Nutritional supplements

Ask any non-professional bodybuilder you see at the gym – I’m talking about those really bulky guys with muscles on top of muscles – how they got that way and they will all tell you first how they eat. Then they’ll tell you how they exercise.

Understanding nutrition begins with understanding one component of your diet at a time, and we will begin with vitamins. Since our bodies can’t make vitamins we have to incorporate them into our diet through what we eat. Vitamins come in fat soluble and water soluble varieties. This simply means that certain ones dissolve in fat and others dissolve in water.

Fat soluble vitamins can be stored in fats around the body and dissolved when needed:

• Vitamin A maintains proper eye function, boosts immune system, keeps skin healthy and promotes healthy cell construction throughout the body.
• Vitamin D simply allows the body to absorb calcium, essential for bone health.
• Vitamin E promotes red blood cell creation and is part of protective cell membrane.
• Vitamin K is crucial in blood clotting, or coagulation.

Water soluble vitamins cannot be absorbed by the body without the presence of water.

• Vitamin C, we’ve all heard, can boost the immune system, but do you know why? It forms collagen, an agent that holds the cell membrane together. A strong cell membrane means a protected cell.

Vitamin B-complexes are little trickier. Here are the major ones in this group:

• Vitamin B12 aids in nerve cell function,
• Vitamin B6 maintains normal brain and nerve cell functions, helps to create red blood cells and helps break down stubborn proteins,
• Thiamin, or B1, converts carbs into energy and boosts heart and muscle performance,
• Riboflavin, or B2, converts food into energy and makes red blood cells, but it aids in vision too,
• Niacin, or B3, also helps with food-to-energy processes and helps in skin cell reconstruction,
• Folic Acid (also called, folate, folacin, and B9) helps to make red blood cells and also is an essential ingredient in DNA, thus its recommended mothers up their intake prior to pregnancy (taking the necessary precautions, of course, like consulting a doctor first). 

Too many vitamins? 

And speaking of precautions, let’s take a look at toxicity levels before we continue. Each vitamin, mineral, liquid and protein you put into your body has a toxicity level, or, in other words, that level when your body says, “Enough is enough!”

Remember how vitamins break down into two types: water soluble and fat soluble? There’s not much of a threat in consuming too many water soluble vitamins as the body can (and does) flush itself of those water soluble vitamins it doesn’t need. (Have you ever wondered why your urine may be darker at times? Those are extra, unused water soluble vitamins and minerals.) But extra fat soluble vitamins are much more dangerous as the body will keep storing them in any available fat cells. Too many of these stored vitamins may create toxic conditions.

When toxicity levels have been breached then vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, sweating, headache, increased blood pressure, soreness in joints and bones, birth defects, fatigue, itchy skin, loss of hair, insomnia and irritability, and calcification of soft tissue have been documented. And most of those are from overuse of Vitamin A. Remember the ancient adage: Everything in moderation.

However, vitamin-deficiency diseases are possible as well; that is, if you fail to incorporate enough of certain vitamins into your diet. For the unfortunates who are malnourished, such diseases as beriberi (thiamine shortage) and pellagra (niacin shortfall) may occur. To be on the safe side, don’t overdo it and don’t under-do it. Play the role of the nutritional Goldilocks.

Now, let’s move on to minerals!

The difference between vitamins and minerals is simple: Vitamins are organic and minerals are inorganic. Vitamins are created by the plant or animal we eat (in fact, we cannot make our own vitamins); minerals are leached from the soil and absorbed by plants. The animals get their minerals from the plants they eat – depending on the geographic region which determines what and how much of certain minerals are present. Humans get their minerals from the food we eat and the water we drink. Kind of creepy, but all is well. Minerals are great for you!

• Calcium is why we’re told to drink milk everyday! It aids in building strong bones and cartilage, which is what your nose and ears are made of. During childhood and adolescence you need as much calcium as you can get, otherwise you may develop osteoporosis later on. Look, calcium has made the Great Barrier Reef possible; it can help your bones too!

The following minerals are called trace minerals as you need very little of them to develop and stay healthy:

• If you’ve ever felt dizzy on the basketball court you’re probably short on iron, which helps red blood cells carry oxygen throughout the body. Without it, anemia may develop which includes lightheadedness, fatigue and shortness of breath.
• When your heart starts to beat faster when the girl of your dreams walks by, magnesium kicks in and steadies it so you don’t offer her a shaky, sweaty hand when you finally get the nerve to introduce yourself. It also boosts muscles and nerve function and reinforces calcium making your bones even stronger. Finally, it creates energy and proteins in the digestive tract.
• Great gardeners fortify their soil with phosphorus, which in turn fortifies bones and teeth, helps the body convert energy and is found in every last cell membrane in your body.
• Has anyone ever told you to eat a banana before exercising? The potassium inside really does alleviate muscle cramps by regulating water levels in the blood and tissues, and it also aids in nerve functions, too.
• Ah, zinc! Every man should covet this Greek god of minerals as it aids in sexual development and sperm count. It also gives a healthy jolt to the immune system and has a big part in healing wounds.

Our bodies are beautiful machines. We consume and digest food and then we derive energy through metabolism; we have an intricate system of pulleys called muscles that act on a strong framework to move the machine; and a sophisticated control center called the brain and spinal cord to distinguish between good and bad in terms of survival. In order for such advanced science to function properly, we need the right amounts of vitamins and minerals. The better you understand what your body needs the more efficient your beautiful machine will perform.