My Recommen­dations for Dietary Supplements

10th July 2024

It is worth mentioning that supplements are only for complementary purposes! They can be the icing on the cake, the last few percent for your performance.

However, if you are not hitting the fundamentals, which include hard and continuous training, regular movement, a balanced, healthy and protein-rich diet, as well as sufficient sleep with appropriate sleep hygiene (7-9 hours per night), then nutritional supplements won't help you much.

Do you fulfill the four points mentioned above? Then take a look at the list and benefit from the optimum. If you are lacking at the basics, you can always contact me.

Protein Powder

Really everyone benefits from protein powder. If you are in a hurry or it has to be flexible. Real food should of course always be preferred by you. Most wheys are unfortunately full of additives - flavors, sweeteners, thickening agents - which mess with your digestion and gut microbiome. A real alternative, however, is the whey from Orgainic for my European friends. It has the best quality and a fabulous natural taste. For the US I recommend Centenarius Nutrition. It has the best quality and a fabulous natural taste.

🥩 Creatine

The next product, a no-brainer, is creatine. Monohydrate is the most effective and cheapest, everything else is just marketing. Take 5g of the powder form per day, no matter when, dry scooped in your mouth and just rinse it down with water. It helps not only your strength and muscles, but also your cognition. Creapure is German made and guaranteed to be lab tested and clean creatine. Get it as well from Orgainic or Centenarius Nutrition.

🌞 Vitamin D

Vitamin D3 is almost a 'must-have' in winter. And also during summer many tend to have a deficiency. Whether you have a deficiency or not, you can find out together with your doctor. Testing for calcidiol and calcitriol (full Vitamin D metabolism).

However, supplementation is not a substitute for the real thing. You can't replace the real effects sunshine has and getting the rays directly on your skin. If possible, you should always spend a lot of time outdoors during the day.

Look here for the cheapest product, you can't go wrong with it. Make sure it's a product with vitamin K2 (MK7), so calcium gets stored in your bones and not elsewhere in the body.

Make the dosage dependent on your blood levels. Take it best together with a fatty meal.

💪🏻 Zinc and Magnesium

Zinc and magnesium should not be missing for optimal hormone balance and much more. Zinc 10-25mg extra a day, with cold symptoms a higher dosage may be useful. Zinc with the amino acid L-Histidine for higher bioavailability. Just be careful to not get a copper imbalance. Zinc and magnesium should not be missing for optimal hormone balance and much more. Zinc 10-25mg extra a day, with cold symptoms a higher dosage may be useful.

You can rub magnesium 'oil' on certain muscle areas to aid recovery. Highly recommended after training or general fatigue. You can also take a bath with it in magnesium flakes form.
Taking it in citrate form can fuel your muscles and in glycinate form can have positive effects on your mental performance and sleep. Approximately 300-400mg of elemental magnesium per dose should be well tolerated.

💤 Sleep and Recovery

Glycine (for US here) is an amino acid and can improve your sleep quality in higher doses. It is also responsible for many other things in the human body, such as cognition and gut health. Although a non-essential amino acid, meaning your body can produce it on its own, an intense lifestyle increases demands. Take around 5-10g before bedtime. Powder form is the cheaper option and it tastes sweet, easy to add into chamomile tea or just plain water.

Together with Collagen (also rich in Glycine, hence the positive effects on digestion) enhancing your joint recovery by delivering the essential building blocks. (Available at Centenarius for the US).

Give these a try together with Magnesium and feel if they make a difference for you. I have them included all in my stack to maximize my recovery.

🤓 Cognitive Enhancer

The most notable and effective stack is plain and simple: coffee (natural caffeine), 200-400mg L-Theanine (sublingual for higher absorption) and nicotine (don't smoke, use chewing gums or nic pouches up to 3mg).

You can give mushroom extracts such as Lions Mane a try as well, but nothing beats a good coffee and a fasted state to enhance focus. In our time of short form content overload it's also important to take care of your content diet, what you consume.
Concentration is dependent on a lot of factors, keeping distraction and stimulation low.

There are a lot more supplements and the industry is big. Again though, a good diet, well structured training and great sleep has the biggest leverage on your well being and performance.

What I do recommend is downloading the Cronometer App and tracking the micronutrient intake of your diet. See if you lack any specific minerals or vitamins and if you can make up for it with better food choices. If not you might want to supplement these extra.

💬 You've got questions?

If you have any further questions, especially about dosages or other alternatives, feel free to ask me through one of my networked channels.