Are You a Supplement Junkie?
With all of the ads in magazines and on the internet, its getting harder and harder to sort through the fluff and some flat out lies from the supplement industry to know what will work and what won’t work. In order to find out what will work there are a lot of us out there that become our own human guinea pigs. I think we all know someone that has tried just about every supplement known to man, trying to find out which ones work and which ones don’t. Its almost like they’re addicted to supplements, looking for the next big thing that will help them to gain 20 lbs of muscle in 2 weeks like the ad said.
If you fall into this category, you might be in danger of becoming a supplement junky. One of the big problems with this type of mentality is that you start to think that the only way you’re every going to either lose weight or gain extra muscle is through supplements. Thus your actual workouts become secondary to the supplements that you are using.
Talk about a reverse mentality! Remember, supplements are the thing that are supposed to be supplemental! That’s why they’re called supplements! If all you had to do was take a pill and lose all the weight or gain all the muscle that you wanted, wouldn’t everyone just do that? But how rewarding would that be? I personally believe that you’ll be much more satisfied with your physique if you’ve worked hard and sweated for it than if you just popped a pill to make it happen.
Yes, supplements can help. What we’re really talking about here is the false belief that supplements are the only answer. Work hard, up your intensity, keep improving in the gym. Use supplements as they were meant to be used - as a way to help you reach your goals, not to reach them for you.
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I agree. Humans are designed to eat food, not tablets. I find it amazing how many foods end up in tablet form - green tea for instance. Is it that difficult just to have a couple of cups of tea???
April
Good point April! Fruit pills, vegetable pills, you name it and they’re trying to find an easier way for people to get the nutrients they should be eating in their diet. While most of these products do have their value, let’s not lose the focus on actually eating a good, balanced diet. Thanks for your comment!
I almost agree. Eating a good, balanced diet is great, but it’s hard to really know the value of the nutrients in food that we buy in our superstores. That’s why I always complement my food intake with a Spirulina-smoothie each day.
You’re right Vitaminer, it is very hard to really know the actual value of the nutrients in food. I’m not saying don’t use supplements at all. Supplements like multi-vitamins are basically a must these days. Mostly I’m referring to the problem with only using supplements to lose weight or build muscle without doing the work.
“Use supplements as they were meant to be used” - That pretty much sums it up. There’s just no short cut to good health.
You can’t really be sure what works unless you understand and have experienced what doesn’t work. So I support supplement junkies in finding what works best for them. To limit bad experiences, I try to use high quality supplements and use my True Protein Coupon to save money on each order.