One of which is the following: “what supplements do you recommend?”

As a first disclaimer: you don’t necessarily need supplements to reach your goals — they just help fill in any gaps that you miss.

This is coming from a guy that owns a fairly new fitness for mental health brand.

Until we grow to provide you with the best products for your fitness and mental health journey, we only are focusing on our pre-workout and sleep supplement.

In the meantime, I’m going to offer you some general recommended products based on what I think is of great quality.

What I consider great quality is the following:

• Great Ingredients. The amount of each ingredient needs to elicit a specific response to your body (based on research).
• Amazing Taste. It can’t be chalky or taste bad.
• Superb Customer Service.Honesty & Integrity are crucial in this space.

So with that, let me show you my recommended supplements from an exercise for depression and anxiety perspective.

Let’s dive in!

Disclaimer: On these links, I’ll either get commission or you will directly support our Fitness for Mental Health brand.

Regardless of whether or not you choose these products, I hope you find products that you like that assist you on your journey. :)

Foundational Supplements

Foundational Supplements are supplements that focus on providing you essential nutrients that we may miss from our specified diets.

Sometimes people don’t get enough healthy fats or enough fruits and vegetables in their diets.

And when dealing with depression and anxiety, we need these to get proper nutrients to manage our health and well-being.

While these don’t replace solid foods, these are great options to have in case you don’t consume nuts, fish, veggies, and more.

Fish Oil (Recommended)

One of the MOST recommended supplements I believe anyone should have when dealing with depression is Fish Oil.

Fish Oil contains an Omega-3 fatty acid known as EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) that has been shown to help with depression. In one meta-analysis, research has shown that having ~1g (1000mg) of EPA in your diet can have a therapeutic effect for those dealing with depression.

You can get a decent amount of EPA from Fish (shown here)

If you don’t consume enough fish or even like fish, consider supplementation with fish oil.

1st Phorm’s Full-Mega is one of my favorite fish oils because of this.

In just TWO capsules, you’ll get 900mg of EPA.

This means if you add a third capsule, you will have an adequate amount of EPA to potentially help alleviate some severity of depression.

With most brands, you would have to take 6–10 fish oils to get the same amount of EPA. This means this is quality fish oil.

In addition to that, you very rarely get that “Fish Burp” that most Fish Oils give you… and that’s definitely a plus!

You can get yours with free shipping here at the 1st Phorm website.

Greens Supplements (Optional)

Greens Supplements are used in case we don’t get an adequate amount of fruits and vegetables in our diets.

While nothing replaces the real thing, it’s better to use a supplement like this if you know you aren’t getting enough fruits and veggies in.

The only downside is that so many of them taste terrible and chalky… and I’m the type of person that can bear the weirdest of food and drink combinations.

But I have found a solution in the Greens that come from 1st Phorm.

In regards to flavor, they’re the more bearable and less chalky greens that I have tasted.

They also taste VERY GOOD if you mix them with some quality protein powder.

The only downside is that they’re blends so you can’t see how much of each individual ingredient is in the blends, but I DO like the fact that there are a ton of ingredients in these blends.

You can get yours with free shipping here at the 1st Phorm website.

I have heard good things about Athletic Greens, and I plan on trying them out in the future.

Magnesium (Recommended)

Magnesium is one of the nutrients that most people in developed countries like the United States are deficient in.

It has been shown to help with blood pressure, quality of sleep, and also has some promising evidence of helping with depression.

If you don’t consume enough nuts and leafy vegetables to get your magnesium in, consider supplementing with it.

In regards to magnesium alone, I like flavored beverages in my life.

So in this case, I would recommend 1st Phorm’s Magnesium powder if you’re looking for a flavored magnesium drink.

You can get yours here with free shipping here at the 1st Phorm website.

Alternatively, if you are looking for a good sleep supplement with magnesium in it, check out the “Sleep Supplement” section in this post!

Vitamin D (Recommended)

Vitamin D is an essential vitamin that helps primarily with immune health, bone health, and improving overall well-being. It’s been shown that supplementation with it can help with heart disease, diabetes, and more.

While most people get some amount of Vitamin D from sun exposure, we sometimes don’t get enough of it — especially when dealing with depression.

We tend to isolate ourselves and stay indoors, which limits our sun exposure.

So if you can’t get sun exposure, I would supplement with Vitamin D to fill that gap.

I really like 1st Phorm’s Liposomal Vitamin D3. It’s easily digestible and also contains Vitamin K.

Vitamin K is a fat-soluble that helps with cardiovascular and bone health and is very difficult to get from a diet alone.

What’s great is that both Vitamin D and K can work together to synergistically benefit each other.

You can get yours here with free shipping on the 1st Phorm website.

I will be trying other Vitamin D products that have other essential nutrients in them in the future!

Performance Supplements

Performance supplements are supplements that are typically used for exercise sessions or for recovery.

These products are all optional.

We included protein here as optional, however I do buy protein powder regularly — I just don’t use it every day. 

When I do use it, I use it for oatmeal, baking, etc.

Pre-Workout (Optional)

Pre-workouts are products that prepare you for your gym sessions.

Catalyst is a mind & body pre-workout supplement that I created for our mental health brand.

Our pre-workout provides you with a combination of Caffeine, L-Citrulline, Beta-Alanine, L-Theanine, and Mucuna Pruriens.

You’ll experience a series of face tingles, focus, and you’ll be ready to crush your workout session.

Those face tingles will FIRE YOU UP, making you get to the gym or immediately jumping into a home workout session filled with ab crunches and push ups.

It’s the perfect product to get someone who wants to go from depressed to the bench press. ;)

You can get yours on Amazon here.

Protein Powder (Recommended)

Protein is an essential macronutrient that some of us dealing with depression and anxiety at times DO NOT get enough of.

And we definitely need more of it as a result of frequent exercise.

Protein is not only used for muscle growth, but to repair our body, help with recovery, help produce our neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin, etc), and prevent muscle loss (especially when we are dieting).

When it comes to protein powder, however, I have a love-hate relationship with it.

There was a time I would gag at drinking some because they were too chalky, so I scoured the internet for the best.

MyProtein and 1st Phorm’s are my favorite.

There are a few recommendations I have based on personal preferences:

• Whey Isolate. Whey Isolate is just straight-up protein with little to no fats or carbohydrates. I like MyProtein’s Impact Whey because I can grab a large amount… and when you mix it in water, it tastes VERY good — ESPECIALLY the Vanilla one. You can get a 100 serving MyProtein bag on Amazon here.
• Whey Meal Replacement Shake.1st Phorm’s Level-1 is a well-rounded and GREAT-tasting meal replacement shake. I love their Blueberry Muffin one. You can get yours with free shipping here.
• Vegan Protein. 1st Phorm’s Vegan Power Pro is the best tasting Vegan protein I’ve had so far. Get yours with free shipping here.

I will be trying more in the future — feel free to throw recommendations in the comments!

Creatine (Optional)

Creatine is rare around these parts in 2022.

I used to be able to get Creatine Monohydrate (the best form) for $20 that would last me more than 3 months, but now it’s been doubled!

Creatine is a very popular product because it is primarily used to aid with exercise performance at the gym. 

Recently, however, Creatine has been shown to have some anti-depressant effects in those dealing with depression.

I like unflavored creatine because you can add it to your flavored post-workout drink, and most of the time, the unflavored ones have more servings.

In this case, I recommend 1st Phorm’s Creatine, which you can get with free shipping here.

Lifestyle Supplements

Lifestyle supplements are those that people will be used based on their personal preferences and circumstances.

At this moment in time, I will only share our sleep supplement as I am trying other supplements in this category (nootropics and adaptogen supplements).

Sleep Supplement (Optional)

Drift is our nootropic sleep powder supplement that we have really focused on formulating to provide you with the best sleep experience.

Our goal with it is the following:

1. Helps you build calmness before bed.We used L-Theanine from Green Tea to help promote calmness before bed.
2. Help you fall asleep quicker.The Melatonin and Lemon Balm help you get a little drowsier before bed.
3. Sleep soundly through the night.Melatonin and Magnesium here help with the quality of sleep.
4. Wake up refreshed and ready for tomorrow’s battle.The L-Glycine works wonders here.

You’ll notice we only have 1mg of melatonin in it and that’s because the other ingredients really get the job done in regards to sleep.

You can get yours on Amazon here.

Nootropics (TBD)

Nootropics are brain boosters that will help with focus, concentration, and more.

I am currently trying many out and will let you know the best ones in the future!

Adaptogens (TBD)

Adaptogens are herbal supplements like Ashwagandha that help with stress and anxiety relief.

I plan on formulating a product with adaptogenic components in the future, but in the meantime, I am trying some out.

I will let you know the best ones in the future!

The List May Change.

I will be adding more supplements to this list in the future, but based on the level of importance, here’s what I recommend:

• Foundational supplements are great to cover missing gaps in nutrients.They should be priority number one (on most occasions).
• Performance supplements help with your gym and recovery sessions. These are optional most of the time, but they’re helpful!
• Lifestyle supplements are those that may benefit you in particular circumstances.These are all optional and circumstantial based on personal preferences.

To conclude, I want to remind you that you don’t NEED supplements.

Supplementation is only that: supplementary to your lifestyle.

Work on your exercise, nutrition, sleep, and stress levels first, and then add supplements over time that help you on your journey. 

This is coming from a guy who owns a brand that sells them.

Consider supplements as that 5–10% amplifier in your lifestyle.

With that being said, if you have any questions about these products, let me know in the comments.

Until next time!

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