A Nutritionist's Supplement Strategy (+ how to decide if you should take them) Ep 51

Every endurance athlete remembers the moment when things finally click. Your swim feels smoother, your pacing makes sense, your fueling works, and suddenly the sport feels not only easier, but more fun. And for many athletes, that moment happens at training camp. That's exactly why we created the Endurance Edge Triathlon Training Camp happening April 22nd through 26th at Lake Jocassee in South Carolina. For 4 incredible days, you'll train in a small group with expert coaches, sports nutrition support, and sports psychology guidance, all designed to help you train smarter, race stronger, and finally connect the dots in your performance. We swim in crystal clear mountain water, ride beautiful and challenging roads, run scenic trails, and spend the rest of the time recovering, learning, laughing, and eating some seriously amazing chef-prepared food.

Mm-hmm.

Camp is intentionally small, just 20 athletes, so you get real coaching, true connection, and amazing breakthroughs. So if you want an experience that can transform your entire season, we invite you to join us. Head to theenduranceedge.com and click training camp and reserve your spot with just a $100 deposit. Come train hard, learn a ton, and leave stronger than you ever imagined.

I'll see you there. Welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast. I am your host, Coach Christina Fiumara Newport, and I am talking all about why or if you should take certain supplements and then all about my specific supplement routine. So I always find it fascinating when you can see what somebody else is doing it's kind of like staring into somebody else's bank account just sheer curiosity. So I figured this would be an interesting learning opportunity to go through my strategy for determining what supplements I take and then also how I help other people create a specific supplement strategy as well. So I'm gonna be talking about some specific things and then along that I take and then along the way kind of giving you little pearls as to how things should be taken in terms of throughout the day, but I also wanna make sure that this is not constituting any sort of medical nutrition therapy or specific advice for you. Always consult with your healthcare provider about any specific supplements that you are taking. So I'm gonna start off first thing in the morning. My habit is to get up and to have a cup of coffee and then I add collagen to it. I do have some genetic SNPs that make me a little bit more susceptible to collagen and joint, not necessarily injury, but ability to not create collagen quite as well as I can. So what I am taking right now is the Garden of Life Grass-Fed Collagen Peptides. It says 20 grams per serving, type 1 and type 3, plus probiotics. I, the only reason why I'm taking this is because the other brand that I typically take, which is a Designs for Health Whole Body Collagen, which has 3 different types of collagen that are very well researched, that's typically the one that I'm recommending to most of my clients. That same company also has a sister brand that they just created. It's called Designed for Sport, which of course all of you are very sporty out there, so it's a great appeal to that market. But honestly, it's the same thing. It's just a cool label. Anyway, they were out of that. So instead I did some searching and found this particular company, which Garden of Life does a pretty good job in terms of, in fact, on the back of the label it says it is NSF certified, which is one of the things you wanna make sure to look at. To ensure that it does not contain— that in essence it's the proper potency and doesn't contain any harmful ingredients because the supplement industry is not very well regulated and you can have all kinds of things in your supplements from trace amounts of medications and more. So anyway, it's a little bit scary, but we, I at least know that this brand is a good one. It has per scoop, which is 20 grams by weight, it has 18 grams of protein or 20 grams of collagen peptides. It also has 1.5 billion CFUs of Lactobacillus planetarium, which honestly I don't know if I'm getting any benefit from that. I don't know whether it survives the heat of my coffee. I don't know whether it gets through my gastrointestinal lining. That's not really why I got this product. But I will say the scoop is bigger in this product than it is in the other one that I usually use. So per scoop it's 11 grams of protein versus per scoop it's 18 grams of protein for this. And I'm not just doing it for the protein but also for the collagen benefit. But you know, Sometimes I'm lazy and you would say, well, why don't you just do a scoop and a half of your other protein? And I don't. So, but I'm human too. And that just goes to show that there are different things that we have to approach when we are making ourselves a supplement strategy. So anyway, that's my collagen peptides. And then there are a few other things. I typically have my coffee and then a little while later I have my breakfast. So with breakfast, I have here, I take 3 different things. One of them is the brand is Thorne and it's phosphatidylcholine. I have a particular genetic SNP for my PEMT gene that makes it harder for me to create choline. I have a sneaking suspicion this was one of the reasons why my daughter had a cleft palate. I absolutely cannot confirm that, as I totally understand, because the etiology of cleft palate is very complex, but I'm wondering whether this had something to do with it. Anyhow, this is what I take now. It's phosphatidylcholine, it's by Thorne, and same kind of thing. This is because Designs for Health was out of their particular product, which is what I typically take. And per gel cap it is 420 milligrams. Uh, they're pretty big. Uh, I don't mind large pills, but I keep that in the freezer alongside my fish oil. So that's when I take for just balancing omega-3 and omega-6 ratio, which most of us are not very good, don't have that great of a ratio for the standard American diet. Anyhow, this is Metagenics product, it's called OmegaGenics EPA DHA 1000. It is the triglyceride versus the ethyl ester form of fish oil. It helps support cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and immune system health. I do eat fish, I do eat salmon, I'd say probably, probably 3 or 4 times a week. And I have had my omegas tested. I am due for another test. Pretty soon, so I will be curious to see how this has affected it. But one softgel contains 1.4 grams of marine lipid concentrate, which more specifically, and this is if you're looking at an omega-3 product, which I'm all about the most bang for your buck, like getting as much as you possibly can in the smallest form possible. Not only because, because it saves you money, but also it saves you the number of pills that you have to swallow, et cetera. But this particular product I love recommending just because it's got 710 milligrams of EPA and 290 milligrams of DHA. So if you look at the back of your fish oil, you wanna be cognizant of that cuz that's the important stuff when it comes to your omega-3s. Also, this particular bottle is brown glass. Since fish oil has a higher likelihood of going rancid and then it provides the opposite effect that you're looking for it to support, you wanna make sure you don't get fish oil in a clear container, ideally not in a plastic container. Um, and certainly nothing that's been exposed to heat. So I encourage people, never buy your omega-3s on just a regular store shelf. They should be refrigerated because again, the higher likelihood of rancidity. Omega-3s are very delicate. And I was wondering this as I was preparing for this, I was like, why don't I keep my phosphatidylcholine and omega-3s in the fridge? And it's because we tend to have more turnover of product in our fridge. Things are going in and out much quicker and you know, the supplements end up moving around the fridge like really high on the top shelf or kind of to the back. And then I'm more likely to forget about them. I don't know what it is about them being in the freezer, but I am more likely to remember them. We've got like a drawer freezer and I just drop them in the same place and then every morning when I have my breakfast I pull them out. So I do 2 of the Omegagenics EPA/DHA 1000. So that gives me almost 3 grams of fish oil, but essentially 2 grams of the EPA and DHA. So that is for Omegagenics. I oftentimes will take an additional, if I do a particularly hard workout or long like a long run or really hard strength workout, an ideal time that I've seen in the literature to take these is post-workout. So sometimes I'll throw in an extra 2 to 4 grams post-workout. So, and they sell these, I just happen to have the 60 size, but they sell them in really big containers. So next thing I have on my list is a multivitamin. I have been taking this particular product for a while, which leads me to remind you all is you should have a reason for taking every single thing that you're taking. If there is no specific goal or no specific reason for taking something, you should ask yourself whether it is really necessary or consult with a sports nutritionist or a functional medicine practitioner to be able to determine what should you be taking. Cuz oftentimes I will get laundry lists of things from people and I'm like, okay, well why are you taking that? And they're like, I don't know, I read it somewhere on the internet or my friend takes it and. Feels really good because of it, or, you know, so knowing why you take something is really important. And then also, can you actually track whether it's doing any good? So I had already mentioned the choline and the omega-3s, those things I can track. We've got our micronutrient testing, which I am due to take a micronutrient test, which includes the omega-3 index. So that's on my list of things to do this winter. With the multivitamin that I take, it's a Pure Encapsulations brand and it's called the ONE multivitamin, uh, or O-N-E, which stands for One Stealing Nutrient Essentials. I've been taking this one for a long time and just for grins and giggles the past year or so, I've kind of switched it up a little bit. Really not for a good reason. And isn't that ironic that I just told you that you should have a good reason for taking whatever you're taking? But you know, I think shiny thing syndrome perhaps got to me. I was like, oh, well maybe I should be taking this phytonutrient multi or this women's nutrient or whatever. And basically just have ended up coming back to this particular one. Nice thing about this is it's a very, it's a great broad spectrum. It's got methylated B vitamins. Which I know based on my genetic testing that I do need some additional methylation support. Plus it's got 2,000 IU of vitamin D. I don't have any genetic variants that affect my vitamin D absorption, but I have found from testing my vitamin D that the most recent one that I just had this fall that I had my, uh, doctor run on me, my vitamin D dropped a little bit. So that was really the one thing that when I switched multivitamins that was not in those nutrients. So, which is one of the reasons why I decided to, uh, come back to this one. Kind of the nice thing is just for compliance, it's one, it's no big deal for me. And like I said, super easy to take. You never wanna take a multivitamin on an empty stomach. You probably have learned that, but maybe you haven't. So the ability to absorb things is much better with food. I do realize that I take my collagen and my higher vitamin D multivitamin somewhat together and those tend to not be synergistic. Collagen and vitamin C work really well together, but not collagen and vitamin D. However, again, going back to my labs that I just had done with my vitamin D, it's fine. And maybe this is me just being lazy. So I know I'm gonna be compliant with taking my multivitamin with breakfast rather than with something like lunch. I tend to like for people to take B complexes or multivitamins towards the beginning of the day cuz that's when you need your energy rather than at the end of the day. So that's how I do that. So in total for the morning, that's my scoop of collagen and then a 2 Omegagenics, 1 phosphatidylcholine, and 1 multivitamin. Next up is evening. So I take magnesium at night, some genetic components that warrant me taking that consistently, and then additional exercise, um, will reduce that through sweating. Although I'm not a particularly heavy sweater and here we are going into the winter. I kind of switch up what magnesium I'm taking. The one that I'm holding in my hand right now is Thorne. It's a magnesium bisglycinate and it's a powder version. It's one scoop, contains 200 milligrams of magnesium bisglycinate, and then other ingredients are citric acid and monk fruit concentrate, which is a type of sweetener. So if I'm in the mood, usually in the summertime, I'll take this because I will ice it down and I don't know. I think it's just kind of delicious. Sometimes in the winter, if I feel like it, I will take a magnesium pill. Sometimes I will switch that up. I know my husband needs the magnesium citrate version due to the propensity for kidney stones. Uh, so sometimes I'll take those because again, being a little bit lazy, uh, and that is a Protocol for Life, um, magnesium, which is a combination, but I've rotated through several of those. Also, I have some for my children, some magnesium. It is magnesium citrate, and honestly, that's a Nature Made one that I oftentimes will get off of the the local drugstore or grocery store. That's one of the few things that I would actually buy from the drugstore, especially if I'm in a pinch or need some like vitamin C or something like that. My kids don't really love those and they're gummies and sometimes I just have a gummy or two and I don't mind them. So I think they're kind of delicious. So sometimes I'll take 2 to 3 of those at night if I don't wanna take the drink version of the magnesium bisglycinate. So, but it's magnesium citrate. I have not personally felt that there has necessarily been a difference in the way that I feel necessarily, or its effect on my bowels. 'Cause sometimes citrate can be a little bit more stimulating to the bowels. Glycinate is a little bit gentler. I've tried L-threonate, magnesium L-threonate, which crosses the blood-brain barrier a little bit better and helps with more anxiety and depressive disorders. I do have some genetic propensities for that, but I just haven't really noticed there been necessarily a difference. However, and I do have my magnesium tested, although typically that's in a pretty tight range when you get it done at the doctor. The other thing that I have really enjoyed, and I've been taking this for a relatively short amount of time, but I'm finding it wonderful and it makes sense when I look at my genetics as to why it's wonderful. But this is a product called BrainMD is the brand. It's by Dr. Daniel Amen outta California who's written a ton of books. And I do recommend his books if you have the chance to pick any of them up. They are actually one of the few books that in nutrition and health that I recommend. But this product is called Put Me to Sleep Naturally. They are chewable tablets. Per 2 tablets, they have got, uh, magnesium, which is 100 milligrams as a malate bisglycinate combination. And then B6, vitamin B6, just a small amount is very synergistic with, uh, magnesium. So you can also get that from food. Sometimes I'll take it with like, if I'm just doing magnesium, I'll take it with like a little bite of banana. This has 10 milligrams of vitamin B6. In it. You don't necessarily need a lot, you just need a little for that synergistic effect. But the more important thing for me in which I've really found that this product is fantastic is it's got a little bit of GABA, GABA aminobutyric acid. It's got 300 milligrams with 100 milligrams of L-theanine and 50 milligrams of 5-HTP, which is 5-hydroxytryptophan, and 1.25 milligrams of melatonin. So that's 2 tablets. I take 2, 2 tablets a night, and then I will typically take another 1 to 2 200 milligrams of magnesium. What I have found with this especially, and again, it makes sense with my genetics, this is very calming. So I'll take this about 30 minutes or so before I go to bed. Totally relaxing. Uh, I don't necessarily, if I'm super tired, I won't necessarily take it. I typically will take the magnesium and be pretty diligent about that, but this has been a really fantastic one for me. So just kind of walking you through my strategy. I have a different strategy for my kids and I have a different strategy for my husband when he remembers to take them each client that we work with in our practice, we have a specific strategy that we spend a lot of time on with them, creating those various protocols, picking out the right products, making sure that people are going to be compliant with them, and then seeing how things go and then measuring your progress. Because if you're taking something and you don't know why you're taking it and you don't know whether it's working, then I would ask you whether it's really something that you should be taking. Like I said, I get from people laundry lists of things that they take and I ask them why they're taking particular things and sometimes they just don't know or they don't know how to arrange them. You know, what should I take at night? What should I take in the morning? And then certain medications of course are going to affect that. So like this GABA product that I was just telling you about from BrainMD, not gonna be good for certain people who are on certain antidepressants. It can interfere with that. So that's why those things need to be taken into account. So that was my supplement strategy. I try to keep things relatively simple, base it off of my genetics, and then have something that I can fall back on. So in terms of things that I like to test, uh, like I had mentioned, the omega-3 index. I'm due for a micronutrient test, which will also test my choline and multiple other things. But typically at the doctor, I'll get a CBC, a CMP, a vitamin D, B12, and a folate. Anytime that you're going in to get blood work, if you are on any sort of B complex or B vitamin or a multivitamin, I always encourage people to take 3 days off. So that you get sort of a clean measure, if you will. So actually judging, are these things working? And my B12, my folate have generally been in a good place with the nutrients that I've been taking. Next on the list is I probably need to add homocysteine to that again, based on our, the genetics that I've done to make sure that that's staying in range. So that was a picture into my, my personal supplement strategy. That doesn't mean that it's your supplement strategy, but just going through the sort of decision nutrition tree of figuring out what are highest priority, how are you gonna take things, are you gonna be compliant with them, where does it fit into your particular habit structure? So those are things you definitely need to ask yourself. And if you need support, you can always schedule a session with us, theenduranceedge.com. And I would either recommend doing a, either a free nutrition consult or you can just go ahead and book an initial nutri nutrition consult online. That's a great way for us to go through a full assessment because in order for us to make a full assessment assessment, an intervention, a nutritional diagnosis, and then have a monitoring and evaluation plan. We really need to see the, the whole picture of what's going on with you in order to make those appropriate recommendations or any necessary tests, cuz we have access to micronutrient testing and gut testing and all kinds of stuff. Oh, one that I missed, I had been for a while cuz I saw some interesting research on it based on the person who had created it. There's a, a brand called Pendulum, it's called Acromel. Acremancia is the strain. I was kind of interested by that research that had come out. Apparently it is very hard to create this strain, which was kind of interesting. I heard a podcast with her in the past, so I tried that and I probably will discontinue that and no longer take that. Didn't necess— and I didn't do any gut testing before or afterwards. That was on me. But gut testing is not necessarily cheap and, but the Acremancia was not necessarily expensive, so I thought, eh, may as well try it. But I know that that's some of the things that you guys do too. And see, we're all human. And we're all works in progress. And also things depend on what's going on in your life stage. And that being said, kind of an interesting topic is should we be taking any supplements at all? I am definitely a proponent of them. I think, you know, your grandmother who may have lived until she was 96, 99, never took a supplement in her life. Yeah, I think that that is fascinating. But I also know that the amount of stress that we are under and how our circumstances are just totally different in terms of the nutrition in our soil and in our diets and the level of stress that we're undergoing is just so different that our diets just cannot keep up and our stress level and our sleep level cannot keep up. So that's my opinion on supplement strategies. Hopefully this was helpful for you to at least go through that decision tree yourself or reach out and get some help. This is one of our specialties as functional nutritionists. We're very lucky and excited to do something like this. So you can also get any of these things that I recommended on— I'll put them in the show notes, but we use a company called Fullscript, and I will link to it in terms of our quote unquote storefront, if you will. And I'll have all of these things listed out so that you don't have to go trolling the internet for them. Also, certain of these products are professional line brands. Do not buy your supplements on something like Amazon. I have a whole nother podcast on that, so I would encourage you to listen to that. I will link to that too. But there is a sale coming up during Thanksgiving, so I believe it's November 24th through the 27th. So all of our clients get 15% off their supplements via Fullscript. and then there's additional discounts on top of that. So this is a really great time where I, I know a lot of my clients will stock up on things or buy larger quantities. Like I was mentioning that Omegagenics, I have the 60 capsule version, but I think they have up to 180, which is nice, especially in the wintertime if you're gonna get those things shipped. I have one client who literally buys multiple bottles in the wintertime because he knows that it's not gonna be shipped during the height of the heat when again, those could potentially go rancid. So anyway, hopefully you have appreciated some of this rambling, or at least sometimes when I talk to myself, that's what I feel like. So if you have enjoyed this podcast, you can always leave us a review, reach out to me at chris@theenduranceedge.com or schedule an appointment at theenduranceedge.com. Uh, you can also find under resources, you can find our, or shop, you can find our storefront. Uh, again, I'll link to that in the podcast show notes, but hopefully this was helpful and I encourage you all to be well. Thank you so much for listening. We'll catch you next time.

Thanks for listening to the Find Your Edge podcast. If you like what you heard, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. And if you're interested in learning more about our endurance coaching, sports and wellness nutrition, metabolic and sweat testing, triathlon training team, or our triathlon training library, be sure to check us out at theenduranceedge.com. And don't forget to follow us on social media at The Endurance Edge. Thanks again, and we'll catch you next time.