Stacking Creates Peace of Mind

In this series, I’m going to share some recipes for supplements. When you combine simple ingredients together like an apothecary, you’re “stacking supplements together.” There are many advantages to taking the time to do this.

As I’ve said repeatedly: Food should be your first and best source of nutrition. First concentrate on maximizing your progress with The 8 Patterns of Fitness. If you find you still need to fill gaps or get an extra boost, that’s when it’s time to look at pills, powders, and potions.

There are many pitfalls to avoid when buying supplements. You often don’t know, or cannot control, what you’re taking, since most products come pre-mixed “for your convenience.” Stacking gives you control, because you purchase only those ingredients you want from sources that you trust. You then decide on the serving size, and combine only what is useful and safe.

#8Patterns1Lifestyle
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Stacking, part 1 of 4: The importance of knowing what’s in your products

If you are concerned about what is going onto or into your body, you need to know what has been put into your meals and other products. Go for the choices that have fewer ingredients, and go with the brands that use mostly or only ingredients you can pronounce and identify readily. Use this same standard for everything, not just food.

Stacking, part 2 of 4: Energy and muscle gains

This entry will break down the ingredients (as well as the functions of these individual products) to make an energizing, muscle-building stack. The recipe included in this article will address energy and focus, protein supplementation, and protecting hard-won muscles from breaking down.

Stacking, part 4 of 4: Skin Care

This entry will break down the ingredients to make natural skin care products. The recipes included in this article will focus on a deeply moisturizing body butter, as well as a moisturizing and exfoliating sugar scrub. 

In parts one and two of the series, I described the importance of knowing what’s in the food and products that you put in your mouth or on your skin. I also offered options for creating your own recipe for muscle building and energy. This entry will break down the ingredients to make a fat burning stack. I will also describe the functions of each ingredient. The recipe included in this article will address various means of increasing your metabolism to burn calories before they are stored as fat, as well as accessing or using stored body fat and preventing it from being stored in the first place. Please remember to consult with a doctor before taking these supplements. This stack is part of a healthful diet and regular exercise program.

Note: Use one ingredient from each function to test your tolerance levels and to create the combination that works best for you.

Note: Please do not use fish or krill oils. They are destructive to the environment. Use a plant-based source of omega 3.

Releasing Stored Body Fat

This part of the stack encourages the fat cells beneath your skin to empty their contents, thus becoming smaller and taking up less space. The two most scientifically studied substances for this are caffeine and yohimbe. Please remember that there is already caffeine in the muscle building stack. Do not add more caffeine if you are doing both muscle building and fat burning stacks simultaneously. Use smaller doses of yohimbe in this stack as you gauge your tolerance. This is even more important if you include caffeine elsewhere in your day. Also, avoid yohimbe if you have liver, kidney or heart diseases. Do not use it if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. Avoid caffeine and yohimbe if you have anxiety or other psychological disorders.

Note: Use one ingredient from each function to test your tolerance levels and to create the combination that works best for you. Use either caffeine or yohimbe, not both.

Purhase Caffeine Tablets on Amazon
Purchase Yohimbe Capsules on Amazon

Boosting Metabolism

Once you purge from your fat cells, you need to burn it or else you could store it again. Boosting your metabolism will force your body to use the accessible energy it has at the ready. The two ingredients to choose between are green tea extract and capsaicin. Green tea extract creates a metabolic burn that causes you to burn more calories each day, whether you exercise or not. Capsaicin is the chemical that makes peppers taste hot. As with green tea extract, capsaicin increases metabolism. Be cognizant of whether or not boosting your metabolism negatively impacts your heart.

Note: Use one ingredient from each function to test your tolerance levels and to create the combination that works best for you. Use green tea extract or capsaicin, not both.

Purchase Green Tea Extract Capsules on Amazon
Purchase Capsaicin Capsules on Amazon

Transporting Free-floating Fat

Freeing fat from storage allows you to use more of it; however, even with an increased metabolism, you may not burn it all. To burn it, fat has to be transported into the mitochondria of your cells. They then use it for energy. L-Carnitine is an important transporter of fat into the nuclei of cells.

Purchase Carnitine Capsules on Amazon

Blocking Fat

Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) inhibits the fat cells under your skin from storing excess fat in the first place. Another benefit of CLA is that it not only inhibits the storage of fat, it also contributes to burning more fat. It is part of the group of good fats called omega-6 fatty acids.

Purchase CLA Capsules on Amazon

Of course, there are other health benefits of consuming foods with caffeine, green tea, carnitine, CLA and omega fatty acids that go beyond the intention of this fat burning stack; however, one of the benefits of stacking is getting the concentrated fat burning affects without consuming the extra calories in the foods that contain them.

Remember: Use one ingredient from each function to test your tolerance levels and to create the combination that works best for you. Use either caffeine or yohimbe, not both. Use green tea extract or capsaicin, not both.

Recent Updates

Glycemic Index vs Glycemic Load

Glycemic Index vs Glycemic Load

This score indicates how damaging a food will be to your blood sugar levels. Foods that score 0-55 are rated low impact (and thus presumed to be better for diabetics and those looking to maintain healthy weight and/or body fat ratios), but this is not the whole picture.

Caffeine: 14 better options to ease SAD

Caffeine: 14 better options to ease SAD

Nearly a year ago to the dot, I wrote an article about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but there I focused on the importance of getting access to a full range spectrum of light. Here I’d like to focus on caffeine and sleep’s effect on SAD. I’ll also offer suggestions for what to do to help you feel better on the dark days.

Avoid fish oil supplements

Avoid fish oil supplements

I don’t generally promote supplements. Most of them play to specific, isolated points of medical research to serve as a magic pill. One remarkable example of this is fish oil.

Jack Kirven is a mobile personal trainer in Charlotte, NC. He is the owner of INTEGRE8T Wellness.

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