Useful Tips to Find the Best Supplements for Beginners

Everyone wants to live a healthy life and where many work hard every day to maintain a healthy living style, others cannot help but give in to their cravings for delicious junk food, or an overall unhealthy lifestyle.

There are many reasons why people cannot keep up their healthy habits like long working hours leading to eating whatever is readily available and getting less than enough sleep. But that kind of lifestyle often leads people to look for alternative options of exercising and a healthy nutritious diet. And that is where the search for supplements come in.

People want to gain or lose weight, build muscles, look fit and sturdy, and they want it fast. So, many times they end up looking for products that can reduce fat, decrease calorie absorption, or instantly increase their muscle mass. So, instead of doing the exercise and eating nutrition-rich food, buy expensive pills and powders that instead of helping, harm their bodies, and create more problems.

But that does not mean that every supplement is bad for your health. To understand this, let us first understand what are supplements.

What are the supplements?

Supplements are any dietary, topical, or injected product created to provide additional nutrients to your body. In most cases, people prefer using dietary supplements for their fitness.

The most important thing to know about supplements is that they are only supplements and cannot replace real nutrition-rich food or even exercise. No supplement in the market can help you gain or lose weight, or increase muscle mass without proper diet and exercise. You should be wary of brands that make such false claims to make money.

The dietary supplements help you fill in any nutritional gap left by the lack of healthy food. Hence, if you are eating enough nutritious food, you may not even need any supplement. As it is, nutritional supplements are created for people suffering from the deficiency, any illness that causes the deficiency, or age-related nutritional deficiency.

Before we start with supplements that increase the efficiency of your workout, here is a list of supplements you should stay away from as much as possible:

              ●  Detoxes and cleanses like the laxatives and diuretics

These pills dehydrate your body by removing the water from your body and emptying your bowels. It decreases the amount of the weight of water and stool from your body giving you an illusion of losing weight but that stays for less than 3-4 days. This can lead you to believe that you need to take the pills again. Continuous use of such pills can cause severe electrolyte imbalance in your body which can negatively affect your kidneys.

●  Supplements that make illogical claims

If a supplement brand claims that using it can reduce your weight within a few days without any exercise or a healthy diet, you know it is impossible. Use your logic before spending your hard-earned money on a sham.

It is always better to take the advice of your doctor, dietician, or your trainer before buying any such supplements. Fake supplements can often be hazardous to your health.

●  Unprescribed weight loss medication

Before you go ahead and buy a legal weight loss drug, visit your doctor. Ask them about the drug, its benefits, and side-effects, and if possible buy only the prescribed medication that will not harm your body in the long-term.

Using illegal drugs for weight loss remains out of the question. Seriously, don’t do that or it could be fatally harmful to your body and yourself.

Alright, now that we have discussed that, let’s move forward. Supplements to help you stay fit along with a properly nutritious diet and exercising.

Protein powders

Proteins are the building blocks of your body and so they are the main constituent of your muscles as well. Protein helps in maintaining your muscles from wear and tear. It also helps you build more muscles if you are exercising right.

There are various proteins from different origins available in the market. Whey protein (extracted from dairy), egg protein, casein protein (derived from milk), and soy protein.

Remember, protein can be naturally found in foods such as meat, egg, and dairy products. So, if you include that in your regular diet, you may not even need to add protein supplements to your body.

Fish oil pills

Fatty fish oil or cod liver oil is rich in DHA and EPA omega-3 fatty acids that increase heart health, reduce internal inflammation and decrease the risk of heart-related disease.

These omega-3 fatty acids are also helpful in improving your reaction time efficiency which can be helpful if you are a sportsperson. Although, the one thing you need to know here is that you must always take these pills after your meal to decrease any side effects it might cause.

Branched-chain amino acids

These are a set of three essential amino acids that are not made inside your body - Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine, these are the branched-chain amino acids (BCAA). Usually, you can find them in your foods such as meat, lentils, chickpeas, eggs, and dairy products.

BCAA is also available as a dietary supplement. Since amino acid chains make up proteins, the benefits of BCAA are similar to what proteins may provide you.

It is used to maintain muscle health and increase endurance while minimizing wear and tear. It is also helpful in decreasing soreness and post-exercise fatigue.

Other than these, you should take the supplements prescribed by your doctor. Most of the time, they will prescribe you multivitamin capsules to fill in the gaps of nutrition due to lack of the right food.

Conclusion

Health and fitness supplements should not be taken in isolation. You can take them to supplement your daily diet and exercise routine if necessary. However, if you are a healthy individual without any illness or deficiency, we would recommend you to just eat a proper diet and exercise regularly.

The best way to stay fit and healthy is to lead a healthy lifestyle, find a gym or fitness center nearby. The company there may help you stay motivated to your healthy routine. Ask your dietician or personal trainer to devise a diet plan for an active lifestyle that helps you reach your fitness goal more effectively without compromising your health.

What are your thoughts on health supplements? Let us know in the comments below.