Kris' Daily Health Stack

My personal belief is that less is better than more when it comes to supplements, but having been a vegetarian since age 15 (9 years now) these are some supplements I feel my diet inherently lacks.  I'd toyed around for several years and this is what I've settled on.

Multivitamin - I take 1 of the two a day pills because I think most nutrients are already acquired through diet, it's just nice to have this fail safe.  B12 and iron are important components for vegetarians (B12 is not found in most veg foods, and veg iron is poorly bioavailable).

Super Omega 3 Fish Oil Pills: THe most important supplement here.  DHA and EPA are lacking in almost all veg food, and are essential for neuronal membrane integrity.

Calcium- Vitamin D (which controls calcium release) is sadly in short supply in New York winters, especially with so much time spent in lab.  These pills have helped many people I know with seasonal affective disorder.  Don't other if you're outside a lot and have sufficient dietary calcium.

Resveratol: Well, this is just because of the general aging bonuses.  Dunno if I need it this young though.

Melatonin: Definitely critical in times of reduced light as well.  I wouldn't take it every night though, personally it can make me feel drowsy in the morning.

Carnosine, Carnitine: Both primarily found in meat, both are important nutrients.  I wouldn't do more than once a week though.

Pregnenalone: Primarily due to lack of cholesterol in the diet.  I've recently started adding a daily egg to help the effect as well, could make this downstream product of cholesterol obsolete.

PQQ:  This is actually a micronutrient lacking from almost any diet, I think taking it once weekly is fine.

Whey:  Vegetarian diets can easily be high protein, but to tip the balance at meals I add 25g of protien in whey form.

I would consider adding cognitive enhancers like NSI-189 or a supplement like C60 if testing confirms that they are as good as they claim, but again I feel that its best not to get sucked into the Fountain of Youth mentality unless you are already very old or after a few brave people confirm results in clinical trials or other extended experiments.

Lastly, I want to say that supplements are IMO the least important part of my health regimen.  By far the most important is the combination of meditation, spirituality and daily intellectual/social interactions to keep my brain continuously engaged and developing.  A close second is excercise, including roughly 30 miles to week of aerobic running for me (my preferred habit), hiking, weights/calisthenics and rock climbing for strength, and15 minutes of daily qigong/yoga practice.  Oh, and a healthy, high protein vegetarian diet of course (I should mention that I try and follow the lean gains strategy of 2 primary meals with ~15 hours daily fasting).

-Kris