Supplements are a frequently discussed topic in the wellness space. I am often asked what supplements I choose to take personally, along with what I recommend to clients. I want to share a few of my favorite products and why I choose them!

Remember that supplements are called supplements because they are just that… supplemental to eating a balanced diet. Never rely on your supplements to make up for poor eating habits. Know that they can benefit you in achieving your goals when paired with proper nutrition. A huge perk of taking supplements is that it is a fairly easy habit to implement. Unlike the energy required for grocery shopping, meal prepping and resisting the chocolate cake, taking a supplement is fairly simple.

4 Tips to Be Consistent With Your New Habit of Taking Supplements

Before we dive into specific products, consider how you are going to hold yourself accountable to make the habit change required to actually take your supplements every day. (If you’re thinking “pssssshhhhh I’ll have no problem remembering that,” know that I have heard many people say that and then tell me they remembered to take their multivitamin only one time that week…) Here are a few tactics to consider to help you be consistent with the habit of taking your supplements:

• Put your supplements in a place that is visible – I like putting mine in a cupboard that I frequently open.
• Consider a weekly pill box – Yes, like the ones your grandparents use. They work like a charm for supplements as well 😉
• Be consistent with the time you take your supplements – Consistency is key to building new habits, so have a regular time that you take your supplements. Better yet…
• Anchor it to a habit you already do every day – Choose something that you do every single day, such as eating lunch, brushing your teeth after breakfast or taking your dog for an evening walk. Align a current habit with the same time that you take your supplements.

My Most Frequently Purchased Supplements

Ok, now to get into the juicy stuff. I’ve been taking supplements for years and these are still the core products that I keep going back to. Occasionally I’ll add something new into the mix to try it out, but my classics generally remain the same! Check them out here:

My Favorite Protein Powders

• Whey Isolate – This Muscle Feast product has become my go-to whey protein for a number of reasons. It tastes amazing, it’s an isolate vs. a concentrate/isolate blend (isolate undergoes more processing, but in turn has less lactose, carbs and fat than concentrate), it’s sweetened with stevia (vs. aspartame or sucralose – big no-nos) AND it is flavored with cocoa powder. HALLELUJAH. A company finally avoided natural flavors in a protein powder. But watch out, the vanilla flavor does have natural vanilla flavor in it. Snag my favorite whey protein here!
• Unflavored Collagen Peptides – Collagen peptides are my most-used protein powder of them all because I have actually seen a considerable improvement in my hair, skin and nails when regularly using collagen and “unflavored” isn’t a hoax. I love putting this Further Food collagen powder in smoothies and baked goods because you truly do not taste it! These collagen peptides are hydrolyzed for better absorption by the body and if you use the code FITFEEDBYREED10 at checkout you’ll get 10% off your first purchase at furtherfood.com 🙂
• Plant-Based Protein – Dairy doesn’t always sit super well with my stomach so there have been seasons where I’ve experimented with being dairy-free and tried LOTS of plant-based protein powders. The unfortunate thing is a lot of them taste like dirt. Seriously. This Orgain protein powder does have some natural flavors in it, but the ingredients are organic and it is sweetened with erythritol and stevia, which is great. Considering how most plant-based protein powders taste, I am blown away by how delicious and creamy this protein is. Which is a big win in the plant-based protein powder world 😉 Check it out here!

The Supplements I Take Every Day

• Women’s High Potency Multivitamin – A multivitamin is an “insurance policy” to make sure you are covering your bases for all the key vitamins and minerals. Even when we eat well, the foods we eat every day vary and we cannot guarantee that we are perfectly balancing our vitamin and mineral intake, so a quality multivitamin is your best bet to make sure your body is getting what it needs! Here is a link to my go-to multi.
• Women’s Probiotic & Prebiotic – 30 Billion Live Cultures – Probiotics are something I recommend to most clients because all of us can benefit from improved gut health. It’s important to boost the good bacteria in your gut with fermented foods (like kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, kombucha, etc.) and a probiotic supplement. I love this Fortify probiotic because it is formulated for women and has a potent amount of live cultures but not a wild amount like 50 billion+. High potency probiotics are best used if you’ve recently been on a round of antibiotics or know that you need a serious gut health boost. Here is my go-to probiotic.
• High Potency Omega-3 Fish Oil – Mmmmm gotta love some good fats. Fish oil is another supplement that is worth taking pretty much no matter who you are. It has numerous researched benefits, including improving heart health, reducing blood pressure and lowering triglyceride levels. It also has been shown to be anti-inflammatory which seems to be the buzz-word of the decade because excess inflammation does a whole host of things to the body. This Nordic Natural’s fish oil has natural lemon flavor in it as well to eliminate the fish burps! Check it out here.
• Krill Oil – I started taking krill oil a while ago when I was searching for supplements to improve PMS. Krill oil kept popping up and though research is a bit scattered on whether this truly does improve pre-menstruation symptoms, it has seemed to help for me. There is also some research showing that it is a more absorbable source of Omega 3s than fish oil and has increased antioxidant levels. I’ve been taking a half dose of both fish oil and krill oil for years and really like the combo! Here is a great krill oil to consider.
• Turmeric Curcumin with Black Pepper – Turmeric curcumin is best known for being an anti-inflammatory compound. I started taking this years ago when I was doing frequent, heavy weight training and found that it helped my recovery. Decreasing inflammation in your system is beneficial far beyond even just exercising. This product is great because it also includes black pepper, which has been shown to increase absorption of turmeric curcumin.
• Ashwagandha – This adaptogenic herb has been shown to reduce stress. We could all use a little stress reduction, eh? I’ve been taking this supplement for the past few years and have enjoyed it’s benefits in my daily supplement routine. This is the ashwagandha product that I’ve been using for quite some time.

What I Often Recommend to Clients

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and do not know your unique situation. Please be intentional when making supplement choices – ask your doctor before starting a new supplement regimen.

Supplements can be beneficial in creating healthy change when paired with intentional work to improve stress, nutrition and movement. Adding supplements into a client’s routine is often a simple habit that can benefit energy levels, mood, performance in workouts and more, especially if they were particularly deficient in certain vitamins, minerals, omega-3s, etc. before.

The most common supplements I recommend are:

• Multivitamin
• Fish oil
• Probiotic
• Turmeric Curcumin

I like to encourage clients to begin making positive habit change with their mindfulness, food choices and activity/exercise before recommending supplements so that it doesn’t seem like a “cure all,” because guess what, you’ll be immensely let down if you go into taking supplements with that mentality. As I mentioned before, supplements are supplemental to making other smart choices for your health, but when used strategically they can definitely improve your daily life and ability to achieve your goals!