Have You Got the Minerals?

So you want to say adios to fatigue and get your mojo working all day/night long. You’ve read our article on energy boosting foods and you’re ready to take action. But you know that as much as you want to eat right 100% of the time, it’s just not doable 100% of the time. Getting your RDA of organic grass-fed milk butter and raw cacao may not happen every day; and popping down the butcher’s for a copper-rich cow’s liver, well that probably won’t happen…ever.

Pills, bills and headaches

So you turn to food supplements to top up the vitamins, minerals and nutrients your diet sometimes lacks. But this can soon get complicated, with so many different opinions out there on what we need, in what quantity, which vitamins combine best with which, synthetic or natural, citrate or oxide, the expensive ones or the cheapo ones? Too much information. Too much choice. Mind bender.

To achieve maximum vitality, long-term health, and generally feel like James Brown, there are some key vitamins and nutrients you cannot skimp on, as to do so is to lack energy. We’ve done some research and narrowed it down to the fundamentals.

Here’s what you need to know:

B-Boys

Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6 & B12 – or thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine & methylcobalamin respectively – are your backing band and you want them playing for you around the clock. They perform a key role in converting food into energy, as well as promoting healthy brain function, regulating serotonin production, maintaining a strong immune system, enabling you to deal with stress, keeping hardons hard, and promoting quality sleep. Being without B’s leads to fatigue, irritability and the blues; it’s the B in James Brown that’ll keep a spring in your step and lead in your pencil.

Biotin

Biotin, another member of B vitamin family, but for some reason is known as vitamin H – whatevs, this shit is highly beneficial and worth a mention in its own right. Biotin is a major player in the breaking down of protein, carbs, fats and turning them into glucose, fatty acids and amino acids, converting them into energy. Big up the biotin.

AK-47*

The *47 has nothing to do with it, we just like the way that sounds. But vitamin K2 (menaquinone) is a big gun, and packing a full clip will help you maintain healthy bones, reduce risk of cancer, prevent blood clotting, and keep a healthy heart. Combine vitamin K2 with vitamin A for absorption, it’ll also keep your bones, skin and eyes in tip-top condition. The AK-47 combo supports your immune system too, so your defenses will be high and ready to fight another day. Bang!

So these are the key bases you need to keep covered if you want to maintain high energy levels and stay healthy.

Oh and the rest....

There are of course plenty of other essential vitamins and minerals you need a regular supply of, such as vitamin C, magnesium, calcium, zinc and copper to hit maximum vitality. We priced up what it’d cost to buy all these vitamins and multi vitamins, and it was rather expensive, not to mention a hassle necking all those pills.

Green Energy

So we started looking at the alternative, green powder supplements, to see how they compared both in price and contents. The more we researched these increasingly popular natural supplements, the more convinced we were that powders were the way to go.

The Two Key Advantages of Green Powders:

1. The minerals and vitamins in green powders are derived from all-natural super foods, rather than being synthesized in a lab. Spirulina, cacao, wheatgrass and goji berry’ reads much better than the ‘modified corn starch, anti-caking agents and sucrose’ on a standard multivitamin bottle.

2. Green powders pack all the nutrition of a multi vitamin but with added extras like probiotics, prebiotics, detox nutrients and disease-protective antioxidants.

So we decided to get ourselves some green powders to see what all the fuss was about. After looking at a few different products we opted for Athletic Greens, one of the original green powder pioneers and now an industry leader. They offer a trial deal with a money back guarantee if you aren’t 100% satisfied; a right we shall certainly exercise should their greens not make the grade.

We’ll be back soon with our findings.