In moderation or not atall (Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements in General)

Member Name: Nat.

Product:	Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements in General
Date:	18/03/02 (238 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: make you healthy!

Disadvantages: can be pricey

I have always been a keen sportsperson and have dealt with sports coaches and nutritionists galore to try to improve my performance. I have taken all sorts of legal performance enhancing supplements, and I have found no great improvement with any of them. While I would never consider taking steroids or any other illegal substance to improve performance, I think that anything we are actually allowed to take seems to have a minimal effect.

For years, I put myself through the torture of drinking something called maxim, which is supposed to be a liquid food to keep up energy supplies during training. While this is a good idea for anyone who is likely to suffer from energy loss for whatever reason, it is just not suitable for everyone. Personally, I could not stand the taste of the stuff, and it didn't seem to do much for me anyway. Another girl was very unfortunate, becoming practically addicted to it. She put on an obscene amount of weight which caused her performance in sport to get worse, and she consequently gave up and has never shifted the weight.

A more useful sports supplement is a drink called isostar, which is an isotonic drink that rehydrates you after severe physical exertion. This tastes better than maxim, and can be very useful, but only in moderation. It is quite expensive, but worth it for the odd occasion when you become dehydrated.

There are also some more natural methods of recovery after sport. For example, putting a small amount of salt into a drink after physical exertion can prevent dehydration and cramp, as the body's mineral supplies become severely drained. Also, I tend to eat an apple after every training session to replace complex carbohydrate. This is also a very healthy and tasty snack, rater than eating a mars bar which is recommended by many coaches. This is used more prior to a race, but personally, it always made me feel bloated and had an adverse effect on my performance.

With regard to
non-sports supplements, the only things I rely on are vitamin C and multivitamins with iron. I seem to pick up colds all the time if I stop taking vitamin C, although I have a healthy diet. Infact, I am out of it at the moment and have picked up an awful cold. Ecchinachia seems to get rid of colds quickly, this is becoming quite popular. As far as multivitamins go, I take sanatogen multivitamins for vegetarians, as I know I miss out on some essential vitamins and minerals being veggie, especially iron.

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