Supplements/vitamins

[Pheard]

Just wondering what vitamins/supplements you guys take? I mean just for general health and fitness. What would be good for that. Nothing weird, just something anyone can take for health, and riding.

[AnthonyG]

OK this is going to depend on your deffinition of weird.:D

Personaly I think its weird to expect that you would recieve any benifit from a pill. Anyway one of the exceptions is fish oil in capsule form. Most of us would benefit from taking fish oil. Halibut liver oil in capsule form for vit A and D is another good one. Its like Cod liver oil but most likely better quality. Most cod liver oil is over-proccessed these days but Halibut liver oil seems to have slipped under the radar.

Getting to real food use butter and not margerine. Raw egg yolks are an excellent source of vit B's. Sauerkraut for vit C and beneficial bacteria and something everyone should learn to cook is homemade chicken/beef stock which is an excellent source of minerals.

I have a simple stock recipie. I learnt how to do it following a specific recipie but I just tried a super simple version one day and i like it better. In a stock pot or large saucepan simply put in the bones that you have rinsed, cover with water up to an inch bellow the top, place the lid on and turn on the heat. Use a medium to high setting to get it up to temperature and just before it starts bubling turn it down to the lowest setting and leave it with the lid on for 18-24 hours. It should be just gently bubbling with the lid on but if you take the lid off it should stop bubbling. At the start if any scum forms then scoop it off but with this recipie, ie low heat not much scum will form and after say 2-3 hours pour in a couple of tablespoons of vinegar. The vinegar is an acidifyer that helps to liberate the minerals from the bones. I use two chicken carcasses and 1 pound of chicken feet in a 7.5 litre stock pot so adjust for what pot you have. Anyway its a set and forget type procedure so when its done remove the bones and you have wonderful stock thats versatile in soups, sauces and all sorts of cooking and stock is VERY rich in minerals which is why I made the reccomendation anyway. Its far better than any mineral suppliment and MUCH tastier. You can add any vegetables you feel like but I like the taste without vegetables. Traditionaly it would be cooked on a higher heat for a shorter period of time but I prefer the result my way and you don't need to keep an eye on it either.

There you go, you wern't expecting a chicken soup recipie:)

Regards, Anthony

[nedgoudy]

Most of the time I live on
Whey Protein Powder Smoothies
with Skim Milk.

The health benefits of Whey Protein
Powder are well documented at:
http://www.wheyoflife.org in the
IN THE NEWS and BENEFTIS section
of the purple menu on the left hand
side of the page.

This stuff keeps me going strong,
provides MAXIMUM doses of the
essential Amino Acids, and promotes
lean muscle mass.

I swear by the stuff and used it
to lose 88 lbs and continue to
use it in weight maintenance.

It is also 'filling' and you don't
have any desire to eat between
meals. It also makes for a great
cure for BONKING if you mix it
with half a bottle of Gatorade
like stuff with electrolytes in it.

I also take Omega 3 fish oil,
C-Q10, Calcium, Magnesium
and Zinc, Glucosamine/Chondrotin,
2 mult-vitamins and Glutamine during
long rides approaching Centuries.

Keeps me rev'n.

['nother]

The simplest/least weird would probably be a simple multivitamin such as Centrum, One-A-Day, etc..

While I don't necessarily agree with all of his specifics, I do go along with AnthonyG's general idea that you should really focus on getting most of your nutrition from foods, including plenty of whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, etc.. Use supplements for things that it's not possible or difficult to obtain via foods available to you.

[AnthonyG]

Yes it all comes down to what you think is weird and to a large extent some faith in something that you don't understand.

Vitamins A, B, C, D and E are all essential to our health and wellbeing and we can get them from a pill right? Wrong!


Vitamins are complex molecules with many components and in nature they work with co-factors. No co-factors no benefit. Vitamin supplements are synthetic, concentrated isolates and if they are to have ANY benefit at all your body needs to have a store of co-factors.

So vitamins from food can be in MUCH smaller theoretical doses but provide MUCH greater benefit because there the real thing and come with ALL the required co-factors in place.

Minerals are the same deal. Isolated, concentrated minerals lack the required co-factors for absorption and are quite often in a form that's foreign to our bodies. You see all sorts of claims for things like "Inorganic, organic, chelated, elemental, ionic, colloidal, essential, trace" in regard to minerals but honestly getting our minerals from food that's grown in mineral rich soil is the best option. Now our soils are starting to be lacking in minerals and this is a big problem so I recommended home made bone broth. This is a good way of concentrating the available minerals.

So in my opinion thinking that a vitamin/mineral multi pill will provide any benefit is just plain WEIRD!

Regards, Anthony

[Pheard]

I just wanted to know if there were any vitamins/supplements, that promote general health. Don't read into it anymore than you need too, I didn't mean replacing healthy foods.

[Jarery]

Just take a "one a day" vitamin and as you get older add a folic acid supliment. Eat your veggies and avoid taking nutritional advice from this forum :)

[AnthonyG]

I just wanted to know if there were any vitamins/supplements, that promote general health. Don't read into it anymore than you need too, I didn't mean replacing healthy foods.

Yeah sorry I rant a bit , OK, OK I rant a LOT but what you asked for is basically a product specification and big companies are happy to oblique you with a product.

Does the product work?

Well nobody knows really but its not on the top of anybody's list to find out because the "market" is going to buy it anyway simply if you TELL them it works. Gee I'm sounding bitter and twisted again:rolleyes:

Anyway I am concerned about the health claims for vitamin/mineral suppliments because its "perverting the market". If people knew they didn't work there would be much more interest and knowledge in real food but since the "market" believes that a pill works then its happy to forsake traditional knowledge and ways.

Regards, Anthony

[unbent]

AnthonyG,

You seem to be somewhat knowledgeable about the subject of nutrition, I would be interested in your opinion on this product. I started taking it about a month and a half ago and after going through the information on their website and seeing some health benefits in myself I decided to become a distributor. Initially, I figured if it was listed in the Physician's Desk Reference that it must be good but I am not sure what criteria had to be met for it to be put there.? Anyways, I would be curious what you thought of it. Here is the website address. www.myvemma.com/unbent

Thanks,

Andy

[LowCel]

Here is a list of what I take.

Glucosamine (4 - 6 a day)
Potassium (2 a day)
EP-NO (http://www.ep-no.com/) (3 a day)
Whey Protein

I just purchased some Hammer Endurolytes (http://www.e-caps.com/za/ECP?PAGE=PRODUCT&PROD.ID=4037&OMI=10082,10047&AMI=10082)today. I'm going to give them a try and see if they help out with cramping during races.

I used Centrum Performance and some other one a days for a year or so. In my opinion (note I said opinion) they are a complete waste of money.

[WarrenG]

Here is a list of what I take.

Glucosamine (4 - 6 a day)
Potassium (2 a day)
EP-NO (http://www.ep-no.com/) (3 a day)
Whey Protein

I just purchased some Hammer Endurolytes (http://www.e-caps.com/za/ECP?PAGE=PRODUCT&PROD.ID=4037&OMI=10082,10047&AMI=10082)today. I'm going to give them a try and see if they help out with cramping during races.
.

Potassium is available in relatively large amounts in orange juice. No need for the supplement. Magnesium is a possible issue for your cramping and it's really hard to get enough magnesium in your diet (400+mg/day). I take magnesium glycinate 5-6 times a week. KAL brand is one brand of this type of mg. Better absorption than the usual form of magnesium in supplements.

[AnthonyG]

AnthonyG,

You seem to be somewhat knowledgeable about the subject of nutrition, I would be interested in your opinion on this product. I started taking it about a month and a half ago and after going through the information on their website and seeing some health benefits in myself I decided to become a distributor. Initially, I figured if it was listed in the Physician's Desk Reference that it must be good but I am not sure what criteria had to be met for it to be put there.? Anyways, I would be curious what you thought of it. Here is the website address. www.myvemma.com/unbent

Thanks,

Andy

Andy,

I couldn't get ANY information on the product at all from that link which isn't a good sign. I'm involved with the Weston A Price Foundation, http://www.westonaprice.org/ which promotes ancient and traditional foods and practices. The study of tradition is scientificaly valid as its called CONTROL. I consume a natural food diet and don't use suppliments much apart from fish oils. I occasionaly try other suppliments but they generaly don't do anything for me. There are some exceptions though and at the moment I'm trying to increase my intake of magnesium but I'm still to find the best way.

Regards, Anthony

[LowCel]

Potassium is available in relatively large amounts in orange juice. No need for the supplement.

You could very well be correct however since I started taking the potassium supplement over a year ago my cramping has decreased ten fold. Now I barely start to feel the cramps coming on towards the end of the races. Out of fifteen races this year they have only made an appearance twice so far. The only reason I am going to give the hammer supplements a shot is because my coach highly recommends them and feels they may keep the cramps away the rest of the time. I might as well give them a shot, they are relatively inexpensive.

[WarrenG]

You could very well be correct however since I started taking the potassium supplement over a year ago my cramping has decreased ten fold. .

Potassium is indeed very important, but google on potassium and orange juice to see how much you can get that way vs. your supplement. Potassium, magnesium, and calcium need to be in balance to allow muscles to fire properly and if you're not taking mg now that may be the rest of the solution for you.