Vitamin & Protein Supplements - My Experiences

Do you want the truth?

I do not want to mess with powders. I don’t want to spend time mixing drinks.

Yes, I am lazy when it comes to this … I would prefer to open the refrigerator and have an already mixed protein shake in a variety of flavors at my disposal.

Sad to admit this - but it is the truth

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There is a chain of grocery stores in Oregon called grocery outlet (gross-out). .99 ea. I stocked up!

I still drink a protein shake every morning for breakfast. Each time I see a new brand in the store, I buy it to see if the taste is better, richer, etc., than the others I have tried. I compare the test based on the chocolate flavor.

The latest experiments are PURE PROTEIN, CLEAN PROTEIN by Six Star and WalMart’s generic brand for everything, EQUATE. PURE PROTEIN drinks are good, but are no different than the others - making them no better or no worse. Depending on price that week, they can be substituted for any other.

The CLEAN PROTEIN drinks were interesting. First 32g protein versus 30 on most; 0 grams of sugar, and promotes itself heavily as “lactose free”. Now to be fair, I am lactose intolerant, yet NONE of the shakes I have tried have given me any stomach problems, even though some of the others do list “milk products”.

Also, CLEAN PROTEIN had one of the best flavor of Chocolate (“Gourmet Chocolate Milk”), second ONLY to BOOST Chocolate. Boost is more expensive, so it is nice to find a less expensive alternative with a great flavor.

WalMart does well with their “Equate” line of generics, and this one is no different. The flavor is good, and is about the same overall as most of the drinks I have tested. I’m confident that this is the exact same shake as one of the other brands, packaged for WalMart.

So far, other than Boost, the drinks are about the same - so buying based on price does not provide a better drink.

Of Walart is your go to and you’re willing to mix from powder, get Integrated whey isolate chocolate flavored. It’s the best chocolate flavor I’ve had other than Biotest, with no artificial sweeteners. The artificial sweeteners are a deal killer for me and pretty much ruin what ever they’re in.

I am taking DHEA myself and am curious if it made a difference.

Hi,
I had to stop taking it …

Urine test reported 18x higher levels than normal

Blood test came back with DHEA 50% higher.

It was also causing me to eat huge amounts of food.

How much did you take per day and did it also have any effect on your testosterone numbers, or estrogen?

I have been researching Nitric Oxide supplements again looking for something equal to or better than what I am taking in 2 capsules or less. I found NOTHING that had as much Arginine and Citrulline as the “Nitric Charge” that I am taking, even in 4 capsules.

While looking for new products, I came across some interesting research findings linking increased arginine to HERPES FLAREUPS. That was a new link for me.

Arginine can awaken a dormant herpes infection, causing an outbreak of mouth or genital sores. Large doses can boost blood sugar and potassium levels, and can stimulate the stomach to produce extra acid.

I thought I was taking a lot of L-Citrulline (1200mg) … until I found “suggested doses” …

For non-exercise-related benefits, take 3 grams of L - citrulline or 5 to 6 grams of citrulline malate per day.

Equate has a new flavor, Bananas and Cream … I bought a pack today but haven’t tried yet …

updated 3/26/19: The flavor isn’t bad - but isn’t incredible. It does make for a nice change, but it is not like chocolate or vanilla that I am willing to drink every day.

I also take this form of vitamin D3. You can’t beat the price. I buy a large bottle that lasts a year. Can’t go wrong.

Just though I’d pass this along. A couple of guys in the gym told me about Collagen so I bought some. Bought a tub for $29.00 with 41 servings. Supposed to be great for joints and tissues in the body. One scoop with my protein drink. Tasteless and odorless. My hair is growing like a weed and need a cut every other week now. My nails need trimming every two days. Something must be working. I feel better on it and will continue using it. It’s cheep so give it a try.

I am FINALLY down to my last bottle and half of the “Vibrant Health” fructoborate. I had purchased so many on sale.

The replacement that I have been suggesting here on the forum arrived today.

BioImmersion Fructo Borate. 6mg elemental Boron PER capsule.

In late March, after a Iron/Ferritin test indicated that I was slightly low iron, I decided to add a low dose iron supplement. I will have labs done in one week, which will be 4 weeks on the low dose iron to see what that has done to my overall levels.

This is what I am taking

I take my vitamins as soon as I wake. Sometimes when I forget to take them, I will immediately take them without concern for the time of the day.

I have discovered that Yohimbine is considered a “stimulatory” supplement, which I never knew.

I have noticed sleeping issues when I take my supplements late afternoon, and finally found a reference that points to my Yohimbine (btw, updated earlier in this thread).

Yohimbine is felt within 30 minutes … but no site on the net agrees with the half-life of it - from one-half hour to 5 hours. Drug bank site shows half life at 36minutes!

It is rapidly absorbed after oral administration with a peak plasma concentration occurring at 30 minutes and a half-life of 5 hours

I have also found references that Yohimbine must be taken multiple times per day, which increases the dosage substantially.

Ginseng LIFEPLAN 6000 MG
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I have been taking one tablet from this for almost 40 days and this is what happened.

estradiol went from 20 pg/ml to 9 pg/ml
prolactin went from from 160 mU/L to 323 mU/L
somewhere between I hit my sweet spot libido went very high. later on I found out its around estradiol 15 so trying to change my dosage to stay within this level :slight_smile:

@m.j
Is that a mistake? You DOUBLED your prolactin and that was your goal???

No, that’s wasn’t the target I had no idea what will happen if I had ginseng so I did complete analysis including total testosterone, free and the rest( LH-FSH…etc)

I saw ginseng decrease estradiol and increase prolactin just mentioning my observation about ginseng results.

Trying to increase my testosterone of course but didn’t work :confused: I saw slight bit increase but not sure even of it.

Ok, thanks - because I didn’t understand your post correctly.

Increasing prolactin is not something you want to do if you are working toward libido.

And Ginseng has been studied and shown to REDUCE prolactin, so this is a very unusual situation.

Interesting point btw, your Ginseng is “Korean” ginseng, and the studies all mention American Ginseng. I never noticed that before when reading about Ginseng.

I have done multiple test actually, I can share result details if your interested, i was wondering how ginseng can help, thought maybe it increase LH but turn out it decrease estradiol and increase prolactin I think I have done 3 test during 40 days of taking ginseng.

Please start another thread about your experience with ginseng and prolactin. I think there is a lot that could be discussed, but I would prefer not to muddy up the thread here.

Thanks.