Second look at sports supplements

[surfsteve]

Until recently I haven't been taking any supplements. But I've begun experimenting with them again and having good results with some of them.  A few years ago I took a whole bunch of vitamins and my hair started turning gray but high consumption of raw organ meats has turned it back.

20 or more years ago I was heavily into bodybuilding. I was eating sometimes two to three dozen eggs per day and only lightly experimenting with organ meats. The results were nothing short of fantastic. Then I started taking creatine in hopes of even bigger gains and instead of helping it really messed me up. Recently I started reading about creatine and if you eat a pound of meat per day you are getting around the same as if you supplemented with it. Eat a pound of meat with two dozen eggs and there's no wonder adding creatine to my diet turned out to be a disaster. I'm reasonably sure that if I supplemented with it again that the results would be the same. But for someone who doesn't eat a lot of meat or on a vegan diet it could be very beneficial or even necessary to maintain good health.

[surfsteve]

I guess I've begun this thread with the supplements I am not taking. Perhaps the second most common athletic and  bodybuilding supplement next to creatine is beta alanine. I've taken beta alanine before, a few years ago and it made my skin crawl. Turns out this is a common side effect of beta alanine and some people take it as a sign that it's working. I just got through reading a bunch on it before I started this thread. It turns out that beta alanine is used by the body to make carnatine, both of which are amino acids. By now you may have guessed from the sound of it that the main source of carnatine is meat. It is also the main source of beta alanine. From what I can tell though unlike creatine, the dose that body builders take ( two to six grams) far exceeds the amounts of carnatine or beta alanine you could get from eating meat no matter how much you ate. There are some websites that claim beta alanine may reverse aging but there are no long term studies done on it to prove taking it is even safe let alone beneficial to health. Despite all this it continues to be a very popular supplement and is flying off the shelves in most of the places that sell it. Till I started reading more about it, I was considering trying it again. I even found a 250 gram bag for sale on ebay for under 8 dollars including shipping but I think I'm going to give it a pass this second time around.

Here are some links for it that I still have open in my computer.

https://nootriment.com/is-beta-alanine-safe/

https://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-beta-alanine

http://www.healthline.com/nutrition/beta-alanine-101#section9

And the ebay link to buy it really cheap.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/122026847122?var=421038271531

[surfsteve]

MAGNESIUM.

It turns out that virtually everybody is deficient in magnesium and is the reason I started looking into supplements again. The best source of magnesium is found in green leafy vegetables but even if you eat a ton of them you will be barely squeaking by with getting enough in your diet.

Meat contains very little magnesium and exercise depletes it.

I've started experiencing some leg cramps, lack of energy and even a little twitching so I dusted off my supplements and found some magnesium taurate which I am just about out of. I was considering ordering more but it is very expensive. I learned that the two best forms are magnesium glycinate and magnesium malate. I ordered a small amount of both of them to try and found they were much cheaper than the magnesium taurate I had been taking and I also have been having much better results from them.

Magnesium malate works very good for me.  It is probably the best kind of magnesium to take for sports. It is magnesium combined with malic acid. Apples are a good source of malic acid.

Magnesium glycinate is wonderful. It is very relaxing and even mildly euphoric. It is also one of the cheaper forms of magnesium and probably the best one for the money as well as being the best one over all in my opinion.

I have done a huge amount of research on magnesium and will probably post more later about it.

[surfsteve]

L-CITRULINE AND CITRULINE MALATE:

Both of these are very good substances and cost about the same.

Most people swear by citruline malate but l-citruline on it's own does wonders. Citruline malae is citruline combined with malic acid. The malic acid helps the citruline to work better but I think it's just as effective to take citruline and malic acid together as it is to take citruline malate.

These are usually the main ingredients in most pre workout formulas.  They also help tremendously with recovery and seem to be good for general health.

[surfsteve]

MALIC ACID

I was a little hesitant on trying malic acid because I consume so many lemons and so much apple cider vinegar I felt that I probably didn't need it. I ordered a huge 5 pound bag for under twenty dollars from Amazon and I think this is one of the cheapest and most under rated supplements of all time!

Malic acid really helps with my recovery and works even better than lemon juice or cider vinegar for dissolving aches and pains from working out and helps with digestion. It is also taken by many people for fibromyalgia and said to work wonders for it. There is also evidence it may prevent cancer and all sorts of diseases.

As far as I know it is the most sour substance on earth. It is used in Jolly Rahcher candies, gummy bears and most sour tasting candies.

It goes very well in my meat smoothies. I told myself to use as much of it as I want but not to cut down on my heavy consumption of lemons or cider vinegar. My 5 pound bag will last for years and costs as much as  I spend on two weeks worth of lemons. It will also save me a lot of money adding it to citruline instead of taking citruline malate and by taking the cheaper and better form of magnesium glysinate instead of magnesium malate.

[surfsteve]

STINGING NETTLE ROOT EXTRACT

I've used this supplement for years. Luckily the first time I ordered it I got the real deal but I've ordered from many companies and more times than not I wound up getting ineffective or worthless crap! This last time on ebay I was lucky enough to get the real deal. The brand name was Hadley but a search by that name turns up nothing. You just have to type in nettle root extract powder and look for the name in the pictures. I've also gotten the real deal from China but I don't remember the brand or if there even was one. The good nettle root extract dissolves completely on my tongue leaving behind no residue and I can feel it instantly.

Nettle root is great for allergies and that is what I originally ordered it for.  But it is also an anti estrogen that turns estrogen back into testosterone. It is said to only work mildly for this purpose but I find it works very well for me and is very powerful. Perhaps the problem is there is so much low quality fake stuff out there that it hasn't gotten a very good rating.

[surfsteve]

BETAINE AKA TRIMETHYLGLYCINE OR TMG

There are two types of betaine. Betaine HCL and betaine TMG. The HCL form is usually taken for low stomach acid and the TMG for athletic performance (but I think both types would work for that). This supplement has been given to livestock for years to keep them healthy, lower their feed to weight ratio and eliminate vet bills. It is extremely cheap and perhaps the reason it is over looked. It was originally a waste product left over from processing sugar. In other words one of the good things they took out of it in order to make it a poison void of any nutrition what so ever.

In addition to it's health benefits and disease prevention it gives more endurance, strength and stamina. 

I would call it perhaps the second most underrated supplement. There are no long term negative effects and it has been well documented by it's use in animal feed to be safe and effective.

The only drawback to it, is that it gives bad breath, especially in higher doses (Really bad!) and was the reason I quit taking it.

I would consider taking it again and have tons of it laying around.

Malic acid is supposed to get rid of bad breath so perhaps taken together it might help with that. It's odd how a substance that has no taste (slightly sweet) or smell, can give such bad breath. It's probably from all the toxins it removes from the body. Unfortunately it removes a lot of them through the breath. Maybe that's the other reason it isn't such a popular supplement. If I do take it again I will limit my consumption to under a teaspoon per day because of this.

[van]

you can over do it and burn the stomach lining.

[RogueFarmer]

My friend makes this stuff, might be hard to beat for the price. https://emineral.info/HHF/dr-olrees-grand-unified-mineral-complex/

It has cod liver oil in it, not purported to be raw. Also yeast based selenium which may be one of the best sources of selenium and thorvin kelp.

I realize it doesn't follow the guidelines of this forum but I think it is a good economic value and useful for those wanting to make sure they are eating a balanced diet on a budget.

I think it's pretty good honestly because it is based on a similar ideology to what I read in Pat Colby's Natural Animal Care. Basically that no supplemental minerals are ideal and most of them should come from the food, however making the most simple forms of minerals available to your animals is the best and most economic way to ensure your animals do not have mineral deficiencies which will also help prevent nutritional shortfalls of macro nutrients.