In an ideal world, you could get all the macro and micronutrients you need from food alone. Yet there are situations when that’s not possible and your diet isn’t checking all the boxes. There are also epigenetic and lifestyle factors that might prevent you from getting enough of something, make you allergic to it, or hinder absorption. And then there are scenarios in which the demands of training, work, and stress make you burn through more nutrients or create a need to top them up. Let’s take a look at when these situations are likely to arise and how supplements can help.
1) Filling Holes in Your Diet
Every few months there seems to be some new diet craze that promises a more complete, well-rounded, and health-promoting approach than the last. Yet while most offer some benefits, few if any are truly perfect. Even tried and tested approaches like vegan, Paleo, and ketogenic diets that have stuck around can leave you with some gaps that, depending on the type of lifestyle you lead, might need to be filled.
This is where supplements can come in. If you’re vegan or vegetarian, you might find it difficult to get sufficient complete protein (meaning sources that contain all nine essential amino acids that your body can’t make by itself). Or perhaps, like NFL Tight End Kyle Rudolph, you find out that you’re intolerant or allergic to dairy. In any of these cases, a plant-based protein supplement like Momentous Essential Plant can help complement your dietary intake and ensure you’re getting enough high-quality protein.
2) Addressing Age-Related Body Changes
As you get older, your body undergoes physiological alterations that can change your nutritional demands and might mean you need something that you didn’t before. When you’re young, your knees, ankles, and other joints can take just about anything you throw at them. But in recent years, research has shown that collagen levels start to decline as early as your mid-20s, a timeline that might be accelerated if you’ve played a lot of high-impact sports. As a result, the cartilage in your joints begin to degrade and ligaments and tendons start to lose their elasticity, which can lead to compromised function and predispose you to pain.
A supplement like Momentous Collagen Peptides can help restore your connective tissues, speed injury recovery, and slow or even reverse joint degradation. A study conducted by a German research duo found that taking one of the key ingredients, FORTIGEL®, increased collagen production in Achilles tendons and certain ligaments 1.2-fold. [1]
3) Getting More Out of Your Training
Combining optimal programming with sufficient rest and recovery can help you make the most of your workouts, whether you’re a power or endurance athlete. Eating clean as part of a well-balanced diet can go a long way, but there are also some beneficial micronutrients that it’s difficult to get enough of even if you’ve got your nutrition down.
Take creatine, for example. Along with protein (which you might also do well to get more of if you’re training hard on a regular basis), creatine monohydrate is arguably the most heavily studied supplement around, with more than 20 years of research demonstrating its safety and efficacy. A study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research concluded that daily creatine supplementation improved athletes’ anaerobic output and strength in both upper and lower body exercises.[2] Momentous Performance Creatine, which is NSF Certified for Sport ®, includes Creapure®, a pure form of creatine monohydrate sourced from Germany.
4) Helping You Buffer Stress
Have you noticed that when you’re feeling stressed, you don’t seem to think as clearly? It turns out that this isn’t just a subjective experience or an assumption. A study of youth basketball players found that when participants were mentally fatigued, they not only performed skill-based drills less effectively, but also experienced detrimental effects in both their endocrine and autonomic nervous systems.
While making lifestyle changes like improving sleep hygiene, utilizing relaxation techniques such as breathwork and mindfulness, and making more time to relax can help, sometimes you might need a little extra help to deal with additional stress from the inside out. That’s when a product like Momentous Brain Drive can help. In a study conducted on behalf of the US military, scientists discovered that one of its ingredients, tyrosine, can help your brain mitigate stress at the cellular level and may also help overcome the long-term effects that can contribute to adrenal fatigue.[3]
5) Delivering Optimization
Another solid use case for supplementation is when a product can provide something that your body needs faster, in a more readily digestible form, or as part of a unique blend that you’d be hard pressed to find in your pantry or refrigerator.
Another example is when a supplement offers multiple evidence-backed ingredients in one convenient package. When we were figuring out the formula for Momentous Elite Sleep, that’s the approach we settled on. The melatonin included in this unique formula is the most heavily researched sleep supplement. A paper published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism concluded that taking it regularly can help you spend more time in restorative REM sleep. [4]
Resources
[1] M Schunck and S Oesser, “Specific Collagen Peptides Benefit the Biosynthesis of Matrix Molecules of Tendons and Ligaments,” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, December 2013, available online at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4045593/.
[2] Jorge M Zuniga et al, “The Effects of Creatine Monohydrate Loading on Anaerobic Performance and One-Repetition Maximum Strength,” The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, June 2012, available online at https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Fulltext/2012/06000/The_Effects_of_Creatine_Monohydrate_Loading_on.27.aspx.
[3] S Attipoe et al, “Tyrosine for Mitigating Stress and Enhancing Performance in Healthy Adult Humans, a Rapid Evidence Assessment of the Literature,” Military Medicine, July 2015, available online at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26126245/.
[4] Dieter Kunz et al, “Melatonin in Patients with Reduced REM Sleep Duration: Two Randomized Controlled Trials,” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, January 2004, available online at https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14715839/.
