Developing a Rationale Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance

If, for instance, you're somebody who falls asleep just fine but wakes up in the middle of the night... and has trouble falling back asleep, there are two categories of supplements that you might want to consider. The first is myo-inositol, typically taken as 900mg of myo-inositol. Myo-inositol can help shorten the amount of time that it takes to fall back asleep if you wake up in the middle of the night.

There's a fairly extensive literature on the fact that fadogia agrestis can be toxic to testicular cells and perhaps other cells when taken at very high dosages. So, obeying the particular dosages of fadogia agrestis that are recommended on various product labels and cycling fadogia agrestis can be important. Some people need to cycle it 8 weeks on, 2 weeks off; other people opt for 12 weeks on, a month off.

I think, regardless of whether or not you're keto, omnivore, carnivore, vegan, or any other nutritional plan, the key thing is to get most, that is about 75 to 80%, of your foods or more from non-processed or minimally processed sources.

If people ingest 4 servings a day of these low-sugar fermented foods, it greatly improves the function of the gut microbiome and, in particular, enhances the function of the immune system ... It reduces inflammation in the brain and body...

This is one reason why if people say, 'Well, if I can only take 1 supplement, what should I take?' I say, well, what's your budget? If they say they can meet that $100 threshold per month, then my recommendation would be Athletic Greens or something like it.

There are other supplements—in particular, tongkat ali, which is known to, for instance, increase libido ... It is known to increase free testosterone by reducing sex hormone-binding globulin. Tongkat ali can be beneficial both for men and for women in dosages anywhere from 200mg to 600mg per day.

There are certain supplements, things like Shilajit, for instance... which mainly has the active ingredient folic acid, which is known to, for instance, increase things like FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone), which, in women, is going to increase certain aspects of egg growth ... It's going to stimulate certain aspects of fertility; it's pro-fertile. And in males, it can make for more sperm production and more motile sperm.

The best cognitive enhancer that you will ever take is a really good night's sleep of sufficient duration.

When you take caffeine in pill form, it tends to have a much more potent and long-lasting effect than when you take caffeine in the form of coffee or tea. It's actually a world apart in terms of its effects.

No amount of supplementation or non-prescription compounds or prescription compounds for that matter can ever compensate for poor nutrition—at least not for very long.

Many of the water-soluble vitamins—in particular, the B vitamins—need to be ingested with food because, otherwise, they can cause some stomach upset.

There are some evidence that taking excessive amounts of prebiotics and probiotics... if they're taken ongoing—not for short periods of time but if they're taken ongoing—can lead to some issues like brain fog.

Melatonin supplements almost always include levels of melatonin or amounts of melatonin that far, far exceed the normal biological levels, or so-called endogenous levels, of melatonin that we would normally we produce.

What I recommend is that every 2 weeks or so, maybe every month or so, take 1 night off completely from all your sleep supplements, or leave out 1 sleep supplement ... I suggest doing this on perhaps a Friday night so that it's a weekend next day, so you don't have to work.

To my knowledge, tongkat ali does not need to be cycled ... I should note that the effects of tongkat ali can take a little bit longer to experience, so perhaps blood work should be done 8-12 weeks after initiating the tongkat ali protocol.

There's actually extensive data out of a laboratory at University of California Santa Barbara talking about how mothers who supplement omega-3s—in particular, the EPAs, although they also need to get the DHAs—that leads to greater brain weights and healthier offspring.

I take the stance that behavioral tools—that is, specific actions that we take and specific actions that we avoid—form the foundation of mental health, physical health, and performance.