The Supplements I recommend for a PRIME BODY
I recommend keeping it simple in the beginning with just a Protein-Powder and a good quality Omega 3 fish oil. These are what I believe to be the 2 most important supplements to optimise your health and help you on the journey towards your PRIME.
Technically you could argue that Protein Powder isn’t really a supplement since ‘Protein’ its one of 3 entire macronutrients (The other two being Fat and Carbohydrate) and it’s touted as the most important of the three. A protein shake can more accurately be seen as a helpful snack to help balance your macronutrient ratio. It’s such a useful cost-effective addition to a persons diet to help them reach adequate daily protein intake. People not reaching adequate protein intake is one of the biggest hurdles to improving their body composition (increasing lean tissue and decreasing fat ) and overall transformation.
Another more common hurdle is the over-consumption of calories. Increasing protein intake can help with this too: Protein is more satiating than carbohydrates –meaning it makes you feel fuller. Protein also requires more energy (calories) to be digested compared to carbs and fats. Win/Win.
*The importance of GOOD QUALITY protein is discussed further down the page so keep reading.
Plant based protein powders like Form Nutrition are great quality however nothing will top Whey protein powder in terms if bioavailability , so if you tolerate dairy well, choose a good quality whey protein powder.Omega 3 Fish Oil : The most important factors to consider when choosing an omega 3 supplement are
a) Quality. Even ‘good’ fatty acids are bad for you if they are rancid or are contaminated with heavy metals for instance.
b) What is the actual content of EPA and DHA of the capsule or liquid you’re taking? (these are the amazing fatty acids of Omega 3 fats). If the ratios of EPA and DHA aren’t upward of 50-60%, find new ones.
c) Plant-based omegas 3 capsules don’t cut it. They contain ALA which must be converted by our bodies into the brain healthy EPA and DHA fatty acids. However the conversion is so poor that you will never get enough without extremely high intake.
*ALA ~ DHA 0.5-5% conversion , ALA~EPA 1-10%conversion. Don’t waste your time or money on itI recommend taking a fish oil that has vitamin D included in it. If yours does not, then you should take a separate vitamin D supplement over the winter months or potentially all year if you limit your sun exposure excessively.
After prioritising the 2-3 mentioned above, if you have the flexibility to add additional supplements to your regime, these are what I recommend.
4. I also recommend a pre-bed supplement consisting of Zinc, Magnesium and one or more calming compounds like L-theanine, Ashwaganda root, 5-HTP.
Magnesium is one of the most useful minerals involved in over 300 enzymatic processes in our body. Zinc is an important one for the immune system as well as protein synthesis (muscle building) and is great at optimising our sex hormones.
My favourites for this is Unplug by Motion Nutrition
5. Another supplement everyone should take is creatine. It is not just for body-builders –as is commonly assumed. Interestingly recent research has indicated it's also great for brain health and can have some cognitive enhancing benefits. So although I recommend EVERYONE should dedicate a few hours of the week to resistance training, creatine can benefit you even if you aren’t lifting weights. I put a 5 gram scoop in my protein powder daily. As long as the supplement is ‘creatine monodrate’ you cant really go wrong with where you source this powder.
WHAT GETS MEASURED GETS MANAGED
Lastly, if it’s affordable to you, I recommend getting regular full panel blood tests in order to identify any nutrient deficiencies unique to you. This is especially important if you are vegan or vegetarian as deficiencies are far more likely and extreme. I also get my sex hormones checked 2-3 times a year via simple pin prick tests. I think of these as great predictors or recovery and stress but also the canary down the mine for a bunch of other ailments.
I recommend getting bloods tested regularly to avoid deficiencies and stay on top of your health.
In fact this is something all clients on the PRIME - X programme do at the start of their first 3 months to get a good overview of hormonal and nutrient health :
• Sex hormones. Male: MEDICHECKS
• Sex hormones. Female: THRIVA
• Nutrients & Gut. All from NEOVOS
-Omega 3 test
-Vitamin D test
-Vitamin B12 test
-Advanced Gut test
*Most westernised countries that aren’t the UK will have their own similar order-online-home-testkits that you can google.
Check below for my Protein-Powder and Omega 3 fish oil brand recommendations:
FORM NUTRITION
FORM NUTRITION have a range of different Protein-Powder. I highly recommend their ‘Performance Protein’ range (any flavour) as is contains a good amount of Leucine and most plant-based protein powders lack enough.
Leucine is the most important amino acid (building blocks of protein) for muscle protein synthesis (muscle growth).
Leucine helps your body switch into an ‘Anabolic’ / muscle and tissue building phase. Without leucine, your body will spend longer in the reciprocal state of ‘catabolism’ where muscle and tissue is broken down to recycle amino acids. Not ideal if muscle gain is the goal.
In short: the more anabolic phases you can switch into during a day the more lean tissue you can build and/or maintain.
*Obviously you want to do this without consuming more calories than your current goal. Hence why protein is the most important macronutrient target to reach.
If you prefer and tolerate dairy, get a good quality Whey Protein powder. they have excellent bioavailability and also contain enough leucine too.
I prefer their Omega 3 pills that contain vitamin D3 for winter time.
Read More about the importance of Vitamin D in this blog I originally wrote for Bare Biology.
