Ok, can we have one final word from the experts on this, PLEASE?! I’ll describe my personal situation, as I’m sure its many others’ as well. I’m on a T-dawg type diet, where my only carbs come from meal replacers roughly two to three times a day along with two scoops of Advanced Protein at night. I pretty much don’t eat any fruit or veggies, or anything else that has much carbs, durring this dieting period due to excess carbs. My question is this: should I be taking a multivitamin in conjunction with the nutrients that I’m ingesting from the multiple MRPs and protein? Thanks for the help.
It would be a very good idea.
I have read several labels and found some that don’t seem balanced for men when they are men’s multi’s … can anybody recommend a proper profile of vitamins & minerals ?
Minimum supplement regimen for all adults: (1) high quality multi-vitamin/mineral* e.g. twinlab daily two without iron and (2) vitamin C e.g. 500 mg ASCORBATE** form twice a day. If you work out and/or are doing any athletics, I would strongly recommend adding an additional “B-50”. In addition, bodybuilding/athletics all put great stresses on the body and generate large quantities of free radicals. I would strongly recommend a diet high in antioxidants (colored fruits and veggies–not that high in carbs overall, and you can use berries as the carbs in your post-workout meal). In addition there are a number of antioxidants that might be useful after the basics (enough water, enough protein, flax or other essential fatty acid, etc). Coenzyme Q-10, grape seed extract, and NAC might be good starts depending upon your individual needs.
*I like the twinlab multi (I have no financial interest in twinlab) because it has 11 times the RDAs of most of the b vitamins plus 400 IU vitamin e, 30 mg zinc, as well as appropriate quantities and quality forms of several other trace minerals e.g. chromium, selenium, amnganese, and copper. ** The ascorbate form of vitamin c is much easier on the system, as well as being non-acidic. This is important because most people do better on larger daily doses (I take 3-4 grams/day in divided doses when healthy). Vitamin c has tons of benefits including lowering cortisol.
what kinda MRP’s are you useing? if you are haveing any of the major name brands 2-3 x’s everyday it is just a waste of money to take a multi, if their is certain vite’s or min’s that you believe you may want to take extra of (i.e. C as an antioxident) take them individualy, not only will it be cheaper but you can control exactley how much you consume
Dale and Choad…I don’t believe that taking any supplemental vitamin/mineral formulas are necessary, or even good for you, IF you are already drinking MRP’s (twice a day or more)that are vitamin/mineral fortified. If you’re really concerned, take some folic acid ‘just in case’. The only other vitamin supp. I would recommend while on this particular diet would be about 200 I.U.s of Vitamin E. Now, if you’re not consuming fortified MRP’s, a multi might be a good idea on a weekly basis. You don’t have to supp. your diet every single day, because the human body is amazingly efficient at storing and using nutrients! You could go months, and in most cases, even YEARS before you developed a true, bonafide deficiency. The sale of vitamin/mineral supps. is outrageously overrated…most likely due to the desire for financial gain by marketers.
Man, does the word overdoing it occur to anyone? All of those fancy things like CoQ10, NAC, Grape seed extracts should only be used for situational supplementation (i.e., heart disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, etc.). If you are taking a MRP 2-3x day and eating real foods along with a few protein scoops here and there, then IMO a general multivitamin/mineral (not a hi-dose expensive thingamagig) is more than enough. Vitamins and minerals in short are better absorbed when in a salt form. Remember, more is not better.