How to gain muscle mass? How to lose fat mass? Industries are trying to answer these questions by offering an increasingly substantial offer in terms of food supplements. Proteins, creatine, bcaa, zma….
Beyond the practicality of the add-ins, the real question to ask yourself is the following: is it really necessary to ‘consume it?
What are food supplements used for?
To give his money to the industries that produce them! We must qualify of course, but in reality few studies have really proven their effectiveness. The real problem is that we have arrived at a time when we are looking in all possible ways to improve our performance and our health, but we rarely realize that humans have been able to survive for millions of years without food supplements. .
In reality, it is rather the deterioration in the quality of food in recent decades that has given rise to a possible interest in consuming food supplements. Food that we buy in supermarkets have a much lower nutritional value than before, it is a fact.
In addition, fast food and prepared meals have also appeared which has helped to reinforce this impoverishment of food. Result? Meals rich in empty calories and sorely lacking (among others) of micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, trace elements …).
Supplementation then becomes necessary to rebalance micro or macro nutritional deficits whereas it would be enough just to eat healthily by avoiding processed foods and by favoring fresh, natural foods and if possible of biological origin to probably no longer need a dietary supplement … By approaching a natural food, we maximize the energy potential of the food we eat, it’s just a matter of common sense.
Proteins, carbohydrates, fats, omega 3s, zinc, etc… All of these nutrients were not invented by the food supplement industries (weren’t you aware?), they exist in nature since much longer than the appearance of man and are indeed available in the diet.
Also, keep in mind that nutrients work together which means that a single nutrient (a dietary supplement) will have a much smaller effect on the body than a nutrient found in food. natural because its degree of assimilation will be completely different. In addition, the body recognizes a natural food much better because it is physiologically prepared to use the foods and the nutrients that compose them.
It makes sense but it is always good to remember that optimal functioning of the body without dietary supplements will also be more easily obtained if the person combines quality food and sports practice.
Sport stimulates hormonal production, improves vital functions, blood circulation, oxygen transport, etc … And this will have a direct impact on the assimilation and metabolization of the nutrients provided by the food. A virtuous circle.
And if you’re vegan, does that make a difference?
Although I tell you to avoid them, I still currently take a few personally (I will talk about this possibly soon on the TreeningLife Youtube channel ) because my current lifestyle does not allow me to have an optimal diet.
I nevertheless reduced my consumption more than a year ago because I understood that I had gradually entered a spiral or a supplement calls for another (protein, omega 3, creatine, zma, bcaa, etc…).
Today my consumption is much more limited (vegetable proteins, omega 3 from algae, vitamin B12 and certified vegan zinc) while my performance continues to increase and I have no problems health ( I keep these supplements long enough to take a blood test that will allow me to make a decision ). I realized that food is really the basis of everything, as much in sport as in health and mind.
Basically, being vegan does not change anything since all the nutrients are logically present in the diet (except vitamin B12 which is a special case). Regardless of the diet, the search for health and performance requires consuming as much as possible of foods that have not been modified by humans. However, taking some supplements (which are actually superfoods) can be interesting, such as baobab powder , la maca powder , etc…
Small parenthesis: if there are food supplements that are unnecessary, it is gainers (which are mostly sugar concentrates) and fat burners + other slimming products. In addition, regarding “diet” food supplements, why consume a diet that promotes fat gain and seek to eliminate it subsequently through supplements? This is completely illogical, the best solution is simply to eliminate this poor basic diet while practicing weight training or another sport that allows you to destock body fat. To find out how, I suggest you follow my Vegan Treening Training , which will be available shortly via this link .
Should we completely ban food supplements? It will really depend on everyone. We must keep a step back because their real interest really varies from one person to another (people with real eating difficulties, a particular metabolism or a potential eating disorder may benefit from consuming it).
But for most of us, they are not of much use because they could easily be replaced with real food. We must not forget that the role of a supplement is, as its name suggests, to supplement the diet which must therefore already be optimal but which still does not allow to be qualitative due to the conditions of unsatisfactory life (lack of time to cook, etc…)
Too often, the consumption of food supplements is rather a fear of deficiency maintained by the lobbies as well as of lazyness than of real constraints forcing them to take…. To start vegan sports nutrition and bodybuilding now, I let you download my free guide by clicking here . Train with the heart, eat with the heart.
