Galahad's

     This is a very touchy area for a lot of people as there is so much contradictory information out there. Here, I am giving my opinion based on the conclusions that I have made with my research and experiences. Take it or leave it as you wish.

 

     Most supplements are not necessary for success, some really do help, fewer are essential and even more of them are junk. This section is just on dietary supplements. I will focus on those geared more towards exercise later.

 

     Unless recommended by a physician, there is only one supplement that everyone should take. Take your gender specific multivitamins daily. Never miss a day.

 

     If you cannot naturally get your daily dose of protein, go for a low-cal protein supplement. I prefer IsoFlex Whey Protein Isolate by AllMax.

 

     The third supplement that I would recommend is fish oil or flax oil to get more omegas. Liquid form is absorbed best by the body. Look for something that is no more than two doses a day to reach 1000mg of combined EPA and DHA.

 

     Those would be the three important ones. As for the next three that I am going to talk about here, they are not at all essential for success and there is a lot of debate on whether or not they are beneficial at all. I will name them, briefly describe their claims and then give my opinion.

 

     Chromium is supposed to help with digestion and the metabolism of fats and carbohydrates. This is an additional supplement that I do take. I discovered it within Fuze Shape beverages. I would drink a Fuze after every meal and I found that I seemed to be losing weight a little faster. Not only do I still drink Fuze from time to time, I also take a chromium supplement in pill form every morning.

 

     Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is another supplement that may be used but not if you are diabetic or morbidly obese as it can aggravate insulin resistance. Basically, CLA can help to change body firmness by decreasing fat and increasing lean body mass. The fat reduction is rather low, about 1lb every five weeks, but the increase in lean body mass is about 1% per week. Those are just the results when used alone. CLA is best used with an exercise and diet program so your muscle mass is increased to burn even more calories to take off even more fat.

 

     Lastly, Carnitine (as L-Carnitine), assists with the breakdown of fatty acids into energy, maintaining fatty acid metabolism in tissues and has a high antioxidant effect. It is a naturally occurring substance in cells that diminishes over time. Keeping a higher, balanced level could assist in your fitness goals and many other areas of your health.

 

     I want to briefly touch on diet pills here, as well. Most of them are just full of stimulants and diuretics. Some will assist with weight loss, but it is mostly water weight and they can dehydrate you and cause you to lose vital nutrients that you’re trying to get from the foods you are now eating. If you take a diet pill, you should be drinking a minimum of 4 litres of water a day. Losing key vitamins and minerals would mean that you would also have to up your multivitamin intake. The problem with that is you won’t be losing everything from your regular dose because of the diet pill, but you would be adding everything back into your system, including doubling up on the stuff that you hadn’t lost. In my opinion, they are not really worth it and most of them are, to put it bluntly, crap.

 

     There are so many different supplements out there that claim to do this and claim to do that. I haven’t had the time, nor the courage, to try them all. After reading lots of research, reports and reviews, everything listed is all that I would suggest using, but try what you would like.

 

     Me, I take my gender specific multivitamin, chromium, fish oil and protein.