Supplements: What You Need to Know

Today on Bring Back The Porch we’ll explore the key aspects of supplementation, including its benefits, the difference between supplements and whole foods, and how to choose the right products for your needs. In today’s health-conscious world, supplements have become a hot topic. With a growing number of people turning to these products for enhanced health and performance, it’s important to understand what supplements are, how they work, and whether they’re right for you. Supplement King is a Medicine Hat store that specializes in assisting people choose what works best for them. Wyatt Bayliss and Serina Grona join Brian on the Porch to explain the essentials of supplements and how they can help you enhance your health.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
01:12 Difference Between Health Food and Supplements
02:03 The Role of Supplements in Daily Nutrition
03:21 Impact of Social Media on Health Awareness
04:16 Historical Mistrust and Modern Science
05:34 How to Know What Supplements You Need
06:40 Myths About Bodybuilding Supplements
07:13 Safety and Interactions with Medications
08:30 Regulations in the Canadian Supplement Industry
09:18 Supplements for Athletes and Banned Substances
10:01 Community Engagement and Local Support
11:17 Supplements for Young Athletes
12:56 Supplements for Older Adults and Joint Health
16:37 The Future of Supplements and Flavoured Products
20:47 Community Support and Education Initiatives
21:25 Closing Remarks and Future Podcast Plans

What Are Supplements and Why Do We Need Them?
Supplements are products designed to enhance our diet and fill nutritional gaps. They can come in various forms, including pills, powders, and liquids, and contain vitamins, minerals, herbs, amino acids, and other substances. With the fast-paced lifestyle many lead today, obtaining all necessary nutrients solely from food can be challenging. This is where supplements come into play.

Why Use Supplements?
Many people struggle to meet their daily nutritional requirements through diet alone. Supplements can help ensure you receive essential nutrients that support optimal health.
    Common Types of Supplements:
  - Vitamins and minerals (like Vitamin D and Magnesium)
  - Protein powders (whey, plant-based)
  - Omega-3 fatty acids
  - Probiotics for gut health

What is the difference between Supplements and Whole Foods?
While supplements can provide essential nutrients, they are not a substitute for a balanced diet. Whole foods offer a complex matrix of vitamins, minerals, and other beneficial compounds that work synergistically to promote health. Whole foods contain fibre, antioxidants, and phytochemicals not found in supplements.They provide a variety of nutrients that support overall health in ways supplements cannot replicate. People should consider supplements if they have specific dietary restrictions (e.g., vegans may need Vitamin B12). If they are recovering from illness or surgery or if they are an athlete or physically active and need to meet higher nutritional demands.

How to Choose the Right Supplements
Navigating the supplement aisle can be overwhelming due to the vast array of options available. Here are some tips to help you choose wisely:

1. Consult a Professional: Before starting any supplement regimen, talk to a healthcare provider or a registered dietitian.

2. Research Brands: Look for reputable brands that adhere to strict manufacturing standards and have their products tested for quality.

3. Read Labels Carefully: Check for ingredients, serving sizes, and any potential allergens. Ensure the supplement is appropriate for your needs.

Common Myths About Suppl

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Transcript

0:00

Hey, this is Brian again. And I'd like to ask you to do a favor. We can't do this work without people like you. So if you can, please, like, share, subscribe. Tell your friends about bring back the porch. I remember going to a hockey game, cranking a five hour energy with my dad before going into the dressing room, taking a scoop of soup for before the game, and I'd always feel just unwell and sick to my stomach, potentially. Sometimes it was a hit or miss and you know, that was just dosing my body up with stimulants that that didn't necessarily need to be there. This episode of Bring Back the Porch, brought to you by Bernie Leahy, River Street Realty. Let's get you home. One of the fastest growing industries in Canada is the supplement industry. And here to talk about this today from supplement King Wyatt Bayliss and Serena Grona. Welcome. Hi. Right on. I'm really happy to be here. Thank you for having us. Well, I'm glad you're here, too, because I got lots of questions. Some of the work I did previously in my career, I would interview people in the health food industry, and now we're talking about supplements. And my first question is, is there a difference? Difference? Yeah. So, you know, like health food, of course. That's a lot of like the Whole Foods and everything, right, that we get from like rices or chicken meats, kind of veggies, sauces like that. Supplementation has become a very fast growing industry, mainly with the key word in it though is supplements. Yeah. So with the daily consumption of like, all of the calories that we have in a day, sometimes it is tough to make sure that we're getting the necessary vitamins and minerals in our daily foods and supplements come into play, where they help make sure that you're filling those daily intakes to make sure that your body's performing at optimum level, just staying overall healthy, you know? So to eat your body weight, say, or our, in protein, basically 1.8 to 1.2 grams per pound of body weight is what a standard, roughly as you should need as a human. So with that, it's very tough to eat a lot of like meats to get that protein source. So that's where like the supplementation will come into play, where an added scoop of whey protein is actually derived from milk. So it is still coming from a food source, but it's mainly just the raw protein ingredient. So just to help fuel eating and making sure that you're getting all those daily intakes in for the most part. I'm wondering, too, if this movement towards supplements is maybe a generational thing, like, people of my generation probably never even thought about it. And then someone like Serena, who's young and still, you know, bodies hasn't fallen apart yet. Maybe you have time to think about your health and supplement. Yeah. I think it's like even growing up. I know for sure my parents are very, like, pensive about it or, like they feel afraid of it. Yeah. I think we just always work towards, like, educating everyone. Like me coming out not knowing much. And, like, working here. Now I'm able to educate not only my age, but like everyone else in every age of life. You know. And I think there's been a movement more towards health and fitness, health and wellness over the last 20 years as well. 100%. And, you know, a big portion that has to play into that is, I think, like the grind of social media. And, now that everybody's connected virtually, which is something in their pocket, really makes it easy to get, you know, expand the knowledge, just see what not just your community is doing, but communities outside and everything. So just kind of expands the overall, outreach of the fitness community. And I think that's definitely coming into play, a big portion in, the growing ness of, of the health and fitness industry. Serena mentioned, fear among older adults, and I wonder how much of that goes back to the days when the wagon would roll into town and the snake oil salesman would get old and he would have this elixir that would cure everything that was wrong with you for $20 a bottle. Thank you very much. Sell out. Pack up quickly and get out of town. Because what he was selling just wasn't worth, a dollar, and it could be harmful to your health. Yeah. You know, and nowadays, like, there's been so many studies that have come out over the last, you know, 10 to 20 years that are showing the positive benefits of a lot, of a lot of supplementation. And I think that was just back in the day was just kind of lacking a bit, you know, with, with creatine per se. That's a good example. 15 to 20 years ago, a lot of people would say like creatine, no one under the age of 18 should be consuming it. Now, with the recent studies that are coming out, is becoming a very positive, beneficial supplement, not just for, you know, people over the age of 18, but elderly, younger, like, not like younger adults as well as being able to take it just the positive benefits to help recycle your ATP production, your energy storage, things like that. On top of it, they're starting to show. I'm not too sure if it's actually a proven study yet, but they're starting to link potential, benefits with like brain function as well. So helping with memory, potentially. So there's a lot of benefits around the creatine. But the biggest thing I think in the history was just not having the sufficient evidence and, supporting to see what would happen long term effects. So science is helping us. Definitely. Yeah. When people come into your store, how do you know what they need and how do they know what they need? So yeah, when you walk into a supplement store, especially at Supplement King, we do have a ride of a wide variety of supplements. When you first walk in our, our thing is, is it's basically our warehouse. We keep all of our products up at the front. So it can be very overwhelming to come in and, you know, see multiple different brands of different things that you may have never seen in your life. So with that, we always strive to make sure everyone feels comfortable. We open open a dialog with them to just discuss. It's just everyday people, right? To make them feel comfortable in the store because it is overwhelming. We want to make sure that everyone feels safe and able to chat about the needs that they might, need in just a day to day to help better their lives. So we really strive to have that open dialog, making sure that everyone feels comfortable in our stores. We're able to have those conversations to be able to see what they actually, you know, might benefit with certain supplements. So having that safe space is definitely important to us. When I was speaking with some friends and telling them that I was going to be doing a podcast about supplements, they said, oh yeah, for bodybuilders, probably one of the myths and stereotypes that you have to, counter. Absolutely. I think the big thing is everyone's like, we don't want to like, bulk up. We don't want to take protein because we're going to like these big, bulky people. But like, we honestly, we have shop I goal in our store. So it's like, are you just looking for overall like health, overall fitness? We try and like structure it towards everybody rather than just the bodybuilding. Okay. How do you know if somebody comes in and they they buy something that what they're buying isn't going to be, clash with some medication or other supplements that they're taking. So with that, every time that we do talk about any type of stimulants or anything like that in our stores, we do always kind of ask, you know, we recommend talking to your health care professional first. We did not go to to school for, for eight plus years, for that knowledge. But, for the most part, we do strive with our internal education system that we do with our teams to make sure that, you know, we're really learning and always evolving to make sure that a lot of our non stimulant products are virtually safe for everyone. But at the same time, if there's anything that's getting a little bit leery in our store regarding stimulants as well, to clarify as anything to your speed up, the heart rate, give a little bit more energy, say coffee, energy drinks, things like that. So that's something we're always leery about and aware of, but we make sure that it's present in the store to to make sure that people know that they should probably, like, consult with their health care professional first. But of course, we're, we're always here to, to make a, make a healthy recommendation. Eight years of education. Is that what you said you took? No, that's if I was a doctor. Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay. The health care. That is a lot of education to to be involved. The industry itself. What kind of regulations do you face? So in Canada, actually, we have some of the heaviest regulations. As far as supplementation in the industry, it is very crack down, which is really good and awesome for, for Canadians because you can rest assured that at Supplement King, we carry like mainly the highest recommended products as far as making sure that they're informed choice. They're, clinically dosed and there's no banned substances in them. So anything in our store is Health Canada approved. They're, safe. And, that's something that we really try to, pride ourselves on that. None of the supplement kings across Canada will actually carry illegal substances or banned substances as a part of our policy and a commitment to the community. And Serena, as an athlete, that's important to you. You don't want to be taking something that might nullify a result. Absolutely. Even like we go to many different teams across men's and across our, our stores, and we do like to talk to the athletes as well. And very big. There's like a checkmark on most of our clubs. It says banned substance free. It's perfect for athletes. If you are an athlete anywhere, you have to like go through like this safety course as well for banned substances. So we always try to educate athletes on that as well too. It is very important. I think the first time I heard the name Supplement King was, at the Miller Snack College. You are, sponsor for the Rattler program. And, we always used to read out the the thank you to supplement. Okay. That is important. I think, for you to be involved with the athletic community in Medicine Hat. It is. You know, I come from a town of 1200 people, so very small, very close knit community. And, you know, come from that. Everybody knows everybody, you know, helping their neighbor. You know, it's something that I really wanted to bring to this industry. I played a lot of sports when I was growing up. A lot of our, staff has also played higher level, you know, sports, whether it be hockey, football, lacrosse, etc.. And, the one thing that we all kind of had in common as we were growing up is the lack of knowledge on supplementation that could actually help us perform better. I remember going to a hockey game, cranking a five hour energy with my dad before going into the dressing room, taking a scoop of soup for before the game, and I'd always feel just unwell and sick to my stomach, potentially. Sometimes it was a hit or miss and you know, that was just dosing my body up with stimulants that that didn't necessarily need to be there. And, the more that we kind of grew knowledge around the supplements, the more we realized that, like the amount of impact that these potentially could have for developing athletes, we really wanted to get into the community of of the sports and the athletics and make sure that, you know, our athletes and medicine had are being filled with the proper products and getting the education. To what age group do you start with? So honestly, we we start from anywhere. Pretty much. We have product in our store for anyone. So we can start right from the very start. Of the age groups, right when they kind of start into competitive hockey and such. So I'd say like anywhere from I'm old school, so I'm still thinking nine and under, versus the lingo now, but but yeah, we have products anywhere from, you know, just daily greens intakes that have no, no stimulants. There's no carbohydrates in them. They're basically a blended, macro or micro nutrient of various greens. And you get a full serving of veggies and it tastes very good. It's like a peach or a pineapple. So those are very safe for for children of all ages. Especially we actually have a few, a few, mothers on our, on our team. And, some of their kids play competitive sports and, you know, I know Carlo, one of our promotions directors, her son will eat. So protein and carbohydrates, our carvel and powders and greens like crazy. And, he's very active, boy, but he's growing like a weed, so it's really good to see. And, he's staying healthy, and and the performance is showing. So it's something that we can really lean on from past experiences to, not just recommended something. At least we have some pass knowledge to be able to see, like, hey, like we we have tried this ourselves. And you can rest assured that, you know, as parents, we also do this with, with our children and just make it a little bit more safe that way, too. So, Renee, you were involved in ring it and also hockey. As an athlete, as a competitor, did you use supplements to help you? Honestly, I didn't probably start until I was like 14. And then probably not. Not properly, I would say it wasn't until years later when I was playing college hockey, that I started to learn more. And that's kind of what we try and do now. We're talking to like the younger kids. As I mentioned, I have the parents in the store as well. When we do an informal night and I try and educate them both on that as well. But when I was growing up, I didn't really know anything. What what brought you into the industry to begin with? That's that's a long story. How we got time. Yeah. So, actually, I originally moved to Regina, where I was, pursuing kinesiology, and, I ended up getting a job with the health and safety industry, and that kind of took me away from the health and fitness a little bit. I worked there for about five years, and, I remember I had a conversation with my father, actually. And, long story short, after the conversation happened, we, my notice was in, and, I moved back to the farm, and I made a big leap, and, and we said we were going all into to do something together, and, it landed on on Supplement King. We went around a couple and looking at a couple different franchises and such, and the one that really stuck out was Supplement king. Roger King at the time. He's the owner. We were at about 62 stores as a franchise at the time, I believe, somewhere around there. And I remember Charlie, my father, getting a a call from Roger on a Saturday in the evening while he's putting his kids to bed saying like, hey, well, I'll give you a call in about 20 minutes. I'll just put my children in bed. You know, coming from a small town mentality that really stuck with me and the fact that he's taking the time. So in reality, we were two random people applying for, for, for a store. And, you know, that really stuck with me. So that kind of got the ball rolling. And from there I was in Regina at the time, and we were we wanted to stay close, but there was an opening in Medicine Hat, so I packed up my bags and I moved to medicine at two to open the store in full. So. And what year was that. All over in 2021? Okay, so you've got about five years now here in the community. You got or will be five years in August. Okay. We've talked about the athletes. You did talk a little bit about, old timers like me that might benefit from I think you mentioned creatine, for sure. Somebody who's got arthritis, you know, the joints like to argue with me when I get out of a chair. How can you help me? Yeah, definitely. So, you know, we have various products, to start, like with arthritis, you know, college and powder would be really nice. With those guys, it helps strengthen the bond, as well. It helps with hair, skin, nails. And just overall lubricating the joints. We have various joint aids as well. Just to help, like, lubricate. So you're not feeling that achy and stiffness potentially in the mornings after, after sleep. But yeah, we have all sorts of products like that that that could help for sure. But definitely I'd recommend a good collagen powder. Type one and two are usually the ones that I recommend. And then then. Yeah, a good joint aid would definitely be nice. The one thing too is, I always, always like to recommend a greens powder. And mainly with that is because as much as you say you, you take eat a lot of greens. Statistically there is a lot of macro micronutrients that are missed in your daily intake. Potentially, if you like greens, you might only eat peas and broccoli. I love them all. When's the last time you had spirulina or wheatgrass? The next time will be the first. There you go. But a lot of our greens powders will have those positive micronutrients that that you don't get in your necessarily diet that can lead to, you know, better digestion a little bit more increased energy overall, just better feeling. So I think like a collagen, a greens powder and a joint aid would be something that would be perfect. That's something that take three different things or can you mix them all together into one concoction. So the nice thing is, is we do offer two of them are able to to mix in. We offer pills and powder. So there is a nice little, blend, we try with mainly everything except for protein. Is to offer either a powdered form and if we are able to, a liquid form and then a pill form too. So if you can't take pills, we offer a nice solution either way. Yeah. Because there's sometimes when they get caught right there. So yeah. No I know that. And so some of the, multivitamins, we have a Vita stack that holds and, it has about ten pills in it, but it's the full it gets your omegas some joint aid, your vitamins, your minerals. So I can see that being quite a bit for sure. As I say, a little bit the size of ours is like. A pack, like a big you take everyday. Okay. Yeah. Now, when we look, look at supplements, that's one thing. But you mentioned vitamins too, and multivitamins are basically the same. So yeah, they're not the same. So. So like supplements, vitamins are. We carry all is a good question. So the vitamins that we carry, you do get those from external food sources. So when our daily diet, if we're just eating regular foods, we are getting vitamins and minerals in our daily diet. That's how we function. That's how we survive. A lot of ours will focus on one necessary product. So say with our multivitamins and minerals, we have various ones that really hone in to be like a high vitamin B, high vitamin C, or a zinc and iron, just to make sure that if there is something that you're potentially lacking in your daily diet, we can pick that up with a supplement that would be carried in the store. Okay. My regimen every day is B12, vitamin C, vitamin D, potassium, and zinc. A full stack of different pills. I haven't got room for food. I take all my pills so would there be something like A11 pill fills all kind of thing? So the nice thing is, is there is pills like we do carry various products that will have more than one item in it. To get an all in one pill is, that's. Sort. Of a miracle. But we do have various, multivitamin, pills and, and containers that will have, you know, your, your full vitamin A, B, c, zinc, magnesium and such. It just trying to find the right one for you pending on what you're already taking. Yeah. So there is products that can significantly minimize the amount of products that you consistently buy and you can just get all in one. But to get an all in one pill, I'm still waiting. Still in the lab on that one. When you talk about, mixing these things in with liquid, first thing comes to mind is how much it's going to taste like. Am I going to be going? Oh, you mentioned the one tastes peachy. I think here we got flavors for that. A lot of our products do good flavors. Yeah. You know, you ask us. I mean, if you asked me. Ten years ago, I might say, oh, they're they're okay. But honestly, now, now the day and age, like, the flavors have come a long way. From protein powders, we carry anything from, like chocolates. Vanillas. We even now we've come up with fruit and juice, protein powders. So basically it is a fruit juice, but it's a protein, which is really cool. And the flavors come a long way in the last, you know, 5 to 10 years and some really cool cross collabs. A lot of the, flavor industries like Mr. Freezy is kind of joining in with some of the supplements to do cross collabs for, various flavors. Make sure to check out the batch energy drinks coming out. Mr. freezy collab. But they're, they've come a long way for sure. Okay. Anything else that you wanted to touch on here this morning? Oh, yeah. Like the big thing with us. We're super excited. You know, we're always happy to be in the community. And the one thing I want to stress here is we always want to lend a helping hand. And be open. So if anyone's looking to to find more info, you know where to find us. We're over on Dunmore Road and we're always open and happy to support and educate people. The best we can. So I'm just super happy and thankful to be here and I really appreciate the time today. Brian. I think Serena will be working on another podcast because there's more questions that I'm sure I'm going to have and others are going to ask me. So, will you come back again? Absolutely. Good. Yeah. No, I, I would love to come back 100%. Yeah. Pick my brain on anything you like. I love to share anything that I can be of service. All right, well, thank you very much to Wyatt Bayliss and Serena Grona from Supplement King. Hey. Right on. Thank you. Brian. I'm.