Fish oils, Greens, Probiotics, Pre-Workouts, Vitamin D, Glutathione, Magnesium, Protein… Choosing a supplement isn’t easy. In fact, it’s harder than ever to know which product should be incorporated into your health and fitness plan. Ironic considering the amount of information at our disposal.

I know some people that spend hundreds of pounds a month on supplements. Supplements to get bigger, stronger or leaner. Supplements to cleanse, detox, nourish and protect. In the vast majority of cases, this is a wholly unnecessary course of action since you can derive most of the nutrition you need simply from eating wholesome food. You can also mitigate many health problems supplements are known to counteract by exercising, quitting smoking, cutting out sugar, carbs, refined grains, whatever the case may be.

Who Needs Supplements?

Supplements do have a place though. When used appropriately they can have healthful benefits, from replenishing the good bacteria in your stomach (probiotics) and detoxifying the body (super greens like chlorophyll, spirulina and chlorella) to promoting a growth in lean muscle tissue (protein). They can also help plug gaps in a person’s diet. For example, if you are vegan you may have a hard time getting enough calcium, iron, zinc and vitamin B12. You’ll also miss out on the primary omega-3 fatty acids from fish, which are associated with heart and brain health.

What’s more, people who fail to get enough sun exposure may struggle mightily to hit the recommended vitamin levels D. After all, it is only found in a small number of foods. This can include people who work nights, always wear long sleeves or those with dark skin. Older adults who don’t spend a lot of time outdoors are also at risk of deficiency.

Speaking of age, it becomes more difficult to absorb vitamin B12 as the years go by! Worrying since B12 deficiencies cause neurological issues ranging from fleeting tingling sensations to more severe symptoms like memory loss. A supplement containing B12 can be a straightforward, not to mention inexpensive, way of mitigating the risk.

There are many other factors which might make a dietary supplement an attractive option. Think about statins as just one example; over 13% of the UK population are on them. But one side-effect of the prescription drug is that it lowers your body’s levels of Coenzyme Q10, a powerful antioxidant used by cells to generate energy. And since, like B12, we produce less CoQ10 as we get older, this can quickly be a problem. A Coenzyme Q10 supplement can help to address this depletion and, in the process, reduce Statin Associated Muscle Symptoms (SAMS).

The list, as you can imagine, goes on. As with any supplement, you should do your own research and, if possible, consult a healthcare professional or nutritionist.

What About an All-in-One Supplement?

Is there such a thing as an all-in-one health supplement? One which contains the recommended daily quota of all the major nutrients?

The short answer is no and that’s a good thing. Who wants to give up real food in favour of blister packs and powders? That sounds almost like a pharmaceutical solution to health rather than an integrated approach encompassing a broad spectrum of foods and habits. That said, there is a supplement which can deliver an unprecedented level of nutrition. It’s called Maximum Vibrance.

Although no single product takes care of all nutritional requirements, Maximum Vibrance can be considered:

• A greens supplement
• A protein supplement
• A plant-based antioxidant
• A probiotic
• A multivitamin
• A multimineral
• A meal replacement
• A digestive support supplement
• An immune support supplement

That’s pretty good going for a single product! Maximum Vibrance manages to achieve this feat by incorporating a large number of concentrated whole foods in its formula – mainly fruits, vegetables, cereal grasses and botanical extracts. In total, there are around 120 ingredients. Obviously it would take some time to list them all but they include organic barley, oat and wheat grass; organic chlorella; moringa leaf; carrot root; raspberry and pear fruit; pea protein; ginkgo biloba; and organic acacia gum fibre.

Various Vitamins, Multiple Minerals

Due to the sheer volume of ingredients in Maximum Vibrance, it is able to feed the body an array of vitamins, minerals, polyphenols and bioactive food substances at levels which closely match the requirements of our ancient Palaeolithic biochemistry. The reasoning is that modern diets do not give us what we need or what our bodies have evolved to expect.

This is why a single serving of Maximum Vibrance delivers over 100% of our daily vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D3, vitamin E, vitamins B1/B2/B5/B6/B12 and selenium. One serving also delivers 100% of your daily chromium, 80% of your daily vitamin K, 70% of your daily iodine and 50% of your daily iron. In total, 26 vitamins and minerals are present in the formula. And unlike many supplement companies, Vibrant Health’s policy is Full Disclosure Labelling: no proprietary blends whatsoever.

Since many of the aforementioned nutrients help to bolster immunity, Maximum Vibrance can be considered an excellent supplement for healthy people as well as those battling more serious conditions. Other ingredients have been specifically selected to support the liver and skeletal system, while adaptogens used in Chinese medicine are thought to assist the body in coping with stress.

Protein and Probiotics

Most protein powders are just that – protein powders. They might help with muscle recovery but they could also spike blood sugar levels due to the presence of maltodextrin, which is highly common. Indeed, most protein powders are highly processed and loaded with garbage.

Maximum Vibrance delivers a meal’s worth of plant protein – 20g – from clean sources, a combination of yellow pea, sprouted brown rice, chlorella and spirulina. It also delivers 25 billion probiotics from 12 different strains, including well-researched strains like Lactobacillus Acidophilus (2.5 billion) and Lactobacillus Plantarum (2.5 billion).

With so much interest in gut health these days, it’s easy to see the benefit of replenishing the good bacteria in your stomach to the tune of 25 billion each day. And this is especially important if you’ve recently blasted your resident bacteria – both good and bad – with a powerful antibiotic. Probiotics, as we all know, help to repopulate your compromised gastrointestinal bacteria. If your gut’s in bad shape, you’re not healthy.

Incidentally, Maximum Vibrance should be kept in the freezer or fridge to preserve the live bacteria.

A True Superfood Shake

Maximum Vibrance comes in two flavours, Chocolate Chunk and Vanilla Creme. It can be mixed with water or almond milk to make a delicious pick-me-up. Add one scoop if craving a snack or two for a full meal replacement. Whether you’re seeking to enhance energy or preserve vitality, it does a tremendous job.

The only essential nutrients missing from Vibrant Health’s formula are essential fats – most notably omega-3s. This is because technology has not yet developed a suitable and stable form of powdered omega-3s. When that time comes, they’ll doubtless be added to a future formulation. Incidentally, you can meet your omega-3 needs with a good quality fish oil or, if you’re vegetarian, with flaxseed oil.

Want to streamline your supplement game? You can pick up a 30-day supply of Maximum Vibrance from Water for Health, the official UK supplier. Alternatively, pick up a box of 10 sachets to see if the powder’s right for you.

Have you ever tried Maximum Vibrance before?