The Essentials

When we think of fitness, bodybuilding, and how it all interacts with nutrition, we may sometimes wonder this question: "What do I need to take or consume besides plain food?" The answer is simple, yet we can expand even more depending on how serious or intense our training regimen is. Whether you are an advanced or beginning fitness enthusiast, or even a competitive bodybuilder, here are some essential items you should always think about and remember:

- Minerals/Vitamins and Performance Supplementation
- Fiber/Greens and Herbal Compounds

In this segment, I will cover the higher level essentials and assuming that you are consuming a frequent amount of water, etc. and without going too much into Protein and Carbohydrate consumption, lets cover a quick overview of what you need to know.

When I speak of essentials, I'm not referring to whey protein, amino acid complex products or anything else crazy you might already be thinking about. Essentials fall under a very critical and important category. These are items that regardless of how clean, purified and organic our diet is, we still fall slightly short or behind from time to time. Why? Well, most of us have a busy life. Some of us have kids, while some of us work 70 hours a week or more. This affects us every single day, and unfortunately in a negative way. As we attempt to remain stable with our schedule and responsibilities, we sometimes forget to eat the way we should, period. We skip lunch, or we forget to eat breakfast - or we claim we don't get hungry.

Here is a life-saving thought! Multi-vitamins are the most amazing supplementation product around. Consuming 1 to 2 multivitamins a day will always help stabilize your body. Why? Unless you have a perfect diet, you will never consume the exact nutrients that your body is looking for on an everyday basis. For example: At 9:00 am, your body may need a rush of B-12 or zinc. Unless you are walking around with a mobile-blood test unit, you'll never know what you need to provide your body with. One thing is, you definitely do not need a Slurpee or a Monster energy drink. When we consume something so simple like a multi-vitamin, our body is able to extract exactly what it needs from it at that given time. The rest, thanks to our natural filtering system - we are able to simply drain out. Something so simple like a multi-vitamin supplement will more than likely enhance the way you feel throughout the day. It may improve focus and optimize energy levels. Always remember that a multi-vitamin is more effective when consumed with a small or moderate meal. If you are not digesting any food, taking a multi-vitamin will simply cause it to bypass your digestive system without allowing your body to absorb the nutrients it needs.

Another essential category with supplemental value are Fatty Acids. There are numerous kinds of fatty acids and various forms on how to consume these. Many will argue as to which of these are better for the human body, however, the main focus is to get at least one of these sources in your body. Flax seed oil with Omega-3 fatty acids are an excellent source of fats, as well as a combination of Fish Oils. As with most of everything in fitness and nutrition, variety can never kill you. One of the benefits of consuming fatty acids is that the body is able to metabolize them, enabling the body to recognize, transmit, receive, and exchange existing fats from the human body. In lame terms, it helps burn fat by means of a thermogenic effect. For the average human being, this amount may range anywhere from 2-3 grams of fatty acids a day in order to really experience this effect.

Greens and Herbals or just as important to consume on a daily basis. If you don't consume these, then you are missing out on the benefits. Even if you are physically fit and see no need to consume green compounds or herbals, you are simply making it difficult for the body to process, digest, exchange, and extract nutrients or toxins out of your body. This category may be consumed not only in pill form, but can be easily included in your diet naturally.

There you have it! 3 supplemental items that either a bodybuilder or fitness enthusiast should not live without. In my opinion, they are essentials for all of us and as simple as they may be, they could potentially change the way your body behaves and performs.

If you have any specific questions in regards to any of these specific supplemental categories, email me or feel free to include a thread on this board. I will then expand into greater detail based on the overall requests.

Thank you,

Felix