My 2-part supplement protocol (including 3 types of supplements everyone should have on-hand)
Are you flushing your hard-earned money down the toilet with supplements that do nothing for you?
If you're like most people, the answer is probably yes.
Every day, millions of people swallow handfuls of pills, powders, and potions without any real evidence they're doing anything beneficial.
They're following someone else's protocol, buying what an influencer recommended, or desperately hoping that the latest miracle supplement will solve their problems.
I get it because I used to be that person and sometimes I still catch myself wanting to go down that path. I'd read about a supplement online, order it immediately, and add it to my growing collection of bottles. My kitchen cabinet looked like a small pharmacy.
But was I actually healthier?
Was I getting tangible results from all these products?
Or was I just creating, as the saying goes, "expensive urine"?
The truth is, most people have no idea if their supplements are working.
They can't point to measurable improvements in their health, energy, or performance. They're spending hundreds or thousands of dollars annually on faith alone.
The problem with supplementing on faith alone
This blind approach to supplementation is not just financially wasteful—it can be dangerous.
Taking supplements without understanding your unique needs can lead to imbalances, side effects, or interactions with medications.
Not to mention the psychological cost of believing you're doing something good for your health when you might actually be doing nothing at all.
The supplement industry thrives on this confusion.
It's a $50+ billion industry built largely on vague promises, cherry-picked research, and the human desire for quick fixes.
While pharmaceutical drugs must undergo rigorous testing before reaching the market, supplements face minimal regulation.
The result? A marketplace flooded with products of questionable quality and effectiveness.
So what's the solution? Should we abandon supplements altogether? Or should we just accept that we need them and take whatever's popular?
Neither approach makes sense. What we need is a smarter, more personalized strategy.
2 types of supplements
If you want to stop wasting money on useless supplements while still getting the benefits of those you actually need, you need a systematic approach based on your unique biology, lifestyle, and goals.
The first step is recognizing that no one else's supplement protocol will work perfectly for you. Your body is unique. Your diet is unique. Your environment is unique. Your genetics are unique. So your supplement needs are unique too.
This doesn't mean you need to figure everything out from scratch.
For me, there are two types of supplements:
Foundational supplements: Our ancestors didn't need these because they ate nutrient-dense foods grown in mineral-rich soil and lived in less toxic environments. We don't have that luxury anymore.
Targeted supplements: These address specific issues or goals you might have and will vary from person to person.
Let me show you how to think about both categories and how I approach my own supplementation.
Foundational supplements
The foundational approach to supplementation is about covering your bases in a modern world which is not designed to support optimal health.
We're living in an era where our food quality has declined dramatically. Modern agricultural practices have depleted soil minerals. Ultra-processed foods dominate our diets. Microplastics and environmental toxins are everywhere.
One of the most significant nutritional deficiencies in modern diets is minerals. Our soil is depleted, our water is filtered of natural minerals, and processed foods lack mineral content. This is why I place minerals at the top of my list of foundational supplements.
We are also spending more and more time indoors which is why supplements like Vitamin D and immune support are also foundational.
Magnesium, electrolytes, and trace minerals:
Magnesium is at the top of my list of minerals to supplement.
It's involved in over 300 enzymatic reactions in the body and plays a crucial role in heart health, muscle function, and nervous system regulation. It also significantly improves sleep quality, especially forms like magnesium glycinate.
Since sleep impacts literally everything about your health, from hormone production to cognitive function to immune response, the sleep benefits alone make magnesium worth taking. I take magnesium daily without question.
I also add LMNT electrolytes to my morning glass of water first thing after I wake up (which gives me a noticeable boost in mood and energy) and remineralize my drinking water throughout the day with Trace Minerals 40k Volts. A few drops in each glass ensures I'm getting a spectrum of minerals that would naturally be present in water before modern filtration.
Vitamin D:
Vitamin D is another supplement frequently discussed, and for good reason. It is critical to bone health, muscle movement, nerve connections to the brain, and immune system function.
Unfortunately, many people are deficient, especially those living in northern climates or spending most of their time indoors (which is most people these days).
If you are able to spend a few hours outside in direct sunlight every day, this is always the preferable way to get natural Vitamin D.
I personally take a more nuanced approach here. Living in Florida, I get regular sun exposure, so I don't take vitamin D year-round.
Instead, I keep a high-quality Thorne Vitamin D3/K2 supplement on hand for cloudy days or winter months when my sun exposure decreases (always pair D3 with K2). The liquid drops are easy to add to coffee or water.
Immune support:
In addition to Vitamin D3/K2, I keep Legion's Immune supplement (with Vitamin C, Zinc, and more) available for immune support.
Rather than taking these daily, I use them selectively when I feel my immune system needs an extra boost (like when I feel like I'm coming down with something or a bunch of people around me are sick).
You should keep certain supplements like this in your cabinet the same way you keep Ibuprofen. When you need it, it makes a big difference.
I believe almost everyone should have these 3 categories of supplements on hand, even if they don't take them daily because they are foundational and unlike most supplements, will noticeably improve your quality of life.
What about "nutritional insurance?"
Many experts recommend a multivitamin or greens powder as "nutritional insurance," but my experience has been different.
After years of taking a high-quality multivitamin, I stopped and monitored my comprehensive blood work. I noticed no significant changes in my biomarkers.
Same thing with fish oil and greens powder. I used to take all of these.
Then, I decided to focus more on eating a nutrient-dense diet rather than relying on these (especially because the cost adds up). I now prioritize fruits, vegetables, high-quality meat, and wild fish to get my nutrients naturally and only supplement where I feel I need to.
This approach may change in the future based on new information or changes in my health, but for now, I'm comfortable without these standard "nutritional insurance" products.
Now, let's focus on the second part of my supplementation framework: targeted supplements.
Before we continue...
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Targeted supplements
While the foundational approach addresses our modern-day lifestyle and lowers the risk of common deficiencies, the targeted approach addresses specific health concerns or goals.
This is where personalization becomes crucial.
Because I know myself and my own situation well, the best way I can illustrate this is to describe which targeted supplements I take and why.
This will be different for everyone, so you shouldn't just "steal my stack" although my thought process should give you some ideas on how to approach this for yourself.
Currently, I have 3 main goals for targeted supplementation.
