It's been some time since I last spoke about my health supplements, so now is as good a time as any to give you an update.

I'm still taking multivitamins every day.  If you've spoken to a doctor recently and are over the age of 30, chances are you were told that daily multivitamins are a must.  I've always believed that to be the case and simply felt justified when my doctor verified it.

I'm continuing to use Body Wise International's Right Choice AM/PM vitamin supplements.  As you may recall, this was the brand that was recommended by Derek's friend who is a health fanatic and a doctor.

In addition to multivitamins, protein supplements are important to building and maintaining lean muscle mass.  Although my original research indicated that you should take 1 mg of protein for every pound of body weight, newer information shows that the ratio is actually 1.5-2 mg of protein per pound of body weight.  Since that level of protein intake and the corresponding nutrients necessary to ensure the protein is properly metabolized and used are difficult to achieve even on the strictest of diets, I use protein supplements.

I stopped using Cytodyne Technologies' supplements and have switched to Beverly International.  Their supplements are simply higher quality and more consistent in my opinion.

For general protein supplementation I use Muscle Provider.

For protein and caloric supplementation I use Mass Maker.

Here's how it works.

Since I do my resistance training early in the morning (usually starting around 5:00 AM), I have two servings of Muscle Provider (with water) just before I head out to the gym.  This enhances delivery of amino acids to the muscle tissue and increases protein synthesis during my workout.

After my workout I mix one serving of Muscle Provider and one serving of Mass Maker (with water) and take my morning vitamins with that.  This serves two purposes.  First, it's essentially my breakfast, providing a supercharged high protein, moderate carb meal.  Second, it provides the recovery tools my body needs immediately following a workout (including vitamins & minerals, fat, carbohydrates and protein).

In the early evening I mix another serving of Muscle Provider with a serving of Mass Maker (with water).  This is a snack with the nutrition of a meal.

Before going to bed I mix two servings of Muscle Provider with milk.  This helps slow digestion for superb muscle recovery and nitrogen replenishment throughout the night.

With four additional meals spread throughout the day (a morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack and dinner), this approach ensures I get plenty of protein plus all the vitamins and minerals, carbohydrates and fat that I need — all of which are essential to proper health, especially if there's any kind of exercise involved.