• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

What vitamins/supplements do you take?

CoQ10 to correct the issue my statin caused.
1 aspirin for knee pain and heart
multi
non super concentrated fish oil (3 1 grams)
Glucosimine/Chondroitin for knees
allergy pill
 
I take biotin and turmeric. I have a rapidly growing moringa tree, the leaves are one of the most nutrient in the world, I dry them and make a powder, put them in capsules...good stuff.
 
I'm vegan so the only supplement I MUST take on a regular basis is B12. I get more than enough of everything else from the foods I eat. Yes, even protein.
 
JC Callender said:
What vitamins/supplements do you take? And do you feel like they're making a much of a difference?

I started taking amino acids for my weight training and haven't noticed much of a difference after a month or so, and at 45 years old, I don't know if I really would that soon anyway. I started probiotics earlier this week so don't notice anything other than an uneasy stomach my first time. And I bought a liquid fish oil today, which is supposed to be great for mind/joints. I'm a pretty smart guy, as you all already know, but my joints could use it and I've really heard a lot of great things about it. I take magnesium and a one a day vitamin as well.
Click to expand...

Beer, Wine, Rum and occasionally vodka...

Approaching 60 and may have to break down and try glucosamine.
 
I have a huge plastic bottle of those Kirkland multivitamins that has about 500 pills in them. I take one every day. I would like to think that it has benefits since I rarely get sick. If I get the sniffles I swallow two pills a day instead of just one.
 
This is my take. If someone actually were to eat a whole foods diet with the USDA recommended levels of fresh fruit and vegetable consumption (5 to 13 servings per day), along with lean meats, eggs, greek yogurt, some cheese, nuts, healthy oils, and cold water fish there is no way that you would be vitamin deficient. (absent some type of intestinal disorder)

I don't think there is a problem with vitamin supplements, but rather with using vitamin supplements as some panacea for a deficient diet. We have evolved to get our vitamins and minerals that we need from a rich and diverse diet. We still do not know enough about human nutritional needs to know what we are not getting in a vitamin and nutritional supplement.

I think the opening paragraphs of the book Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition, sums this up well:

"What happens when you eat an apple? The answer is vastly more complex than you imagine.

Every apple contains thousands of antioxidants whose names, beyond a few like vitamin C, are unfamiliar to us, and each of these powerful chemicals has the potential to play an important role in supporting our health. They impact thousands upon thousands of metabolic reactions inside the human body. But calculating the specific influence of each of these chemicals isn’t nearly sufficient to explain the effect of the apple as a whole. Because almost every chemical can affect every other chemical, there is an almost infinite number of possible biological consequences.

And that’s just from an apple."

Basically this means that a vitamin c supplement is a very poor substitute for just eating an apple. That said some supplements may be needed. For example, many people may need Vitamin D during the winter months. A vegan will almost always need a B12 supplement. If you run or ride a lot in the heat, it doesn't hurt to take a quality multi because you are sweating out a liter of water or more a day and small amounts of vitamins and minerals are lost when you do so (along with lots of electrolytes). Many women and some men need an iron supplement.
 
I've tried all of it. I think that there may be a legitimate reason for everything, but maybe only marginally so. And I would think that everyone's needs are different. I lift pretty heavy in the gym four days a week, so my needs are probably different than most of youse guys needs.

I didn't start lifting until my 48th birthday, but I made progress faster than most people, mostly because I train like a bodybuilder and don't skip workouts and modified my diet to meet my goals. And I realize that at some point I will no longer continue to get stronger due to age, so as long as I am making progress, I'm not quiting or slacking off from the weight training. I see people in the gym well into their 60's (or possibly even older) who look fit and strong, and others who are probably at least 10 years younger than myself who are pathetically weak or overweight or who move like snails - I don't won't to be one of those people. I suppose it's largely an ego thing, there is no better feeling than to have someone comment (positively) on the way I look.

Right now, to suit my needs (or at least what I think are my needs), I am taking joint support pills, fish oil, potassium, and a multivitamin daily. I will supplement that several times a week with an extra vitamin B/C/D or zinc pill. I use a preworkout drink (N.O. Explode mostly) about a half hour before my workouts, and I will typically have three or four protein shakes each day.

Again, there is a specific reason for everything that I take.

I've had an issue with cramping for years, horrible cramps several times a week. About two weeks ago I started tracking my diet with a smart phone app (My Fitness Pal) and I realized that my diet is very low in potassium, plus I researched potassium and discovered that the ephedrine that I take as a stimulant (yes, I am addicted to it) depletes potassium - thus I added potassium and quinine to my diet. I take the fish oil because my doctor recommends it, the joint support pills because I have painful creaky joints, and the multivitamins and occasional individual vitamins just for security and due to the fact that I often don't eat a wide enough variety of foods.

I also really upped my protein because I am trying to gain/keep muscle mass - and it seems to be working. I was always the skinny kid in school, then by the time I got to my mid 40's I was fat - at no time in between was I every "athletic built", so I'm sort of trying to compensate for that now (or maybe I'm compensating for a small penis I dunno). It may sound crazy at my age, and particularly for someone who doesn't have muscular genetics, but I want to look like a bodybuilder or at least as close to that as I can get.

But I'm still making progress, and I've gone through training partners like crazy, seems that most 50+/- year olds don't have the drive or determination in the gym that I do, and after about four workouts with me they quit. I think that when I get them into the gym, they expect to lift some girly weights and then ride a stationary bike for five minutes or something. I'm totally serious about my workouts though, I give each workout my best. Or maybe they are just embarrassed when they discover that they can't even budge half the amount of weight that I do reps with - I try to explain to them that it isn't a competition and that I've been doing this for a few years, but I don't think they quite get that.

I also take blood pressure medication and an anti-inflammatory, both doctor prescribed. Sometimes I will substitute tumeric for the anti-inflam, but I dunno that it is any better for me, it's still a chemical, even if it is a plant.
 
Have you been putting on significant muscle the past couple of years? If so, it's encouraging, as I didn't know you could without steroids after our early 40's. Also, do you take creatine?
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
This is my take. If someone actually were to eat a whole foods diet with the USDA recommended levels of fresh fruit and vegetable consumption (5 to 13 servings per day), along with lean meats, eggs, greek yogurt, some cheese, nuts, healthy oils, and cold water fish there is no way that you would be vitamin deficient. (absent some type of intestinal disorder)

I don't think there is a problem with vitamin supplements, but rather with using vitamin supplements as some panacea for a deficient diet. We have evolved to get our vitamins and minerals that we need from a rich and diverse diet. We still do not know enough about human nutritional needs to know what we are not getting in a vitamin and nutritional supplement.

I think the opening paragraphs of the book Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition, sums this up well:

"What happens when you eat an apple? The answer is vastly more complex than you imagine.

Every apple contains thousands of antioxidants whose names, beyond a few like vitamin C, are unfamiliar to us, and each of these powerful chemicals has the potential to play an important role in supporting our health. They impact thousands upon thousands of metabolic reactions inside the human body. But calculating the specific influence of each of these chemicals isn’t nearly sufficient to explain the effect of the apple as a whole. Because almost every chemical can affect every other chemical, there is an almost infinite number of possible biological consequences.

And that’s just from an apple."

Basically this means that a vitamin c supplement is a very poor substitute for just eating an apple. That said some supplements may be needed. For example, many people may need Vitamin D during the winter months. A vegan will almost always need a B12 supplement. If you run or ride a lot in the heat, it doesn't hurt to take a quality multi because you are sweating out a liter of water or more a day and small amounts of vitamins and minerals are lost when you do so (along with lots of electrolytes). Many women and some men need an iron supplement.
Click to expand...

There's a guy at my gym who's in his late 40's and is has a lot of mass and is ripped to a rare extent and he could easily compete if he wanted to (he did when he was younger). Anyway, he's very disciplined in his workouts and eating and takes very few supplements...not even fish oil. I think the supplements are usually for people like me who aren't as disciplined with their health as he is.
 
I take a generic multivitamin. I've done creatine cycles in the past but i've been off it for a couple years. I'll take NOW whey protein isolate a couple times a week as needed, but I usually hit my protein macros with my meals no problem.
 
Surrealistik said:
Definitely, and the powders really tend to add a lot of flavour.


Speaking of liquid meals/supplements, I'm very interested in trying out Soylent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_(drink)

Their 'Coffiest' product is of particular interest.
Click to expand...

Soylent 1.5 (the powder) is not good to be frank. Has a 'chemical' aftertaste similar to how paint smells. I still have a couple bags buried in a cupboard that I haven't touched.

Soylent 2.0 (the bottles) is better. Tastes like the milk left in the bottom of a bowl of cereal.

Haven't tried the coffee stuff.

Soylent isn't cheaper or healthier than what you could cook yourself. The advantage is convenience. It's a time-saver.
 
the_recruit said:
Soylent 1.5 (the powder) is not good to be frank. Has a 'chemical' aftertaste similar to how paint smells. I still have a couple bags buried in a cupboard that I haven't touched.

Soylent 2.0 (the bottles) is better. Tastes like the milk left in the bottom of a bowl of cereal.

Haven't tried the coffee stuff.
Click to expand...

Appreciate the heads up.

Soylent isn't cheaper or healthier than what you could cook yourself. The advantage is convenience. It's a time-saver.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Health considerations aside, convenience and time saving is a big part of my motive in moving towards a more liquid diet.
 
_Sal said:
yes

the reason I got into smoothies was exclusively due to my age

the theory is that as we age even when choosing the best possible our bodies lose the ability to breakdown the nutrient in our food, thus to get the most nutrient into our bodies from our food source it must be broken down first...it sort of how birds do it for their babies....

the smoothies must of course be half greens...it can't be just fruit

also for joints, the best thing I have found is milled flax seed...I can notice when I stop taking it after only a few days
Click to expand...

You need to eat cartilage and the like and bone soups (chicken soup) to help rebuild your bowels structure. You also have eat food born probiotics (yogurts and fermented foods) to help build your gut bacteria.
 
JC Callender said:
Have you been putting on significant muscle the past couple of years? If so, it's encouraging, as I didn't know you could without steroids after our early 40's. Also, do you take creatine?
Click to expand...

During my first two years of lifting and trying to eat right, I lost right at 50 lbs total, but actually gained muscle mass, at least I think I gained muscle mass, maybe I just uncovered what was already there. These last (not quite) two years I have regained all of the weight (and a few pounds more), but at least half of what I regained has been muscle. For a while when people asked me if I was lifting, for some reason I was embarrised that I had started lifting weights in my late 40's so I would just tell them that "it's amazing what you can uncover when you loose 50 lbs".

Just today I had a customer who I haven't seen in a couple of years to ask me if I have "been working out - I don't remember you having muscles like that", but I can't use the "lost 50 lbs" line anymore so I just said "yea, a little". Over our long memorial day weekend I stayed in a friends beach house, went shopping for a tank top, tried on maybe ten before I gave up on finding one that would fit without looking stupid on me. The young lady standing at the fitting room asked me if she could help me, I told her that I probably needed a 2X or 3X because all of the XL shirts were too tight around the chest and the arm hole was too small, she said "thats probably because you have so much muscle". Imagine that, me having "so much muscle", I certainly never heard that when I was in hs or even college.

I tried creatine, but I don't think I responded particularly well to it. There is also a little creatine in my preworkout drink. When I really started gaining some significant size was when I increased my protein consumption. The FDA only recommends something like 70 grams a day, but that's a minimum to remain healthy, not what you reallly need to gain muscle. When I started checking on how much actual competitive bodybuilders eat, it's pretty much a minimum of 300 grams a day, which honestly isn't that easy to do without consuming huge amounts of calories. I ended up adding a few really protein dense foods to my diet so that I didn't have to eat a crazy amount of calories (which obviously would result in gaining a crazy amount of fat), like beef or turkey jerky and egg whites, and bamm I started gaining muscle mass far faster than ever before - of course my wife doesn't hang around me as much because my farts are so bad (seriously bad). I've wondered if 300+ grams of protein consumption is the type of thing that top bodybuilders would almost prefer to keep as a secret (in addition to whatever steroids all those guys take).
 
Last edited:
PirateMk1 said:
You need to eat cartilage and the like and bone soups (chicken soup) to help rebuild your bowels structure. You also have eat food born probiotics (yogurts and fermented foods) to help build your gut bacteria.
Click to expand...
probiotics are important yes....and for my age I am in excellent health
 
imagep said:
During my first two years of lifting and trying to eat right, I lost right at 50 lbs total, but actually gained muscle mass, at least I think I gained muscle mass, maybe I just uncovered what was already there. These last (not quite) two years I have regained all of the weight (and a few pounds more), but at least half of what I regained has been muscle. Just today I had a customer who I haven't seen in a couple of years to ask me if I have "been working out - I don't remember you having muscles like that".

I tried creatine, but I don't think I responded particularly well to it. There is also a little creatine in my preworkout drink.
Click to expand...

Cool, that's good to know we can still build mass! Btw, you may have already researched this, but I believe staying hydrated helps against cramps as well. I would get cramps that would immobilize me, where I couldn't move my leg for a couple of minutes and it was usually after a strenuous day or a long run and I assumed I didn't re-hydrate well enough afterwords. Just a thought.
 
JC Callender said:
What vitamins/supplements do you take? And do you feel like they're making a much of a difference?

I started taking amino acids for my weight training and haven't noticed much of a difference after a month or so, and at 45 years old, I don't know if I really would that soon anyway. I started probiotics earlier this week so don't notice anything other than an uneasy stomach my first time. And I bought a liquid fish oil today, which is supposed to be great for mind/joints. I'm a pretty smart guy, as you all already know, but my joints could use it and I've really heard a lot of great things about it. I take magnesium and a one a day vitamin as well.
Click to expand...


I take a Multi-vitamin, D3 (1000iu), C (500mg time released), multi-B, CoQ10 (100mg), Alhpa Lipoic Acid (200mg), Cranberry Extract and L-Arginine (500mg) twice a week. I also take a statin 20mg a day.

These supplements, along with exercise 5 times a week and dieting, have lowered my blood pressure and cholesterol. Improved my mood, heart rate, sleep and circulation.
 
grip said:
I take a Multi-vitamin, D3 (1000iu), C (500mg time released), multi-B, CoQ10 (100mg), Alhpa Lipoic Acid (200mg), Cranberry Extract and L-Arginine (500mg) twice a week. I also take a statin 20mg a day.

These supplements, along with exercise 5 times a week and dieting, have lowered my blood pressure and cholesterol. Improved my mood, heart rate, sleep and circulation.
Click to expand...

Awesome! :thumbs:
 
probiotic
milk thistle
fish oil
vitamin C drops occasionally
 
JC Callender said:
Can you tell much of a difference with the probiotic and fish oil?
Click to expand...

Fish oil is an anti inflammatory, like D3, and very good for heart vessel health. I took it for years but can't take the D and fish oil together or I break out in acne. Some kind of weird hormonal reaction. A probiotic works really well for the immune system and digestive health.
 
JC Callender said:
Can you tell much of a difference with the probiotic and fish oil?
Click to expand...

not sure. i take the probiotic because i'm in ulcerative colitis remission and the fish oil because they say it's good for you. i'm 41, and i feel pretty good (current back injury aside.) i lost a bunch of weight about a decade ago, exercise every day, and i quit smoking in 2008, so i'd say those are probably the main reasons i feel better. however, i don't know. the supplements seem to do something. if it's a placebo effect, so be it.
 
grip said:
I take a Multi-vitamin, D3 (1000iu), C (500mg time released), multi-B, CoQ10 (100mg), Alhpa Lipoic Acid (200mg), Cranberry Extract and L-Arginine (500mg) twice a week. I also take a statin 20mg a day.

These supplements, along with exercise 5 times a week and dieting, have lowered my blood pressure and cholesterol. Improved my mood, heart rate, sleep and circulation.
Click to expand...

good to hear that. I was also able to go off of several prescription drugs just by eating better, loosing fat weight, and exercising. And doing so also improved my mental state - I'm not quite as crazy (depressive) as I used to be.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom