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(This is a Guest post written by The Refusal of Mediocrity with their top 5 supplements everyone should take.)
The market is awash with an array of products touting all sorts of benefits. Let us help you weed through the nonsense and narrow down the most worthwhile daily supplements.
Top 5 supplements everyone should take: Overview
- Mulitvitamins
- Curcumin
- Vitamin D3 and K2
- Fish Oil
- Digestive Enzymes/Probiotics
Multivitamin
A well-dosed multivitamin is key for getting a full spectrum of vitamins and minerals. Not all products are made equal, so it’s essential to ensure that the ingredients are not underdosed. As a baseline, we recommend checking that the minerals are chelated, increasing absorption and bioavailability.
Products such as Reflex’s Nexgen Pro give athletes and performance-based individuals an excellent array of vitamins and minerals in easy to take capsule forms.
The combination of ingredients in these products has significant benefits to mood, cognitive function, anxiety and energy levels. Multivitamins are an excellent choice for those looking for a simple all in one solution to increase overall health and performance. The combination of the others listed below will boost that further. But for those that wish for simplicity, you can’t go wrong with a well-dosed multi-product.
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Curcumin
There are numerous studies on Curcumin that show impressive health benefits across the board. Curcumin is a potent anti-inflammatory making it an excellent choice for joint pain which can flair up as a result of chronic inflammation.
On the subject of joint issues, Curcumin also has carried over to the treatment of osteoarthritis. Increasing movement function and giving pain relief, a benefit particularly beneficial to the elderly population. This supplement is not very well absorbed by the body by itself, therefore it requires an additional compound to increase its bioavailability. This compound is piperine, found in black pepper.
Look for curcumin supplements that include piperine to ensure you are receiving the maximum benefit.
Vitamin D3 and K2
For those of us the northern hemisphere, the reality of seeing the sun year-round is a rarity. That, unfortunately, means our vitamin D levels are dropping, and with our increased frequenting of indoor areas our levels are only diminishing further.
Vitamin D3 has strong links with mental health. Vitamin D3 plays a critical role in the human body. Laying a foundation for both bone health and strength through the regulation of calcium and phosphorous levels in the blood. K2 plays a synergistic role with D3, improving mineral absorption. Even though vitamin D supplies calcium to the body it isn’t very good at shuttling it to where it is required.
Using the protein osteocalcin, K2 has the ability to utilise this calcium influx from D3 by allowing it to accumulate in bones where it will have the most benefit. Ingesting D3 alone can lead to increased calcium deposits in blood vessels It is therefore very important to ensure that K2 is taken too. Artery and blood vessel calcification are known to be a cause of heart disease, take care to know what harms and what heals!
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Fish Oil
Omega 3’s, also known as Omega 3 fatty acids are a polyunsaturated fat not produced by the human body. With benefits including anti-inflammation, reduced cortisol and increased insulin sensitivity, there’s plenty to like about omega 3’s.
Improved management of insulin helps shuttle vital nutrients to muscle cells, evoking a more prominent anabolic response. Particularly in those of you training for muscular hypertrophy. With a properly structured training and nutrition regime, supplementing with omega 3 has shown to boost muscle mass. Whilst also increasing the rate of fat burn via increased metabolic function and protein synthesis.
Test subjects across the board have shown consistent results when it comes to the reduction of body fat, another impressive benefit. The most famous source of omega 3 is oily fish, and rightly so. Fish such as mackerel contains over 1g of omega 3 per 3oz, a healthy return. Organic meats including beef are also excellent sources, as are olive oil and walnuts. As a guideline, 2-4g daily is recommended Though this is dependent on how much omega 3 you are getting elsewhere in your diet.
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Digestive Enzymes/Probiotics
Gut health is often overlooked. But efficient digestion of food is needed to ensure the maximum amount of nutrients are absorbed. Signs of a poorly functioning gut include bloating, low energy and acid reflux. Low stomach acid levels are also very common in the modern era with our ever-increasing stress and inflammation levels.
Thankfully digestive enzymes and probiotics can improve stomach acid levels, easing the digestive process and reducing the discomfort that comes from indigestion and bloating. If you experience any of the symptoms listed take a look at digestive enzyme consumption around meals.
As always, please check with your doctor prior to adding these or any other supplements to your diet.
Yours in health,
James
About the Author
- Website: The Refusal of Mediocrity
- Twitter: @mediocrityref
- Facebook: @therefusalofmediocrity
Related post: 30+ easy changes for a healthier lifestyle
Since I’ve changed my diet over to a mostly plant once I’ve been considering taking supplements especially those similar to iron or fish oils so this was super interesting to read. Thankyou for sharing x
Great post! I didn’t really know a lot about vitamins so thank you for this post! It is very useful!
I didn’t know as much as I thought about these vitamins and minerals so this was a pretty good read. I really need to incorporate more of these into my lifestyle.
I always start to look into takinh supplements and then I don’t go through with it lol. Taking this as my sign to get on it!
Wow there’s so much novel info in here that I hadn’t known before! I knew fish oil had lots of health benefits but am so intrigued by the others as well
Great post, I’d also personally recommend creatine for anyone involved with any physical activities!
I have so many supplements around my bedroom that’s it’s not even funny anymore! I hadn’t heard of K3 before – so that’s absolutely something I’ll go look into ♥
Claire | Short Girl Walking
This is such an informative post, I didn’t know about these but now I’ll check em out. Thank you xx
Great info 🙂
Love this post, I take multivitamins myself and definitely see the difference when I don’t 🙂
This is an interesting one, we’ve never taken any vitamins in our family, unless specifically prescribed by a doctor. While I do see the benefits and potential that they hold, what I’ve noticed along the years is that my friends who take multiple vitamins every day are sick much more often than us who don’t take them. Obviously I don’t know if there’s any connection, but I’ve observed this for over 10 years and it always seems to go like this. There are those who absolutely need these daily vitamins! But I’m not sure I see any point in taking them if your completely healthy and your body works as it should of its own accord. It’s a very interesting topic though! Thank you for sharing this post 🙂
Teresa Maria | Outlandish Blog
The fish oil particularly appeals to me but I’m just scared it has a really fishy taste!
-Kyra xx
I should probably start taking Vitamin D but I’m on a prenatal multivitamin so I have to ask my doctor anytime I want to change stuff up. Such a pain!
Curcumin is a knew one on me. I will have to check it out. I’m only mid 30’s, but football injuries have left my knees and ankles feeling ancient.
I literally just started taking cod liver oil today because I’m having such bad problems with my knees at the moment due to exercise. Hope it works! Great post 🙂 xxx
Thank you!
Glad to see I am already taking a few of these. I’ll have to check into the others. Thanks for the info.
My mum always nags me about taking my multivitamins and I often forget 😂 Guess I better start making a habit of doing so!
Johnny | Johnny’s Traventures
Thanks for this information, very interesting! I definitely need to stop forgetting to take vitamins lol!
xoxo Olivia | https://www.oliviaandbeauty.com
There’s a couple here I hadn’t heard of! I’ll have to ask at my next doctor’s appt about some of them. (I’m TTC.) Thanks for the info!
Wow it was really interesting to learn about curcumin. I have never heard of that before. I have heard of fish oil and multivitamins but the rest do not ring a bell. It’s really good to know that there are more supplements out there that can help the human body apart from the normal vitamins. Thank you for sharing!
I take a multivitamin everyday, and I have been meaning to try and increase my omega 3 intake for a while, but I hate the thought of fish oil; so I bought chia seeds to try and get it from there haha xx
Hannah | https://luxuryblush.co.uk/
This is really interesting, thank you!
I’ve earnt a lot about different vitamins and supplements in this post. I don’t think i have ever considered using supplements before, but i will be looking into it now!
Thanks fro sharing!
Aimsy xoxo
Aimsy’s Antics
I take some vitamins but some of these I’d not heard of! I will definitely look into them. Thanks for sharing!
This is such an informative post! I tend to take orange vitamin C tablets!
Serena / http://www.ramblingsofanotherunigraduate.com
I knew most of these but had never heard of curcumin, good info!
Thank you for the informative post! I recently started to take supplements again and will have to make sure I have what’s listed here. x
Great advice, thanks! I’ve found that taking supplements (D3, Magnesium, Calcium and Evening Primrose Oil) have helped a lot with my PMDD.
Although I’m not big on taking pills, I’m very loyal to my multivitamins. I actually eat curcumin with black pepper on my egg a lot of mornings to reap those benefits as well! Thank you for the tips!
I found this really interesting to read! It reminded me to start taking my Vitamin D again because I have really low levels – I get chest pains/head aches because of it! I’ve never thought about the digestive enzymes supplement before, think I’ll have to give that a go x
Thanks for sharing, I take a mutli – vitamin, Hair & Nails and omega 3 tablets which have been a benefit for me 🙂
Nic | Nic’s Adventures & Bakes
I always have vitamin D (desperately needed we rarely see the sun) but I had no idea what other supplements I needed to take! Great post!
Great post. Thank you for sharing
As a fellow vitamin taker, I was curious to see the “must-haves” on your list.. I agree with all of these! Especially the Vit D/K2 during covid as I have read studies that suggest that a vitamin D deficiency can be linked to those who suffer from severe cases of covid-19. I am also happy that you discussed how not all vitamins are created equally. Unless you buy brands that allow for better absorption, the sad fact is that you may not be metabolizing what you need from the vitamin you take. This is especially the case for multivitamins. Great article, thank you for sharing!
Thank you for taking the time to read!
These are great suggestions! I find I just run better physically and emotionally when I take a vitamin B and a great enzyme.
Such a good read, thanks to both of you for sharing! My boyfriend and I actually split up the tasks of finding great supplements, I do the multivitamin research and he does the curcumin research!
This is a really informative post- thank you! I currently only take Vitamin D, but I have taken a multivitamin in the past- I think it’s so important to take vitamins, especially at this time of year
This is such a helpful post. I take a multi vitamin and fish oil every morning but hadn’t heard of some of the other ones.
Some really great information here. I’ve been taking a multivitamin and vitamin D for quite a few years now. The vitamin D is especially good during the winter since there is so little sun and I’m not outside as much. I will have to work on adding the others listed her into my supplements and see how they help.
In the few months, I have been trying to get more vitamins. I try to have omega 3,6,9, vitamin C, multivitamin every day. I feel like I have more energy and can focus better. Thank you for sharing.
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