I’ve been heavily experimenting with various supplements for around 3 years now. It’s been interesting changing certain aspects of my nutrition and protocol around supplements and seeing the changes reflected in my daily life.
This post will be based on the core stack that I used over the past year. I may add to it to try new things but overall I am happy with this and want to document what I’m currently using and why to compare it to what I use more regularly over the next year.
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Introduction
The main goal of this supplement stack is to enhance health, appearance, focus, success, etc. I also have some other specific concerns which I will address in each section.
I enjoy the idea of having my baseline routine cover things so that no matter how lazy I am in terms of getting a good diverse diet on that day, I will still be good in terms of overall health. With this protocol
I also subscribe to the idea that 20% of something brings 80% of results (the Pareto principle) which means this protocol is probably not as intensive as something you’d see from someone looking to biohack every single aspect of life or even a bodybuilder, etc.
Finally, this protocol is of course extremely personal. If you don’t see something in the list it’s probably for a good reason regarding my personal outlook, preferences, and goals. There is also often a point where you can be using too many products and not have any concrete idea of what things are making a difference in your life or interacting with each other in ways I can’t currently know about.
Note: I also test my blood work often (working to get into a place financially where I can do this routinely enough without thinking about it) to ensure I’m not messing up myself by testing key hormones, nutritional markers, health markers, etc.
Vitamin D + K
I came across this video around a year ago and was interested in it. It’s a study going over Vitamin D and Fish Oil about autoimmune disease. For various other reasons, I think Vitamin D is a key nutrient. I also used to tan a lot but after realizing how bad it was for me I started supplementing Vitamin D instead.
My bloodwork showed levels range around 70 with consistent supplementation of 5000 IU daily which is on the higher end of recommended limits. I take a proportionate dose of Vitamin K as they work together synergistically and help to limit some of the potential negative impacts of too much Vitamin D without any K.
Probiotic
This is an area I’m always experimenting with. I’ll be making a ton of content about this at some point. However, for my core routine, I’ve only found one probiotic that makes me feel good and keeps my stomach feeling consistent in every aspect.
My favorite probiotic is the Visbiome GI Care capsule product. This is expensive and is a pain to order and source (it comes refrigerated with temperature monitors) but I find it worth it in every way. It costs around $700 a year to buy in bulk if you take 2 daily like I do.
The reason I like it so much is that it’s the only probiotic that keeps my gut and bowel normal. I’ve been trying to heal my gut for a long time with just foods (an entire subject that I also need to discuss) but this is a great core addition for me to always have as a baseline to keep my gut working well.
The product doesn’t taste bad to swallow which is a problem for some health supplements. The only negative thing I would say is that if you live in a really hot area or somewhere where shipping and logistics may be an issue you may be contacting support to get a replacement occasionally. I’ve had times where over a holiday my product was held somewhere for a few days and when I finally received my order the temperature monitor told me the product was unusable (it is a refrigerated product).
I’ve tried things like Seed, BioGaia Reuteri, etc, and haven’t liked them nearly as much. I’m going to try Pendulum Life probiotics next because they seem pretty interesting and have been recommended by a few known figures in the space. I’m constantly experimenting with products in this category but for my core routine, Visbiome is the current winner.
Fish Oil
As for Fish Oil, I use this due to the study linked earlier as well as overall benefits regarding brain health, inflammation, etc. I don’t get enough fish so these help in that regard. As I said: my main goal is striving to eat a balanced diet but the convenience of having a baseline level of quality nutrients every day is super helpful.
Dr. Rhoda Patrick has a lot of quality information on the subject. I’m sure you’ve heard of her and if not – her website is a great resource for some of the more intensive health and nutritional-based information, things like anti-aging, brain health, etc.
I currently use Nordic Naturals Strawberry Mini Capsules. These are just for convenience as they have a better aftertaste and are a bit easier to swallow. Nordic Naturals doesn’t currently have IFOS certification (which is something to be aware of). I do think their brand is well-established enough that I trust them without it – but I may experiment with different brands here as well. You do not want to be getting rancid fish oil as that may leave you worse off than not having used a fish oil supplement at all! I take 4 capsules daily.
L-glutamine
To maintain gut health, I have supplemented this fairly regularly in my protein shakes. I use the Jarrow Formulas brand and bought a bulk container (powder form) for around $50 which offers 500 servings at 2 grams per serving.
Basically what I do with this is toss in one serving into my protein shakes which I make and consume regularly. It’s not a big intervention by any means but I hope by making lots of small changes and implementing them consistently over time I’ll improve in my goal areas. My current dose likely wouldn’t have too big of an impact but I’m not trying to manage IBS or other things the studies with L-glutamine were targeting. I take this a few times weekly on gym days.
Protein Powder
As someone who goes to the gym regularly but isn’t a hardcore bodybuilder in any sense, I do supplement protein powder on days I go to the gym (or when I want something that resembles a milkshake but is still really good for me).
My current favorite protein powder is the Garden of Life chocolate vegan protein powder. I choose to use vegan types of protein (again – not a hardcore bodybuilder) because while they may not be as effective I do like to avoid whey. I avoid it mostly due to personal preference in availability, flavor, and caution of digestion, acne, etc. I have used whey and casein-based powders before but in terms of flavor and preference, I usually end up with a vegan-based powder.
Looking back on the image I captured for this post – I just noticed the Garden of Life powder I use has 2 billion CFU probiotics which is interesting to me (no idea how that works) but seemingly that is another added benefit. I have never seen a protein powder do this before so cool.
I’ve probably tried most of the popular vegan protein powders and I rotate through a few of them – Garden of Life gets flavoring right in terms of chocolate – the only negative for me is the fact that it has a large amount of iron in it (probably for the vegans) which I have way too much of already. So I’ll likely make another swap after this container runs out.
Final Thoughts
To summarize I think writing out something like this even if you aren’t going to publish it can be extremely useful. It’s nice to look over my goals and think about what I’ve been doing and the results I get from things.
It also showed me there’s so much room for me to improve: I could still do so much research in terms of refining doses, trying different brands, and looking at other core concepts to enhance my life.
I love having stuff like this automated so that these things can consistently do their magic without my input or time being wasted. It gives me time to focus on so many other things and while it may not seem like a ton of supplements, I know that I’m constantly experimenting with different products based on goals or ideas I have at the time. Things I’m looking to get into more in the future will be based on longevity, gut health, nootropics, and other pharmaceuticals for skin, hair, health, productivity, etc.
Overall I hope you enjoyed and got value from this post – be sure to check out my other content for more in-depth dives and commentaries on other related topics. Thank you!