My Current Supplement Stack: What I take to Support a Healthy, Balanced and Active Lifestyle

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The other day I was writing an article about supplements and which ones you are worth your while, and which ones aren’t. But while I was writing the article, I realized that it may be easier to just tell you exactly what I take, and to keep this list updated so you can see how my supplements adapt with my lifestyle as I learn new things and change my goals. So here is my current supplement stack and how each supplement supports my lifestyle and my goals.

Sport Supplements

I’ll start with my sport supplements, since this is what people think of first when someone in the fitness industry starts to talk about supplements. These are the protein powders, the creatines, and the BCAA’s of the world.

BTW – You are going to see a recurring trend over the next few types of supplements. I am a big fan of PE Science, as I mentioned in my supplements aritcle, so load up the homepage now, claim your first $10 off, and check out some of the great supplements I am going to mention.

Protein Powder: PE Science Select Protein

I am currently using the flavour Snickerdoodle, but that is only because when I purchased the 55 serving container during Black Friday, they had sold out of the cookie’s and cream flavour that I actually wanted.

I had heard good things about Snickerdoodle, so I thought it would be a good plan B. Truthfully, I wish I had just opted for a classic vanilla flavour, but it isn’t awful. It is just a little too sweet of a protein powder for what I like. Things like cake pop and peanut butter cup also have this impact on me.

When I take my protein powder I really like to keep it simple – protein powder, water, shake it up, chug it. So when the flavour is a little sweet, there’s something about it that doesn’t seem right.

Anyways, moving on to the next sport supplement…

Pre-Workout: Prolific + High Volume Stack

A lot of people are freaked out by pre-workout, which is understandable when you’ve seen people who dry-scoop two scoops of C4 and then go beat red and start itching everywhere. I have tried those kind of pre-workouts and although it is kind of a rush to get that itchy feeling, I find it distracting.

So I always come back to this stack. My favourite flavour is the blue flavour they used to sell, but I haven’t been able to find it. In the protein powder section I mentioned how I don’t like to chug sweet drinks, well I am going back on that here. For pre-workout, I am okay if it is sweet as long as it tastes good.

I currently take the black cherry flavour and it is good, but it isn’t my favourite. I’ll likely switch to the peach or maybe go crazy and try out the mango flavour for the first time!

Okay, enough about flavour. Let’s talk about why I take pre-workout and why I actually take 2 pre-workouts.

When I was a personal trainer people used to always ask me why I took pre-workout when things like caffeine pills, energy drinks and coffee existed. For me, I get up at the crack of dawn to go to the gym. I always train fasted and sometimes I need the extra motivation and energy to get me out of bed.

Pre-workout not only gives me a good energy boost to get my workout done on my most sleepy mornings, but it also acts as a habit enforcer. I have this theory about things that we do that help re-enforce or help support a new healthy habit. Sometimes I wake up with plenty of energy, but knowing that I get to take my tasty drink and then get that rush of energy as I walk to the gym helps make the hardest part of going to the gym – actually getting going – much easier.

So by drinking pre-workout, I not only get the energy benefits, but I also feel like I am getting some help staying on track and keeping my habits up. It’s part of the ritual and I love it.

Now why do I take 2? Truthfully it started because I saw my favourite fitness influencers of 2017 doing this, so I thought I’d copy them. But now, I justify it as the two pre-workouts do something slightly different.

• Prolific is that pure energy boost that I need to get me out of bed and walking to the gym on even the coldest, windiest and snowiest days.
• I take High Volume during my workout because it is caffeine-free energy, so I don’t get too jittery, and it also have “pump” technology built into it. So when I’m weightlifting, I get that added bit of definition when I subtly flex my tri-ceps after a heavy set of bench press (we all do it, no shame here).

BCAA’s and Electrolytes: PE Science Amino IV

Listen, I told you guys there would be a theme and I delivered. Now, BCAA’s are not really a necessary supplement when you are already eating complete sources of protein, and especially if you are taking a protein powder supplement.

However, I also like to use BCAA’s as another habit re-enforcer. And that habit is remembering to stay hydrated. Hydration is SO important. Water is used in just about every process in the body and is especially important for the processes in the body that help you recover from a workout.

But despite the fact that I know how important hydration is, I still have days where I don’t drink enough water. So, by having this Amino IV supplement, I kill 3 birds with one stone. The first bird is adding some additional BCAA’s to my body. BCAA’s, or branch-chained amino acids, are an important group of amino acids (building blocks of protein) that are involved with rebuilding the muscles in our body.

If you don’t know, when you workout, you actually create micro-tears in your muscles. These micro-tears need to be repaired, so the body sends all kinds of resources, including amino acids, to repair those tears and leave you with a stronger muscle. So by drinking BCAA’s I am ensuring I have enough of these resources available to rebuild my muscles after big workouts.

The “IV” portion of this supplement is actually electrolytes, which is a fancy name for some minerals that help with hydration. True hydration isn’t just water, although it plays a major role. Hydration actually includes having a certain level of electrolytes in relation to water content in your body. When kept in the right balance, your body will have enough resources to complete all of the various processes like metabolism, energy generation, and even immune responses.

And the final “bird” is just the fact that this drink tastes good, so I am encouraged to drink at least another 750ml during the day.

And that’s it at the moment! A lot of people may be wondering why I don’t take creatine, which is one of the most widely discussed and most well-researched supplements, but I just don’t feel the need to add to it my routine. It requires a lot of water, and most creatine supplements don’t dissolve well in water, and I hate getting a mouthful of dust at the end of a water bottle.

Maybe one day I’ll add it in, but for now, protein powder, pre-workout, and BCAA’s/electrolytes are working well for me. And remember – if you want $10 off your first PE Science order, just click through this link.

Daily Vitamins

Now the second “category” of vitamins is the daily vitamins and minerals that many of us take to optimize our health or supplement the vitamins and minerals that we may not be able to absorb as easily, may be allergic to in their most abundant, natural forms, or simply cannot consume in large enough quantities in their natural form due to cost or appetite.

All of these vitamins I take because I recognized a need to add these to my daily routine to ensure my optimal health felt supported. I am currently on the contraceptive pill and through research I discovered that the pill actually stops our body from absorbing important minerals like magnesium and the B vitamins as effectively as we would if we weren’t on the pill (oh the joys of being a woman!).

So there are a couple vitamins I take that are specifically because I know that I am not getting enough just by eating foods that are rich in these nutrients.

Pro-Biotics

I take a gummy probiotic at the moment. However I have taken them in capsule form as well. I mainly take this because I have had to go through a few rounds of anti-biotics for strep throat, which killed offer a lot of the healthy gut bugs in my body. This gut microbiome is crucial to your health and has even been deemed your second brain and the basis of your immune system, so it is so important to support your gut microbiome.

You can do this naturally with things like kombucha, kimchi, plain greek yogurt, kefir, and most forms of fermented foods. But it can be difficult to get enough from these sources and because of the hype around the gut-microbiome, many of these foods can cost a lot. So another piece of advice for a healthy gut is to get at least 30 different varieties of plants in your diet. That may seem like a lot, but this includes nuts, seeds, herbs and spices, as well as fruits and vegetables.

Again, despite knowing all of this, I still like to have the supplement and find that my gut feels healthier and my trips to the bathroom are more comfortable and regulated, which is one of the greatest signs of internal health.

Omega’s

When the world was afraid of fats, it would seem crazy that we were literally supplementing fats. But omega fatty acids are essential for brain function, hormone regulation and vitamin absorption (along with a whole host of other functions), which is always makes me a little crazy that we believed that fats were evil at one point.

Our brain is a big fatty mass, we have vitamins that can only be absorbed by fat, and hormones needs fats to be created and kept in balance. So this is why I take omega fatty acids. I currently take omega 3, 6 and 9 (trigylcerides – waddup chemistry class?) to make sure my bases are covered.

I take mine in capsule form, but you can get really great, high potency omega’s in liquid form as well. Just be prepared for a slight fishy taste as most omega supplements are derived from fish sources. Although those with fish allergies can also get vegan omegas from algae.

Vitamin D

Omega’s are a great segue into my next daily supplement which is vitamin D. As someone who lives in a northern climate where the sun goes away and isn’t as strong for 6 months of the year, taking vitamin D is essential to protect me from vitamin D deficiency.

In the summer months when we expose more of our bare skin to natural sunlight, we are able to produce more than enough vitamin D to support a healthy body. Vitamin D is another one of those vitamins that has so many jobs that we know it is critical to our health, and so being deficient in vitamin D can put us at risk of a whole host of health problems.

Vitamin D has been found to be so important to various systems and processes in the body that it is classified as a hormone, since hormones technically impact every system when they are released.

Vitamin D is one of our fat-soluble vitamins and therefore must be taken with a source of fat. Which is why you’ll see a lot of omega supplements that have vitamin D added to them to keep things efficient. I also recently learned that you can get 30% of your daily vitamin D from eating 100g of tuna, which is also a good source of healthy fats and protein.

But we know that we can’t all be eating 350g of tuna everyday, so that why I supplement throughout the winter. It isn’t really necessary to take vitamin D in the summer if you are getting out in the sun often.

Curcumin

Curcumin is one of those supplements that I will use on and off. I am currently using it because I am noticing it is taking a long time to recover from workouts, and I find I am very puffy after big workouts or long work days.

That puffiness is due to inflamation, which curcumin, that anti-inflammatory element of turmeric, helps with. Again, I have taken this in multiple forms and even used to load up everything with turmeric powder, but I am currently taking it in gymmy form.

This is probably a great time to mention that anything in gummy form is going to result in lower absorption and there will be less of the active ingredient you’re looking for in the gummy. However, gummies make it easy and fun to take important vitamins, so I enjoy taking them and will continue to take them for things like curcumin where I don’t necessarily need the highest potency to get the benefits.

5-HTP and Maca

The final two supplements I take are more on the experimental, natural healthy side of the supplement aisle. The research around these supplements isn’t super well supported or thorough, but preliminary studies have given each of these enough backing that I am testing them out in my routine.

5-HTP is advertised as a supplement that helps to naturally balance your mood and has been shown to support healthy serotonin production. As someone who struggles with anxiety and depression, I am always on the look out for things that can help move the needle and help me feel like my mood is a little more balance throughout the day.

Again, as a woman on the contraceptive pill, one of the side-effects is depressive episodes and moodiness, so I find 5-HTP is something that, at the very least, gives me the feeling that my mood is balanced and I don’t have such extreme mood swings.

Maca is a naturally derived powder from the maca root and has been shown to have benefits for women with irregular hormonal levels. One of the things I learned from going off of the pill is just how out of whack my hormone levels were. So while I am on the pill, I feel as though I am helping to support healthier hormone levels, and hope to one day get off the pill without such a major shift in hormone levels.

Maca has also been shown to support healthy energy levels, which is especially important for me as I have long days with lots of dog walks, work tasks that require a sharp and focused mind, tough workouts and their subsequent recovery periods.

So that’s it at the moment for my supplement stack. Each of these has an important role to play in supporting not only my fitness goals, but also my everyday health as a busy young woman with responsibilities.

I hope you’ve found some value from this list, but please remember to speak with a doctor or registered health professional before trying any new or experimental supplements.

Every body is different, and therefore needs different things to feel its best. This is what works for me and I believe it can act as a jumping off point for your own further research into what supplements, vitamins and minerals can support you and your unique health situation.