5 replies to this topic

[everyoneisnatty]

First off, nice to meet you all, and I greatly appreciate your time and willingness to help.

 

A quick background of myself: 25 year old male, 6'0, 160 lbs, 10-11% BF, dont drink/smoke, no drugs of any kind, medium/high activity lifestyle (weight lifting 4x a week / work in restaurant)

 

Diet: Extremely clean: organic chicken, brown rice, lots of fruits & vegetables, sprouted bread, lean grass fed ground beef

Goals: Live a long life, gain muscle, stay regular, solve my issue of cold hands (raynauds? been affected since I was around 17 y/o, my hands are only warm when the room temperature is above 74 degrees F / 23.3 degrees C)

 

Supplement Line up:

 

I will add links for you to read the labels if you are unfamiliar with the supplements. I do my best to spread out my supplements throughout the day, usually taking them with food.

 

AOR Ortho-Core (6 capsules a day) http://www.aor.ca/en...duct/ortho-core

AOR Vitamin C with Beets and Berries (1 scoop a day) http://indyvitamins....0digg3jiu80i3v2

Now Vein Supreme (1 capsule a day) https://www.nowfoods...me-veg-capsules

Now Bilberry Complex (1 capsule a day) https://www.nowfoods...mg-veg-capsules

Now Pycnogenol 100mg (2 capsules a day) https://www.nowfoods...mg-veg-capsules

Now Testojack 200 (2 capsules a day, usually do 2 weeks on, 1 week off cycle) https://www.nowfoods...00-veg-capsules

GAT Agmatine Sulfate (750mg a day) https://teamgat.com/...tegory=13687075

Universal Creatine (500mg a day taken at different time of day than Agmatine) https://www.amazon.c...B000GONXVI?th=1

Animal Omega (1 pack a day) https://www.animalpa...imal-omega.html

 

I plan on adding a new supplement as of today, my mother and I planned on trying it together for a month. (trying to get her feeling better / living healthier)

Vibrant Health - Green Vibrance (1 scoop a day) http://www.vibranthe...ce/#gvsuppfacts

 

Therefore, I have a question. Should I lower the amount of AOR Ortho-Core I am taking as to not overdose certain vitamins once I implement the Green Vibrance? And if anyone is willing to provide an overall examination of my current supplement regimen that would be amazing. I like to think I've learned a good amount over the years, but I am certain there are people with much more knowledge than myself. I appreciate your time and thanks for assisting me in my journey for health and wellness!

 

Edited by everyoneisnatty, 23 November 2016 - 12:01 PM.

[aconita]

My opinion is you are taking far too many antioxidants likely interfering with your training results and possibly health.

 

We do have our own antioxidant mechanisms, use it or loose it, ....and not all oxidants are "bad".

 

Following a good nutritional plan is more than enough to guarantee most vitamins and minerals supply, I would skip multivitamins and multiminerals in favor of more specific needs (magnesium, zinc, vitamin D3 and K2, boron, iodine for example).

 

Testojack...listen: there is no way to increase testosterone with supplements, the only ones that might work at least to a certain extent are long jack and bulbine natalensis, both quite expensive and coming with their arrays of side effects similar to a steroid cycle, SARMs too offers the same issues.

 

In other words in order to increase testosterone with exogenous means you are better off with steroids and be prepared to all that comes with it. my thought is that at 25 if you are not planing to compete in bodybuilding, you don't suffer some major endocrine disruption and you do care for your health it is better to leave alone both steroids and supplements supposed to increase testosterone.

 

Agmantine...mmmmm.....does it really makes a difference to you?

 

Creatine, dosage has to be 5g/day post training, at 500mg/day you are kidding yourself.

 

Animal Omega, please do yourself a favor: don't waste your hard earned money on that.

 

I suggest to include fish in your diet, cods, salmons, mackerels for example, aim to wild caught fish (not farmed).

 

If you do really feel like in need for omega 3 supplementation go for a decent fish oil extract rich in DHA and EPA in the right proportions like this one which is certainly not the cheapest but one of the best if not the best on the market:

 

http://www.anne-marie.ca/fishoil.html

 

Just my two cents from some decades of experience... but not the ultimate truth, of course.

 

By the way: cold hands and feet, fear of cold, low energy and a quite long list of other issues are likely due by some form of hypothyroidism, once ruled out Hashimoto (blood test) supplementing Iodoral or Lugol (which actually are the same thing, one is solid while the other is liquid) or SSKI (one drop/day, basically it cost nothing) is all you need.

 

In order to make sure test your temperature first thing in the morning as you wake up BEFORE moving while still in bed: readings below 36.5 C do point to hypothyroidism even if your blood test comes out fine.

 

 

[everyoneisnatty]

Aconita, I greatly appreciate you taking the time to respond and further my knowledge. I would like to touch on each of your points and gather some more information from you.

 

Would you mind letting me specifically which supplements you would personally drop or adjust dosages on? I read that you say drop the multivitamin so you are saying drop the AOR Ortho-Core completely?

Why am I getting too many antioxidants, which supplements are providing them?

 

I use creatine at 5g a day, sorry for that typo. 

The agmatine seems to help with pump and energy levels without being a stimulant. 

I believe I did see strength gains from the Testojack, but it could be placebo? (I would never take steroids, very against it).

 

Animal Omega has all those fish you mentioned, why are you against it?

I do not eat fish for multiple reasons, only chicken, ground beef, and turkey. Therefore, do you believe I need Omega 3 supplementation?

 

I plan on doing the temperature test tomorrow and will report back on that as well.

Edited by everyoneisnatty, 24 November 2016 - 02:33 AM.

[aconita]

AOR Ortho-Core is a multi everything, it contains many antioxidants like vitamin A, E, C, Astaxanthin, etc... (see supplement facts for a complete list).

 

Although it contains so many things and each one is in relatively tiny amounts those antioxidants still adds up while other micronutrients are too low to make any difference.

 

Yes, I do suggest to drop it completely in favor of specific supplements targeting specif needs.

 

On top of those provided by AOR Ortho-Core antioxidants are found in:

 

- AOR Vitamin C with Beets and Berries

- Now Vein Supreme

- Now Pycnogenol

- Now Bilberry Complex

- Now Testojack 200

- GAT Agmatine Sulfate

- Universal Creatine

- Vibrant Health - Green Vibrance

 

Basically everything you are taking or planning to take contains or is an antioxidant, a bit of an overkill in my view.

 

Instead of Testojack I would go for long jack since in the formulation is the only ingredient with chances to provide some of the power output increase you are experiencing...even if it is more likely placebo since with normal testosterone values an amazing and highly improbable increase of even 100% would be insignificant to performance, one needs MUCH above physiological values to see a difference, values which are not possible to achieve by supplementing herbs.

 

If you don't eat fish or seafood for whatever reason supplementing long chain omega 3 is a good idea.

 

Animal Omega is packed with totally unnecessary excipients possibly not totally harmless, since supplementing omega 3 is in function to restore an healthy ratio to omega 6 (which are very abundant in meat, for example) it makes no sense to supplement omega 6 as well.

 

Animal Omega has all those fish you mentioned, why are you against it? 

 

 

 

Wait a minute, one thing is to include fish in the diet, a whole different thing is to supplement fish oil...and a whole different thing again is to supplement molecular filtered fish oil rich in EPA/DHA.

 

Including fish in the diet means eating less of other animal derived fats (all rich in omega 6) therefore lowering the omega 6 intake plus getting omega 3 from the fish which if in enough amounts for long enough time will possibly result in a more favorable omega 3/6 ratio.

 

Supplementing fish oil is not going to lower animal fat intake (omega 6) and the EPA/DHA content is way too low to make a dent, plus fish oil is a concentrate of those pollutants usually feared by whom avoids fish.

 

Molecular filtrated fish oil like the one I provided the link to is filtrated at 1:100 ratio (100l of fish oil yields 1l), the molecular filtration eliminates all pollutants and concentrates EPA and DHA at levels that supplementation DOES make a difference.

 

Animal Omega doesn't provide any EPA/DHA values, having 6 different fish oils in it means less than nothing, plus flax seeds oil is first in the list (by law the more abundant has to be first) meaning that likely most of the omega 3 you get from it is from flax seeds (cheaper that fish oil, of course), since the omega-3 fatty acid ALA, featured in flaxseeds at 50%, contains 18 carbons, making it the shortest of the omega-3 fats, and hence the simplest, you are not getting the LONG CHAIN OMEGA 3 (EPA/DHA) which are what you really want, those are only found in fish, seafood and algae.

 

If you like to make informed choices ask for EPA/DHA values and compare them to those of molecular filtered fish oil like the one in the link I provided.

 

I don't have any interest in publicizing that particular brand of fish oil whatsoever but I have done my home works since 15 years ago about fish oils, a time when very few were on the fish oil band wagon...

 

You might enjoy reading "The Omega 3 RX Zone" by Barry Sears in order to get some better knowledge about the subject...by the way the fish oil he talks about is still inferior to the one I mentioned (different molecular filtration process).

 

[elfanjo]

Aconita is absolutely right regarding omega 6 and knows his stuff.
People think that to get to helthy levels of omega 3/6 ratio they need more omega 3.
More often than not they get enough omega 3 from their diet. The culprit is too much omega 6 from our western diet.
That in turn means fish oil supplementation might be overkill

[elfanjo]

Also I would be worried about getting too much animal protein from your diet. Fitness and musculation medias are dictating to consume unhealthy amounth of it. Ask any nutrition expert.