The Best Supplements Will Ensure You’re Getting the Nutrition You Need

The boring truth is that even the best supplements won’t be as important as what we eat. Supplementing a deficient diet heavy on processed foods with a multivitamin probably won’t vault your health into the black, or help your stomach from turning somersaults. (Conversely, missing a couple days’ worth of your supplements won’t be a dealbreaker if you eat right most of the time.) And while the question of how to eat well is constantly up for debate, the answer—which is probably somewhere between what Dr. Marion Nestle prescribes and what Bear Grylls tends to eat—is, happily, pretty subjective. It’s less about expertise than it’s about finding the right things to eat. 

So what should we take? One way to supplement is to shore up the helpful minerals and nutrients that are toughest to get from real foods. Even apple-core eaters might not be able to right every day, and because of soil erosion, just about all of us might be missing out on the good stuff that’s in our groceries. Below is a list of nutritional extras— obscure healthy foods in freeze dried packages, minerals that are tricky to get on a plate, as well as standard fill-in-the-gap powders—that will help us either patch the dietary holes that arise from a busy life, or go even further if we’re getting most of what we need. 

Protein powder

Naked Nutrition grass fed whey protein powder

Active people should aim for a gram of protein per bodyweight. It helps keep on muscle, staves off soreness and keeps us stay full. Real foods are ideal, but a good powder’s sometimes the easiest way to hit that number. 

Magnesium

Pure Encapsulations Magnesium glycinate

Soil depletion has reduced the amount of bioavailable—read: digestible—magnesium found in natural foods, like cacao and avocados. So supplement with about 400mg a day, and see if it improves your sleep quality. 

Black seed oil  

Not the verboten kind of seed oil, but a holistic soup made from the nigella sativa plant, and which is said to do everything from lowering cholesterol to clearing up skin. 

Sea Salt 

Redmond “Real Salt” sea salt

Re-mineralization, the new trend in esoteric fitness, is also simply how sports drinks work: a pinch of good sea salt, and its trace minerals, helps rehydrate athletes after training. 

Zinc

Pure Encapsulations Zinc 30

Touted as an immunity booster, zinc is found in red meat, chocolate and shellfish, but adding some extra won’t hurt. Shoot for 20 mg a day. 

Freeze dried organ meats

Ancestral Supplements grass fed beef liver

Even after the Liver King’s PED revelation, freeze dried beef liver remains the quickest way to get in a whole swath of nutrients without need to get used to the taste of offal. Half the recommended daily dose should be OK. Long term, try and do the real thing. 

Creatine

Bodytech creatine monohydrate powder

Scientists love creatine: in studies it’s been shown to improve neurological function and increase muscular retention—it even has anti-aging benefits. It’s recommended we get 5 grams a day—that’s a lot of red meat—so supplementation’s a good option, especially for vegans and vegetarians. 

Gelatin Powder 

High in glycine, gelatin is great for sleep quality and muscle gain, and, when sprinkled onto whatever red meat you’re cooking, helps heavy proteins feel lighter. 

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