Top supplements you should be taking and why

Our top 3 supplements (and protein isn’t one of them)

It’s tough to know what supplementation you should be taking, when every supplement company is constantly selling you on why you should take every single one of their 800 products.

In this post we discuss why you may want to use supplementation, but also how you can get in those nutrients naturally.

Supplements are by no means a necessity, but for some people they can upgrade their health and fitness prescription. We do live in a time where the average diet leads us to nutrient deficiencies and bad digestion. At OPEX Bristol, we always aim to improve people’s intake from food, but sometimes its best to ensure you’re getting the right nutrients while you take the time to build quality nutrition habits. We have also found that some clients need more digestible nutrients, due to years of eating sugar, processed foods and high stress lowering their ability to assimilate nutrients.

So without further ado, here are the 3 supplements we recommend the most:

Greens powder

A quality greens powder is like a natural, digestible multi-vitamin. We use greens powders with clients that have been living of the beige diet plan for a few years. Micronutrients are important, because without them a long list of functions in the body can slow or even fall apart. Greens powders can be great for both athletes and people just trying to drop fat and improve health.

The best way to get a variety of micronutrients is from eating a varied whole food diet. We recommend a diet rich in organic meats, fish, healthy fats, minerals and 8 servings of veggies everyday

Probiotic

Probiotics have become somewhat of a must over the last couple of decades. As our foods become more processed, our water contains more chemicals and we are swallowing more antibiotics, our good gut bugs have been having a tough time. Our gut microbiome has been connected with body fat, energy, mental function and overall health.

The best way to increase your healthy gut bugs naturally is by eating fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut and cultured foods like yogurt. You can also drink cultured liquids like kombucha and kefir. However if you have recently been on a course of antibiotics, it may be worth taking a quality probiotic supplement (not yakult).

Vitamin D

If you live in the UK, there is a good chance you suffer from a vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is not only important for strong bones, but also helps mood and can help reduce the risk of a long list of diseases.

Where can you get Vitamin D from? The sun of course… if it ever shows itself. Ideally we should have 15 minutes each day with it touching 25% of our skin. Like we said, if you live in the UK… you should probably be supplementing with this in winter.