Supplements that can help your body’s daily nutritional requirement in hectic office life!

Due to hectic work nature these days, it is very common to not able to manage body’s daily macro and micro nutritional requirement. Supplements are natural and can help fulfill your daily nutritional requirement which normally doesn’t get fulfilled due to various factors such as low quality or adulterated food, low nutrient absorption rate due to high levels of stress, crash dieting, no proper meal structure etc.

There are few supplements which can be a part of your daily routine. Listing few of them below:

1.) Whey Protein – Traditional Indian diet lacks complete protein and is more of carbs and fats. Whey protein is such a supplement which can actually help you fulfill your protein needs of the day and help preserve your muscle mass. Milk basically contains two types of protein casein and whey. Whey is known as fast digesting protein and casein is a slow digesting protein. It is extracted out of milk from a complex process and packed in powdered form with added flavors.  So, whey protein is completely natural and a by-product of milk. A normal person who doesn’t exercise requires atleast 0.8-1 gm per kg of bodyweight of protein to maintain his or her muscle mass. Muscle mass is important as it burns more calories in resting state and help you remain lean. When you exercise or especially weight-train, the requirement of protein rises to 1.6-2.2 gm per kg of bodyweight. A single scoop of whey protein contains somewhere 24-25 gms of protein which is equal to eating 4 whole eggs at a time. So, it is a very convenient source as you can just mix it with water on the go and have it anywhere.  Many companies like Horlicks, Complan etc. have started mixing whey protein in their proprietary blends but it’s always  better to buy whey protein separately from a credible source.

2.) Multi-Vitamin – As I mentioned above, the low quality or adulterated fruits and vegetables we eat these days, there are high chances of vitamin and mineral deficiency.  High stress, tension, anxiety, low absorption rate of the body, bad nutrition & sleep cycle adds to this problem on daily basis. Common flu, infections, tiredness, feeling lethargic whole day etc. are few common effects when you are mineral or vitamin deficient. Multi-vitamin tablets helps in fulfilling our daily micro-nutrients needs and stop us from getting extremely deficient. One can take multi-vitamin tablet just after breakfast on daily basis to fulfill their needs. Also, I would also suggest getting a blood test done in every 6 months to actually understand your body’s condition. You can go ahead with buying a multi-vitamin which offers you vitamins and mineral quantity close to or as per RDA (check the back label of bottle/packet to understand the figures).

3.) Fish-oil – Apart from protein, our Indian diets also lack omega-3 fatty acids. Fish is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids and if you eat fish 2-3 times a week then you don’t need to worry about it but for others it is better to start taking fish oil supplement. Fish oil is an anti-inflammatory supplement that works as an agent and block foreign substances that enter body and cause redness, swelling or pain. It also aids fat-loss process and helps in preserving muscle mass in older aged people. Few researches are there which show that it helps with cardiovascular issues also but it still requires an extensive research. It is recommended to take fish-oil tablet after a proper meal such as lunch or dinner.

So, here the list comes to an end but before ending the article, I would suggest you to don’t just rely on supplements to fulfill your daily nutrition needs. As the name suggests “supplements”, they are meant to supplement your diet not override your diet. Also, supplements works best when complimented by quantified diet and exercise. So, do learn about quantified nutrition and make it possible.

About the Author : Lucky Gaur is an INFS Certified Fitness and Nutrition Consultant and a Diploma holder  in Naturopathy & Yogic Science, All India Nature Cure Federation. The views expressed in the article are his personal. 

To Contact: nattygaur@gmail.com