Supplements and your health….

Supplements? What’s the go with them? What should I be taking & when? Fat burners? Pre workout? Protein powders? There’s so much of this stuff, it’s overwhelming!! Hi Candice, great question. It is often overwhelming with all of the options out there. I have a list of priorities when it comes to supplements in terms of budgets and goals. But first and foremost I recommend people look at their diet and make sure that nutritionally it is as good as you can do! You cannot out-supplement or out exercise a poor nutrition plan. Then exercise: you must ensure you are fitting in with your goals through exercise and a correct recovery plan. You cannot out-supplement a poor exercise and recovery plan! The most essential one to start with would be a multivitamin to ensure that you are filling any gaps that your nutrition cannot. For example, NZ soil is deficient in selenium. So even if you were to have the most optimal and balanced diet ever, you would be falling short! Second, i'd get a great tasting and quality protein powder: Despite the fact the people often complain about the price of protein powders in general, you have to remember how much it is per scoop compared to the equivalent amount of protein from chicken for example. The benefit of whey is that it immediately kick starts the repair process of muscles in the body, and it has a sparing effect on the muscles that you have built. If you do not have adequate protein for the day, the body becomes resourceful and uses protein from muscle in the body since protein cannot be manufactured from either of the other 2 macronutrients. The third I would invest in would be BCAAs to enhance protein synethesis and recovery. BCAAs are branched chain amino acids, and there is usually great ones which also has glutamine in it (another amino acid to help with recovery). If you do have extra cash you could try some of the great pre-workouts out there (which has capsicum in it to increase thermogenesis in the body and fat burning during your workout; beta-alanine to fight fatigue in your workout and many other cool things to aid in the most intense sessions!). Ultimately it depends on your own goals, but its best to stick with the basics first, and then if you have more coin to experiment with some of the other things out there.