Do You Really Need That Supplement?
A reflection on fear-based wellness, placebo progress, and the questions worth asking before you spend another dollar.
A few weeks ago, I would’ve told you I had a dialed-in health routine.
I was taking twelve supplements a day. Morning and night. Half the names I couldn’t pronounce.
It felt responsible. Optimized. Like I was “doing the work.”
But recording this episode with Dr. Scheherazade did something I didn’t expect; it made me look at the whole thing with honest eyes. And once I did, it stopped looking like wellness… and started looking like insecurity disguised as discipline.
🎥 Watch this week’s YouTube segment: Are Supplements a Scam?
🎧 Full episode is on Spotify.
The Questions We Should All Be Asking Before Taking Anything
Most people don’t take supplements because they’re deficient. They take them because they’re unsure.
Unsure why they feel tired. Unsure if they’re doing enough. Unsure if everyone else knows something they don’t.
The supplement industry thrives on that uncertainty. Dr. Scheherazade said fear-mongering is part of the business model.
After recording with her, I took some time to sit with everything we talked about. What came out of it was a simple filter… one I wish I had five years ago when I started stacking twelve supplements a day.
1. Am I actually deficient?
Not “I heard vitamin D is good.”
Not “this influencer takes magnesium.”
Not “my friend feels great on it.”
Do I have a blood test or medical diagnosis showing I need it?
Because according to Dr. Scheherazade, that’s the only reliable reason most people should be supplementing in the first place.
2. Why do I really want to take this?
Is it based on my body or someone else’s? And within that, am I seeing things as they are, or am I seeing things as worse than they are?
This is the part where it would require us to sit with the fact that we can’t see ourselves from the outside and my actions may be driven by my skewed perception of what I look like. I’m referring to how we body-shame ourselves.
For me, my stack came from a guy who was fitter than me. He sent me a list of 15 supplements that he took. I picked 10 of them since 10 felt more “reasonable” than 15.
It felt logical and scientific. It was actually insecurity.
3. Who’s influencing this decision?
When we reflect on the original source that has us wanting to take a vitamin, supplement, etc, who is that person?
Are they a doctor? Was it a medical study? Was there a deficiency test that indicated that I need this?
Or was it an Instagram ad or a YouTuber with great lighting and an affiliate link?
4. Is this coming from fear?
If it is true that the supplement industry uses fear mongering to target our pockets, what fear strings are they most pulling on?
Fear of aging? Fear of falling behind? Fear that I’m not enough unless I optimize harder than the next person?
Fear might be the most profitable ingredient in the wellness world.
And every time I’ve made decisions from fear, I’ve paid for it - physically, financially, emotionally.
What Happened When I Asked Myself Those Questions
After filming the episode, I spread out my entire supplement stack on the counter.
Bottles everywhere. Powders. Capsules in little labeled trays.
It looked less like health… and more like a shrine to “I need to fix myself.”
So I started from zero. I asked: What does my body actually need to function, grow, and feel good?
For me, the list wasn’t long:
Protein - for strength, recovery, metabolism
Creatine - one of the most studied, effective supplements out there
Mental clarity - which comes more from sleep than “nootropics” (though I did start taking Alpha Brain instead of coffee for this)
Rest - real rest, not the productivity-version of rest, though occasional melatonin is supportive
Anything that didn’t directly support those pillars got cut.
Twelve supplements dropped to less than a handful. And nothing about my life has gotten worse. If anything, it feels cleaner. Lighter. More grounded.
Even better, I don’t feel like my health depends on a shopping cart anymore.
The Part That Stuck With Me Most
There was a moment in the episode where I asked, half-joking, half-serious:
Brian: “So you’re telling me the whole supplement game is one big marketing scam?”
Dr. Schehrezade: “Yeah… absolutely.”
It was funny, but it wasn’t a joke.
Not because all supplements are bad - they’re not. But because the way we use them is often backwards.
We try to supplement our way out of lifestyle habits, insecurity, and fear. We look for magic pills to solve problems that require honest reflection. And we spend money to feel in control, even when we’re not.
The real question this episode brings forward is simple:
Am I doing this because it truly makes me better… or am I just paying for expensive urine?
That question applies to a lot more than supplements. If you haven’t watched the segment yet, it’s worth the six minutes.
You’ll see why it changed the way I approach health, and maybe it’ll do the same for you.
🎥 Watch “Are Supplements a Scam?” on YouTube
🎧 Hear the full episode on Spotify
More soon,
— Brian