Recommended Daily Supplements For Your Best Health
There are several key supplements that are recommended for everyone to take. The reasons for this are mentioned below.
(note that there are higher dosages for your first month to help correct deficiencies, and the maintenance dose after that to maintain sufficiency of these essential nutrients).
Recommended Supplements dosage for your first month of care to improve overall health.
| Supplement/Dose | Adult Male | Adult Female | Child |
| Omega 3 (Nordic Oil – Store in fridge, shake before using) | 2 teaspoons with evening meal | 2 teaspoons with evening meal | 1 teaspoon with evening meal |
| Omega 3 Capsules (Nordic Oil – do not store in fridge | 4 capsules with evening meal | 4 capsules with evening meal | 2 capsules with evening meal |
| Vitamin D3 drops (Nutri) | 5 drops per day in water before bed (5000iu/day) | 4 drops per day in water before bed (4000iu/day) | 1 drops per day in water before bed (1000iu/day) |
| Probiotic Supplement (multi-strain/broad spectrum, high potency brand) [Amazon Link] | 1 capsule per day, with water upon rising. | 1 capsule per day, with water upon rising. | 1 capsule per day, with water upon rising. |
Recommended Supplements dosage to help maintain overall health.
| Supplement/Dose | Adult Male | Adult Female | Child |
| Omega 3 (Nordic Oil – Sore in fridge, shake before using) | 1 teaspoon with evening meal | 1 teaspoons with evening meal | 1/2 teaspoon with evening meal |
| Omega 3 Capsules (Nordic Oil – do not store in fridge_ | 2 capsules with evening meal | 2 capsules with evening meal | 1 capsules with evening meal |
| Vitamin D3 drops (Nutri) [Amazon Link] | 3 drops per day in water before bed (3000iu/day) | 2 drops per day in water before bed (2000iu/day) | 1 drops per day in water before bed (1000iu/day) |
| Probiotic Supplement (multi-strain/broad spectrum, high potency brand) [Amazon Link] | 1 capsule per day, with water upon rising. | 1 capsule per day, with water upon rising. | 1 capsule per day, with water upon rising. |
Improved Health & Wellbeing Begins Here
Why are supplements necessary?
10,000 years ago we clearly didn’t require any supplements and our ancestors obviously never took any. We would have received all of the nutrients that we required in sufficient amounts from our hunting and gathering efforts, as well as our natural exposure to the sun. These days however, our environment and daily routines have changed significantly and to the point that dietary supplements are a very useful and necessary intervention in wellness.
There are some things that we just cannot get from our diet anymore, even if we are following a good nutrition plan to perfection. In other words, there are supplements that are required to give our cells all of the essential nutrients that they need to survive and thrive.
What follows is not an exhaustive list of supplements that you could take, but is an excellent conservative start that will help to correct the primary imbalances most commonly seen in modern man.
Not all supplements are created equal.
Before we get into the details, the first thing to know is that not all supplements are created equal. You need to know what you are doing before heading out and spending your hard-earned money. There is a bit of a minefield to navigate your way through, and not only is it possible to waste your money, but there is also the potential to cause yourself harm from consuming the wrong products. That is why I believe that the fewer supplements you take, the better, and that it is wise to take only the ones that are necessary to correct deficiencies and help your cells to function optimally.
You may in some cases need additional help from other qualified practitioners to help you determine what some of those might be. You should also only buy supplements from respected suppliers and not simply the cheapest supplier on the high street or the internet.
The rest of the nutrients that you need will be found in abundance in the best form possible; whole foods from nature. The richer and more varied your diet, the closer you will get to supercharging your nutrient intake.
Omega 3 Fish Oils
There are now over 2000 quality research studies demonstrating the importance of fish oil in the human diet. Omega 3 is essential for every aspect of health. It is a vital nutrient for your brain and nervous system and makes up the cell walls of every cell in your body (along with cholesterol). So it’s important stuff.
The best evidence out there says that we need around 1000 mg of EPA/DHA per day. Eating fish and meat these days alone will not give you enough of these essential oils, so the fact is that we need to supplement our diets – every day. Remember that to be healthy, our cells constantly need a pure and sufficient supply of nutrients. There is never a time when it is Ok to go without omega 3 in your diet, just like there is never a time when it is ok to leave out water. Every nutrient has a vital and on-going role to play, from birth to death.
The best available source of omega-3.
Fish oil is probably the best available source of omega 3 (EPA/DHA) occurring in nature. Clearly, it would be best to get that from eating fish, but by now we all know the problems with eating too much fish. Our oceans have become polluted to the extent that the large predatory fish (that are the most popular to eat) accumulate heavy metal toxins leaving many species dangerous to eat. The smaller whitebait fish like mackerel, herring, sild, sardines, and anchovies are all loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, and these are safe to eat. However, most people cannot eat enough of these to achieve a sufficient level of omega-3 fats in their diet.
It is worth noting that farmed fish (most salmon is farmed) are fed an unnatural diet consisting of grains, and as such, they don’t naturally produce omega 3 fats and rather become riddled with unhealthy omega 6 fatty acids instead. The same problem happens with intensively farmed animals like chicken, pork, and beef. These animals are usually fed on grains and as such do not have any naturally occurring omega-3 fats and instead become a potent source of unhealthy omega-6 fats. Armed with this knowledge, it is advisable to avoid eating farmed fish or intensively farmed supermarket meats. Wild game meats and grass-fed beef and lamb do have some omega-3 content, and it is recommended to eat these.
It’s a good idea to take a supplement
Given the problems with our food chain and the chronic deficiencies that most people have; to get enough omega 3 in our diets, it’s a good idea to take a supplement (even if you are eating lots of small bait fish and wild grass-fed meats).
However, not all fish oils are created equal.
The process of manufacturing the oil is difficult, as omega 3 is unstable and easily oxidised and made hazardous to consume and thereby rendered useless in function. There is also the important issue of finding a brand that uses healthy organic fish fed on a natural diet and filtering out the inevitable toxins from the oil to ensure that it is completely safe for human consumption. The way the oil is packaged and stored is also critical to ensure that it remains fresh and stable. As you can see from the short list above, there are probably many avenues for cost-cutting, so I would urge you to avoid buying the cheapest product you can find.
The brand that I recommend is Nordic Oil. It comes from Norway and is one of the cleanest, purest, and most cost-effective brands that you can buy in Europe. It has also been studied in university trials for its purity and effectiveness and assessed for purity by independent third parties, so in short, I trust this one.
There are two options with Nordic Oil:
You can either take the liquid form – 2 teaspoons twice per day with food for the first month and then 1 tsp per day after that as a maintenance dose. This product must be stored in the fridge once opened and thrown away after three months, even if there is some left. This oil is flavoured with natural lemon and does not leave you with any fishy aftertaste.
Or you can take the capsule form – 4 capsules per day for the first month and then two capsules after that. Do NOT store the capsules in the fridge.
Fish oil is best taken midway through your evening meal.
The oil is the same in both forms, the only difference being that the capsules are slightly more expensive.
Another option is Krill Oil [Amazon link], which is a potent form of EPA/DHA made from Krill. The benefits with this are that the capsules are smaller and you don’t need to take as much because they are more potent. They also contain astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant (this is what gives it the red colour). Krill oil is often more expensive than fish oil though.
Omega 3 and Vegetarians/Vegans
It is simply not possible to get all of the right forms of EPA and DHA from nuts and seeds. Our bodies will produce a small quantity of it from flax seeds, but not enough to meet our needs. So this raises an important question…if we cannot get enough of the right fats from a vegetarian diet can vegetarians be healthy?
Well, this is always a sensitive topic, but I will start by saying that from an ethical point of view, I commend vegetarians/vegans for standing up for their beliefs and for wanting to protect animal welfare. However from a perspective/understanding of the physiology and science of health, then it is indefensible.
There is a lot of evidence that humans improved as a species the moment that they began consuming meat and putting omega-3 fats into the human ecosystem. We need ample amounts of animal protein and fat sources to be truly healthy. Over the years there have been studies that have shown consumption of animal meats to be damaging to good health. However, these studies were flawed because they studied people who ate processed meats and unhealthy grain-fed, omega-6-laden supermarket meat. So I believe it’s common sense no matter what angle you approach it from that humans are omnivores; we are designed to eat the full spectrum, and meat/fish/fats are critical components of our makeup.
If you’re vegetarian…
If you are vegetarian, I don’t think I’ll convert you overnight with one paragraph of writing, but I do urge you to think about your personal health goals. Nutritional science is clear now that if you don’t get the essential fatty acid balance right, there is a good chance that you will develop inflammation and stress-adapted physiology. Over time, this may lead to more chronic and severe health problems.
It’s worth knowing that there are ethically farmed meat products that are widely available these days. Eating meat is in your genes. Perhaps our activities along these lines would be better placed promoting ethical farming and animal welfare practices.
In the meantime, a couple of options you may want to consider so that you can begin to put the balance of fats in your body right:
Omega-3 Options for Vegetarians
Udo’s Choice Oil [Amazon link]– Is a blend of various vegetable oils that provides a source of omega 3 and omega 6. This is not perfect but it’s a start and at least you will ensure a consistent supply of some omega 3. This is also a fantastic oil to use as a base for salad dressings. I don’t recommend this as a long-term solution though, as there is quite a bit of evidence indicating vegetable oils are not particularly healthy in general and can produce inflammation in the body.
Krill oil is another potential option for vegetarians. It is a more useful and potent form for your cells to make use of than vegetable-based oils. If you are serious about restoring health and recognise the importance of omega-3 fatty acids in achieving this, then Krill oil is a great option. The capsules are small. They don’t taste like fish. Krill is the largest biomass on earth. There is more krill in the oceans than anything else, so it is in no danger of being overfished or exposed to cruel intensive farming methods. And remember – if your ancestors hadn’t eaten animal products, you wouldn’t be here now!
Vitamin D3
Vitamin D is a hormone. It is manufactured in your skin under the influence of UV radiation from the sun. Vitamin D3 is essential for the normal functioning of the human ecosystem, and deficiency in it has now been linked to a multitude of chronic illnesses. Deficiency in D3 is now commonplace because we spend so much of our time indoors, and if we do go into the sun, we cover up and use sun cream. Even if you do get regular sun exposure, the strength of the sun in the UK is not sufficient for your skin to manufacture all the vitamin D that you require.
We can also get vitamin D3 from some food sources like eggs, liver, cheese, and cod liver oil. However, the levels consumed from these will fall short of our requirements.
The net result of these factors is that there is a pandemic of vitamin D3 deficiency and this represents a major environmental stressor. To correct this, we have two options:
1) Get more sun exposure – 90% skin exposure for 10-20 minutes daily is recommended. If you cannot do this (likely to be you if you live in the UK) then option 2 is necessary:
2) Take a good quality supplement.
Since Vitamin D3 plays such an important role in overall health, it is wise to have your levels measured with a blood test. It is possible to overdose on Vitamin D, (as it is with any supplement) so it is a good idea to monitor the effects of your supplementation and guide the dose based upon your known current levels.
The dosage advice given in the chart above represents the current best-known general quantities for people with minimal sun exposure.
Probiotics
It is interesting to note that we are more bacteria than anything else. We have roughly ten times more bacteria in us and on us than we have cells. That equates to around 1.5 – 2 kg in weight of bacteria!
These bacteria form an important symbiotic relationship with us. They support our health in many ways; including helping with detoxification, manufacturing vitamins and short-chain fatty acids, maintaining the health of the gut lining, keeping the bad bacteria at bay, and forming around 70% of your immune/detoxification system. They are critical to health.
A lesser-known benefit of gut bacteria is that they support a healthy gut-brain hormonal axis. Your enteric nervous system (the nerves that supply your digestive tract) are like your second brain; a lot of hormones are manufactured in the gut, and these are critical to balancing moods and behaviour. (For a more in-depth discussion on the importance of gut health, see the excellent book: Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride).
How our natural gut flora is harmed.
There are many ways in which our natural gut flora is harmed these days, but perhaps the biggest problem is the way that we produce our food. Mass-produced foods are often grown in nutrient-deficient environments and sprayed with pesticides and herbicides. It is then often picked early and irradiated to kill ‘bad’ bacteria. We also consume foods laced with preservatives, alcohol, antibiotics, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, (like ibuprofen) all of which are harmful to your natural gut flora. The net effect of all of this is that we now consume less than one-millionth of the amount of probiotic bacteria that our ancestors would have consumed, and there is no doubt that our health suffers negatively because of this.
Probiotics [Amazon link] are an essential nutrient because we cannot manufacture them in our bodies, we have to get them from our environment. Since our food chain and environment these days is so sterile compared to what is ideal for our innate genetic needs, we really have no choice but to supplement every day with a high-quality probiotic supplement.
How to choose a good quality probiotic supplement
There are a lot of poor versions of probiotic supplements available these days. The yoghurt-type probiotic drinks are probably the worst form to consume. These contain a lot of sugar and preservatives and are likely to do more harm than good (products like Yakult or Actimal for example).
When we consider what type of probiotic to take we need to think about where we would have obtained our good bacteria from 10 to 12,000 years ago, namely food grown in the bacteria-rich soil (that wasn’t washed to death before consumption). Our innate genetic intelligence is expecting probiotic flora that we had around that time. This is why many of the products available today are poor sources, because they are often grown in dairy, wheat, or soy environments. These types of bacteria were not available to us originally and as such are not suitable for providing our innate genetic blueprint with what it requires to create health.
This means that we need to find dairy-free, soy-free, and wheat-free suppliers of probiotics.
Another important consideration is that probiotics should be broad spectrum – meaning that they contain multiple different strains of bacteria that are suitable for the human ecosystem, not a bovine (cow) ecosystem.
The final consideration is that a probiotic supplement should be high potency, meaning that each capsule should contain bacteria numbered in the billions. This ensures that you will get a sufficient amount to adequately colonise your gut.
Supplements in summary:
Probiotic supplements [Amazon link] should be chosen because they meet the following criteria:
- Dairy, grain, and soy free
- Contain multiple strains of bacteria (usually 8-12 different species)
- High potency (bacteria numbered in the billions per capsule)
The best time of day to take probiotic supplements is first thing in the morning upon rising with a glass of water.
Finally, because our bacteria are in a constant state of turnover, we need to constantly replenish the stock. That means that probiotic supplements are best taken by everyone every day, for life.
