supplement instead of eating more. While more convenient it is also much more expensive than eating, so you have to do a cost/benefit analysis for yourself.

Excess protein gets turned into fat or passed through the body, so consuming heaps of protein shakes a day isn’t going to help with your fitness goals, and it can actually cause dehydration and damage to your kidneys.

You also need to check the type of protein shake you are taking. Many of the cheaper protein shakes are loaded with carbohydrates, which will help you bulk up but is not good if you are trying to say lean. If you are trying to stay lean then stick to 100% whey protein.

I have seen meal replacement shakes work quite well on weight loss programs but you should avoid using these to replace your whole diet, as your body craves nutrients that you can only get from eating.

Next month I will cover some of the other popular training supplements, namely Creatine, HydroxyCut/Fat Blaster type products, and hormonal supplements.

Til next month,

Chris

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