First priority, let’s talk gut health.  Weight management, muscle building, and recovery time is all affected by the health of your digestive tract.  If it is not efficiently breaking down the nutrients for maximum absorption, you are not fully utilizing what you eat as energy and tissue repair. Note, the regulation of good bacteria helps reduce the negative effects of bad bacteria from a poor diet and oxidative (external) stress.  

Opti-Greens 50 – This includes 50 different chlorophyll greens that you just can’t possibly eat on a regular basis.  This also includes probiotics and digestive enzymes to balance out gut bacteria and a great supplement to boost your nutrient intake if you have any irregular bowel movements, upset stomach, digestive issues and/or bloating. Highly recommend mixing this together with the Opti-Reds as it’s not as tasty on its own and best mixed with just water.

Opti-Reds 50 – This gives you a boost of antioxidants that reduces inflammation and oxidative stress. It’s a vasodilator that increases your blood flow to muscles, reduces blood pressure, and improves your circulation and this translates to quicker recovery.  I recommended drinking this together with the greens powder as a micronutrient booster for your immune system, and easily mixes with just water.

These are your vitamin options, individually or the package is a better deal so I wanted to give you all options.  

Micro Factor Pack – multivitamins

Full Mega – fish oil 

Daily Stack – Vitamins and greens

Essential Stack – vitamins, fish oil, and greens

COLLAGEN – Strengthens your hair, nails,  bones for joint health, and builds muscle mass.  As we age, collagen production in our body slows down.  This is not replenished through diet, and therefore, a very important supplement to have.  Not all products are created equal and what you want is a diversified amino profile.

I can vouch for this product from first hand experience and results. Despite how often I’ve colored and processed my hair, this usually causes breakage, taking collagen has helped me grow my hair out to be the longest it’s ever been. Also, my complexion is the smoothest that it’s ever been since I’ve consistently taken this supplement for the past 2 years.  I get unflavored so that I can add it to any of my drinks without affecting flavor profile.  If you decide to get flavored, I recommend getting the natural product as it is sweetened with stevia.

Ignition – This is a monohydrate used as a quick carb source that absorbs into your system very quickly.  Because it absorbs so quickly to replenish energy, Taking this with your protein source allows the quick shuttle of protein to your muscles for energy re-storage and muscle repair.

Phormula 1 – This is a post workout protein to be taken with the Ignition for quick energy re-storage and muscle repair.  It includes creatine that pulls water to your muscles so make sure you drink extra water to make up for that increased water pull from other areas in your body. It also includes BCAA to prevent muscle breakdown so you don’t necessarily need to take BCAA as an extra supplement.   

Phormula 1 and Ignition to be taken together. SUPER important to take within 30-45min after a workout to replenish energy storage, keep you in fat burning zone, and start the muscle repair process immediately.  This translates to reduced soreness and a quicker recovery.  There’s no protein or fats with this combo, so the purpose of drinking this is a quick boost of energy and protein to make sure that you don’t burn muscle for fuel. Simply put, this is for those moments that you need fuel because you haven’t eaten in while or when you’ve worked out so hard you depleted your energy storage and don’t want to burn muscle.

Recommended for: 

• Fasted morning and skipped breakfast but workout early a.m.
• Midday pick me up for quick energy
• Right before a workout if it had been awhile since you ate a meal
• Post workout for recovery

To change the composition of your body to get leaner, more toned, and overall lose weight or body fat, there are a few things to think about in terms of calorie intake:

• Macros needed to just exist, at rest
• Level of activity on daily basis
• Specific fitness goals (lose weight, tone and burn bodyfat, and/or build muscle mass)

At minimum, you need to eat your goal weight in grams of protein in order for your body to function and not be calorically deprived.  Not eating enough tells your body to store calorie intake as fat for survival due to the unknown factor of when it’s next meal is and your body needs an energy storage source for fuel.  If you don’t eat enough calories on days vs energy output, your body will burn muscle for fuel, meaning that you’ve wasted your hardwork with training.

My recommendation to start is to simply focus on getting enough protein in your day.  Minimize carbs and fat intake per meal, but know that it will find it’s way into your meals. Focus first on eating enough protein, and eat the colors of the rainbow in fruits and vegetables as top priority and once you get that dialed in, you can begin to tweak your carb and fat intake.

Level 1 – This is a meal replacement that meets all your macros: protein, carbs, and fats.  This is a supplement that is to be taken in addition to whole balanced meals to help you meet your protein intake for the day.

Level 1 Bars –

These are meal replacement protein bars that include protein, carbs, and fat.  Whenever I have a sweet tooth, this is a perfect dessert and snack option that is super delicious and has 20g of Protein to help you meet your numbers.

I’m so picky about protein bars because products are often times too chewy or chalky or many have been hard to digest and upset my stomach.  But these are  made at low heat keeping the integrity of the products, therefore, gentler on your digestive tract and nutrients better absorbed.  My two favorite flavors are Mint chocolate chip cookie (has some cookie bits) and the chocolate peanut butter pretzel (has pretzel pieces in it.)

These products include essential amino acids to reduce inflammation, vasodilator for increased blood flow, electrolytes for hydration, boosts energy, and reduces lactic acid buildup for improved cardio and muscular endurance to crank out extra reps.  These are recommended for moderate to high intensity workouts.  The Beta alanine in these products MIGHT cause some tingling. It’s the ingredient that helps reduce lactic acid buildup so it stimulates your nerve ending, therefore, possible tingling sensation.  Completely harmless if you’re not used to it and will go away with use.

MegaWatt V2 – This is a STIMULANT pre-workout so don’t take it with caffeine and if you’re working out in the evenings, you might not want to take this. Recommended for cardio and muscular endurance.

AlphaCre HD – This is a non-stimulant so can be taken with caffeine or the Megawatt.  This product has more Creatine than Megawatt and includes a little bit of carbs and electrolytes.  Works best for high intensity or cardio based workouts but it still helps build both cardio and muscular endurance.

AlphaSurge DRV –This is a vasodilator, which increases blood vessel size so that you get a bigger pump for lift sessions and in turn, it stretches out the fascia and muscle for growth.  Think, lifting heavy, train hard and strength based in programming, training until muscle failure for those big gains.  This is NOT for endurance base workouts.  This is for building muscle mass and focuses on pure strength.  You’ll need to drink extra water for this but this is a non-stimulant and can be combined with other products.

Let’s talk Fat Loss:

1-DB Overdrive and Thyroid drive – This will help jumpstart your fat loss in conjunction with taking your greens.  But with this, start out slow.  Take only one capsule to see what your tolerance is, then work your way up to 2 capsules, and 3 is max dose.  Recommended to take both products at same time but don’t take it after 3pm as it might cause restlessness. So taken on an empty stomach before breakfast or lunch might be ideal. Because it’s burning fat so efficiently, you’ll get a boost of energy (burning fat = energy to burn) so why not capitalize on that energy and take it first thing when you wake?  And it’s recommended to drink 8oz for each serving so if you’re taking both, 16oz.  It takes more energy to burn fat so it will dehydrate you if you’re not drinking enough water throughout the day.  Please read and follow instructions on the bottle carefully.

Core 21 – This reduces stress and cortisol levels at night, helping you wind down to get into a deeper Rem cycle for better quality sleep. Stress and cortisol gets stored in the body as fat in the midsection, so taking this will help with fat loss as well as deepen your sleep.  In turn, your body recovers better so that you are restored to attack the next day.