What Supplements Should I Take? A Clear Guide to Foundational vs Accessory Supplements
How to Build a Smarter Supplement Strategy
Walk into any supplement store—or scroll social media for five minutes—and you’ll see the same message on repeat:
“This is the one supplement you need.”
“Boost energy instantly.”
“Fix your hormones naturally.”
It’s no wonder people end up frustrated, with cabinets full of half-empty bottles and no real results to show for it.
Here’s the truth: supplements can make a huge difference—but only when used strategically.
Most people don’t need more supplements.
They need to understand where they fit into the bigger picture.
At Proactive Health, we break them into two categories:
👉 Foundational supplements that support your body’s core health systems.
👉 Accessory supplements that fine-tune and optimize specific goals.
And understanding the difference is what separates real results from expensive guesswork.
Foundational Supplements: Your Health Base Layer
Your foundational supplements are the building blocks—the nutrients your body depends on every single day to function properly.
They’re not trendy or exciting, but they’re the reason everything else works better.
Think of your body like a house:
The foundation keeps it stable.
The walls and roof can only stand if the base is strong.
That’s what foundational supplements do—they fill nutritional gaps, regulate metabolism, and help your system stay resilient to stress, training, and daily life.
Here’s what that typically looks like:
Magnesium:
If there’s one nutrient that deserves more attention, it’s magnesium.
Magnesium is involved in over 300 enzymatic and metabolic reactions in the body — some researchers estimate closer to 600 processes, including energy production, DNA synthesis, protein formation, and nerve function.
Put simply: your body cannot function properly without it.
Magnesium plays a role in nearly every system in the body, including:
Energy production (ATP synthesis) – every cell depends on magnesium to convert food into usable energy (Saris et al., 2000).
Muscle relaxation and recovery – it helps regulate calcium and potassium movement across muscle membranes, preventing cramps and tightness (DiNicolantonio et al., 2018).
Nervous system regulation – magnesium calms the sympathetic nervous system (“fight-or-flight”) and promotes deep, restorative sleep (Abbasi et al., 2012).
Blood sugar and insulin control – it improves glucose metabolism and reduces insulin resistance (Barbagallo & Dominguez, 2015).
Cardiovascular health – magnesium supports healthy blood pressure, vascular tone, and rhythm (Zhang et al., 2016).
Despite being essential, magnesium deficiency is one of the most common nutrient gaps worldwide.
It’s estimated that 70–80% of adults fall below optimal intake levels (DiNicolantonio et al., 2018; Rosanoff et al., 2012).
Why?
Because modern life drains magnesium faster than ever.
Stress burns through magnesium as your body manages cortisol and adrenaline.
Exercise increases magnesium losses through sweat.
Coffee, alcohol, and sugar all deplete magnesium stores.
Modern agriculture has reduced soil magnesium content, meaning even whole foods contain less than they used to (Gröber et al., 2015).
Over time, low magnesium levels can manifest as:
Fatigue and poor recovery
Headaches or migraines
Muscle cramps and stiffness
Insomnia or restless sleep
PMS or hormonal swings
High blood pressure
Anxiety or irritability
Blood sugar swings and metabolic dysfunction
In fact, long-term deficiency is associated with chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis (Barbagallo & Dominguez, 2015; DiNicolantonio et al., 2018).
That’s why magnesium is one of the first foundational supplements we evaluate with clients—it impacts everything from cellular energy to recovery, metabolism, and nervous system balance.
👉 What to Look For:
Opt for highly absorbable forms such as magnesium glycinate, malate, citrate, or threonate (for brain and cognitive benefits).
👉 When to Take It:
Magnesium can be taken anytime, but many people find it helpful in the evening to promote muscle relaxation, calm the nervous system, and improve sleep quality.
👉 How Much To Take:
Generally we recommend between 400-600mg daily depending on body size.
When you restore magnesium balance, you’re not just reducing cramps or tension—you’re rebuilding one of the most essential foundations of metabolic health, recovery, and long-term resilience.
Our Pick for Magnesium:
High-Quality Multivitamin
If you’ve ever wondered whether taking a multivitamin actually does anything, you’re not alone.
Here’s the truth: a well-formulated multivitamin isn’t about “insurance”—it’s about filling nutritional gaps that modern diets and lifestyles almost always create.
Even the most health-conscious people rarely meet optimal micronutrient intake through food alone. Research shows that over 90% of Americans don’t get adequate levels of key vitamins and minerals from diet (Ames, 2018; Bird et al., 2017).
That’s because our food system has changed dramatically. Modern agriculture, soil depletion, and food processing have all reduced the nutrient density of even healthy foods. For example, magnesium, zinc, selenium, and iron levels in produce have dropped by up to 50% over the past 50 years (Mayer, 1997; Davis et al., 2004).
A high-quality multivitamin supports:
Cellular energy production – key B-vitamins and minerals act as cofactors in the metabolic processes that turn food into energy (Kennedy, 2016).
Hormone and neurotransmitter balance – nutrients like zinc, selenium, iodine, and B6/B12 are essential for thyroid and brain health.
Immune resilience – vitamins A, C, D, and zinc support immune cell activation and antioxidant defense.
Healthy inflammation control – nutrients like vitamin E, selenium, and manganese neutralize oxidative stress that drives chronic inflammation.
A multivitamin isn’t meant to replace food—it’s designed to amplify the benefits of eating well by ensuring your body has what it needs to function optimally every day.
The Problem With Most Multivitamins
Not all supplements are created equal. Many store-bought multivitamins are underdosed, poorly absorbed, or include synthetic forms that your body can’t properly use.
When choosing a multivitamin, look for:
✅ Methylated B vitamins (B12 as methylcobalamin and folate as 5-MTHF) — critical for those with MTHFR gene variants and better utilized by the body (Zhou et al., 2012).
✅ Chelated minerals (like magnesium glycinate, zinc citrate, or selenium glycinate) for superior absorption.
✅ No copper or iron unless indicated by lab testing—these can contribute to oxidative stress if not needed.
✅ Clean formulations — free from artificial colors, titanium dioxide, or unnecessary fillers.
We recommend professional-grade products with transparent ingredient sourcing and third-party testing for purity and potency.
What to Expect When You Optimize Micronutrients
When your cells finally get the nutrients they need, subtle but powerful changes start to happen:
More consistent energy throughout the day
Improved mood and focus
Stronger immunity and faster recovery
Healthier hair, skin, and nails
Better stress tolerance and sleep quality
These shifts may sound small—but collectively, they represent a massive improvement in how your body functions at the cellular level.
That’s the foundation of health: ensuring every system in your body has what it needs to perform.
What to Look For (Summary)
👉 Choose: A methylated, chelated multivitamin with full-spectrum minerals
👉 Avoid: Generic “one-a-day” tablets or formulas using oxide/sulfate forms
👉 Timing: Take with food to maximize absorption and reduce nausea
👉 Dosage: Once or twice daily, depending on your product and lifestyle demands
Our Pick For Multivitamins:
Omega-3 Fatty Acids (EPA + DHA)
If magnesium is the quiet workhorse of metabolism, Omega-3s are the architects of recovery and resilience.
Omega-3 fatty acids—primarily EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid)—are essential fats your body can’t make on its own. That means you have to get them from your diet or supplementation.
And yet… studies show that most adults are deficient, especially those following a standard Western diet (Stark et al., 2016).
Why Omega-3s Matter So Much
Omega-3s are structural components of your cell membranes, especially in the brain, eyes, and heart. They don’t just reduce inflammation—they help your body resolve it.
This matters because inflammation is part of every process in your body—from muscle recovery to immune response, to how your brain functions and even how your joints feel.
When Omega-3 intake is low, chronic inflammation tends to rise, creating an internal environment where injury, pain, fatigue, and poor recovery become more likely.
The benefits of Omega-3s are wide-ranging and well-documented:
Reduces inflammation: Omega-3s help your body turn off chronic inflammatory pathways (Calder, 2017).
Supports cardiovascular health: Lower triglycerides, improve cholesterol ratios, and help maintain flexible arteries (Mozaffarian & Wu, 2011).
Enhances brain and nervous system function: DHA is critical for neuronal health, memory, and focus (Gómez-Pinilla, 2008).
Improves joint comfort and mobility: By reducing pro-inflammatory cytokines, Omega-3s help ease stiffness and soreness (Goldberg & Katz, 2007).
Supports athletic recovery: EPA and DHA reduce muscle soreness and accelerate recovery post-training (Jouris et al., 2011).
Why Most People Are Deficient
The modern American diet is extremely imbalanced in Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratios—somewhere between 10:1 and 25:1, when the ideal range should be closer to 2:1 or 3:1 (Simopoulos, 2016).
That imbalance drives inflammation and slows recovery, especially for active adults or athletes who train hard and stress their systems frequently.
Common reasons for deficiency include:
Low seafood intake (less than 2 servings of cold-water fish per week)
High consumption of seed oils (corn, soy, safflower, sunflower)
Poor conversion of plant-based ALA (from flax, chia, or walnuts) into EPA/DHA
Overtraining and metabolic stress increasing demand
What to Look For in a Supplement
👉 Dose: Aim for 1,500–3,000 mg combined EPA + DHA daily for general health and recovery, or higher (up to 4,000 mg) under professional guidance for inflammation or chronic pain.
👉 Source: Wild-caught cold-water fish like anchovy, sardine, or mackerel provide superior nutrient density.
👉 Vegan Alternatives: Algae-based DHA/EPA oils are excellent plant-based options that still deliver clinical efficacy (Lane et al., 2014).
👉 Storage & Shipping: Omega-3 oils are highly susceptible to oxidation—meaning they can go rancid when exposed to heat, air, or light.
Always:
Buy from reputable companies that cold-ship or store in climate-controlled facilities.
Avoid products sitting on warm retail shelves or in clear bottles.
Keep your bottle refrigerated once opened to preserve freshness.
If your fish oil smells “fishy” or tastes off—it’s already oxidized.
Rancid fish oil not only loses its anti-inflammatory benefits—it can actually create inflammation through oxidative stress.
Our Pick for Omega 3 Fatty Acids:
Designs for Health OmegAvail Omega
When to Take It
Omega-3s can be taken any time of day, ideally with food that contains fat to enhance absorption.
Many people find it helpful to split their dose—half in the morning, half in the evening—to minimize any “fishy” aftertaste.
The Takeaway
If you’re serious about recovery, focus, and long-term health, Omega-3s are one of the most impactful foundational supplements you can take.
They don’t just fight inflammation—they help your body regulate it, giving you the ability to recover faster, perform better, and support longevity from the inside out.
When combined with magnesium and a high-quality multivitamin, Omega-3s create a strong metabolic and anti-inflammatory foundation that sets the stage for optimization and accessory supplements later on.
From Foundational to Accessory: Building on the Basics
Once your foundation is in place—your nutrient gaps are filled, your magnesium levels are restored, and your inflammation is under control—that’s when accessory supplements actually start working the way they should.
Here’s why that matters:
Accessory supplements are designed to optimize—not compensate.
They fine-tune specific systems like hormones, metabolism, stress resilience, and cognitive performance.
But if your foundational systems (energy production, nutrient sufficiency, recovery) aren’t already supported, those advanced supplements often do little more than mask the real problem.
Think of it this way:
Foundational supplements build the engine.
Accessory supplements tune the engine for performance.
Now that your base is strong, let’s look at how accessory supplements can help you go from feeling better → to performing at your best.
Accessory Supplements: The Personalization Phase
Once your foundation is strong—your nutrient levels are repleted, your magnesium stores are restored, and inflammation is under control—then (and only then) does it make sense to explore accessory supplements.
These are the tools that go beyond “health basics.” They’re designed to fine-tune how your body performs—helping you adapt to stress, think sharper, recover faster, or balance hormones more efficiently.
But here’s the thing most people get wrong:
Accessory supplements are not one-size-fits-all.
They work best when they’re matched to your biology—your lifestyle, your lab results, your stress patterns, your sleep, and your recovery capacity.
Without that context, even the most promising supplement can miss the mark—or worse, throw your system further out of balance.
That’s why accessory supplements are best introduced intentionally and progressively.
Here’s a simple framework for how to think about it:
Stabilize before you optimize.
Make sure you’ve mastered sleep, nutrition, movement, and stress management first. Supplements should complement your habits, not compensate for them.
Add one variable at a time.
When you add three new things at once, you’ll never know what’s working—or what’s not. Start small, measure, adjust.
Test, don’t guess.
Whether it’s hormone balance, gut health, or inflammation markers, functional lab testing can show you what your body truly needs (and what it doesn’t).
Think of supplements as strategy, not substitution.
They’re tools to fill gaps, not crutches to lean on forever.
Ultimately, the best supplement plan isn’t about how many products you take—it’s about precision.
When used the right way, accessory supplements can amplify recovery, mental clarity, and long-term vitality.
When used the wrong way, they can drain your wallet and cloud your progress.
Need Help Personalizing Your Health Strategy?
You don’t need another supplement—what you need is a plan.
If you've been unsure where to start or are looking for help optimizing your health strategy, our Functional Medicine Consultation is the best place to start.
During your consultation, we’ll:
✅ Review your entire health and medical history.
✅ Assess key lifestyle and nutrition factors impacting your energy, stress, and recovery
✅ Create a personalized roadmap for where to focus next—based on data, not guesswork
Because when it comes to optimization, precision matters.
👉 Let us help you make your supplement strategy actually work for you?