The BUILD Phase
Feed the cell. Everything else is downstream.
The Chemistry dimension has three phases: BUILD what the body needs, SUPPORT what is struggling, and CLEANSE what has accumulated. These phases are sequenced, not separate — and the sequence matters.
You cannot CLEANSE effectively if your body does not have the nutrients to run its detoxification systems. You cannot SUPPORT a struggling organ system if the foundational nutrients are missing. Every advanced protocol depends on a body that has the raw materials to do the work.
BUILD is the foundation. It is also where most patients see the most dramatic changes the fastest — because most chronic symptoms in modern life are downstream of foundational nutrient deficiency that has gone unrecognized for years.
This page is the practical guide to the BUILD phase: the foundational nutrients, the dietary framework, the hydration principles, and the supplement selection criteria that make the rest of the Chemistry work possible.
The Chemistry dimension's BUILD phase rests on three pillars:
The five compounds almost everyone in modern life is short on
What you actually eat day to day
Clean water in the right amounts
If you address only these three things — well — you will be in a different body within ninety days. Everything else in the Chemistry dimension builds from here.
Before targeting any single nutrient, the most foundational supplement decision most adults will make is a quality multivitamin. A well-formulated multi provides modest doses of the dozens of vitamins and minerals the body needs every day, catching what diet alone often misses. It is the broad foundation. The five targeted nutrients that follow get individual attention at therapeutic doses because they are the most commonly deficient — but the multivitamin is the foundation that covers everything else.
A note on whole-food forms. Wherever possible, look for a multivitamin built on a whole-food base — where the nutrients are derived from or paired with concentrated food extracts (organic fruits, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, fermented foods) rather than synthesized in isolation. Whole-food-based multivitamins provide not just the named nutrients on the label but also the phytonutrients, polyphenols, enzymes, and trace compounds that naturally accompany them in food.
This matters for two reasons. First, the body absorbs and utilizes nutrients more efficiently when the co-factors that come with them in nature are present. Second — and more importantly — there are thousands of compounds in whole foods that science has not yet identified or named. With a synthetic isolated nutrient, you get only what was put in the bottle. With a whole-food-derived multivitamin, you get what we know about plus some of what we don't yet know about. The humility built into a whole-food approach is itself part of the medicine.
The real foundation, of course, is the whole-food diet itself (see Pillar 2 below). No multivitamin substitutes for actually eating real food — but a quality whole-food-based multi supports what your diet provides rather than working against it.
Take a quality multivitamin with a meal containing fat, since several of the vitamins (A, D, E, K) are fat-soluble.
Even with a quality multivitamin in place, these five nutrients typically need to be supplemented at higher doses than any multi provides — because they are the ones I find depleted in the majority of patients walking into my clinic, across age groups, diets, and demographics. They are not the only nutrients that matter. They are the ones most commonly missing at the levels the body actually needs.
The single most important supplement decision most adults will make.
Vitamin D is not really a vitamin — it is a hormone with receptors in nearly every tissue in the body. It regulates immune function, bone health, mood, cardiovascular health, and gene expression. Low vitamin D is associated with autoimmune disease, depression, cancer risk, infection susceptibility, and chronic inflammation.
Vitamin D dosing should be guided by your 25-OH vitamin D level. Optimal range is generally 50-80 ng/mL. Adults with deficient starting levels often need significantly higher doses than the RDA suggests, under practitioner guidance.
The mineral most adults are deficient in, even on a clean diet.
Magnesium is a cofactor in over 600 enzymatic reactions in the body. It is essential for energy production, nervous system regulation, muscle function, sleep quality, blood sugar regulation, and detoxification. Modern soil depletion plus high intake of processed food means that even people eating well are often deficient.
Serum magnesium is unreliable. RBC magnesium reflects cellular status more accurately.
Essential for energy, mood, neurological function, and methylation.
B12 is required for red blood cell production, neurological function, DNA synthesis, and the methylation reactions that support detoxification and neurotransmitter production. Deficiency is common — especially in people over 50, vegetarians, vegans, those on metformin or acid-blocking medications, and anyone with gut absorption issues.
Often paired with methylfolate (5-MTHF) for full methylation support. Sublingual or injection forms are useful for patients with absorption issues.
Serum B12 misses functional deficiency. Pair with MMA (methylmalonic acid) or homocysteine to assess whether B12 is actually being used at the cellular level.
The anti-inflammatory foundation.
Omega-3 fatty acids (specifically EPA and DHA) are structural components of every cell membrane and the precursors to anti-inflammatory signaling molecules. The modern diet provides far too much omega-6 (from seed oils) and far too little omega-3, creating a chronic pro-inflammatory state that drives nearly every chronic disease.
The Omega-3 Index (a blood test) measures the percentage of EPA + DHA in red blood cell membranes. Optimal is above 8 percent. Most Americans test in the 2-4 percent range.
The most underrecognized deficiency in conventional medicine.
Iron is required for hemoglobin (oxygen transport), energy production, thyroid function, immune function, and neurotransmitter production. Functional iron deficiency — where ferritin is low but conventional anemia markers are still "in range" — is widespread and undertreated. It drives fatigue, hair loss, mood symptoms, restless legs, and exercise intolerance.
Iron is the only foundational nutrient on this list that you should not supplement without testing first. Iron overload is also possible and harmful, especially in men and post-menopausal women.
Ferritin is the most useful single marker. Functional iron deficiency exists below ferritin of about 50 ng/mL even when hemoglobin is normal. A full iron panel (ferritin, serum iron, TIBC, transferrin saturation) gives the complete picture.
What you eat becomes what you are made of.
Most of what you put in your mouth should have either walked, swam, or grown. This is the simplest framework for evaluating a meal:
If most of what you eat fits one of these categories, you are doing well — regardless of which specific diet you follow.
The biggest gains in dietary work usually come from removing the worst inputs rather than adding the best:
The medium every cell lives in.
The basic guideline: half your body weight in ounces of clean water daily. A 150-pound person needs roughly 75 ounces (about 2.2 liters). Adjust upward for hot weather, exercise, sweating, or higher-protein diets.
Tap water in most regions contains chlorine, fluoride, heavy metals, pharmaceutical residues, PFAS, and other compounds you do not want to drink chronically. See the Environmental Recommendations page for the full guide to water filtration. Briefly:
Plain water alone, in large quantities, can deplete electrolytes — especially for patients who sweat heavily, exercise, eat low-carb, or have adrenal issues. Adding small amounts of high-quality salt (Redmond, Celtic, Himalayan) or a clean electrolyte product to your water can be useful.
Once you know what nutrients you need, the next question is which products to buy. The supplement market is enormous, largely unregulated, and full of products that are either ineffective or contaminated.
USP Verified, NSF Certified, ConsumerLab tested. These are independent verifications of purity and potency.
The manufacturer follows Good Manufacturing Practices quality standards.
Every ingredient disclosed at full dose, no "proprietary blends" that hide what you're actually getting.
Avoid magnesium stearate, titanium dioxide, artificial colors, sweeteners.
Two general approaches:
Retail supplement brands — available at health food stores, online retailers, sometimes amazon. Quality varies widely. Stick to brands with strong third-party testing and clean ingredient profiles.
Practitioner-grade brands — typically available only through licensed healthcare practitioners or through platforms like Fullscript, Wellevate, or Emerson Ecologics. Generally higher quality and stronger third-party testing standards. Examples include Designs for Health, Thorne, Orthomolecular, Quicksilver Scientific, and Standard Process.
This is the area where practitioner guidance matters most. A few general principles I follow:
Start with foundational nutrients before targeted ones. Get your D, magnesium, B12, omega-3, and iron status right before layering in more specific supplements.
Test before dosing when possible. Especially for vitamin D, B12, iron, and other measurable nutrients. Generic dosing leaves significant value on the table.
Dose to response, then retest. Most patients should retest key nutrients at 3-6 months to confirm replenishment, then again at 12 months to confirm maintenance.
Less is often more. Many patients walk into my clinic on twenty supplements that are not working. A focused, smaller stack — built on accurate testing — almost always outperforms a larger generic protocol.
Take fat-soluble nutrients with fat-containing meals. Vitamin D, K, A, E.
Take iron and calcium separately from each other and from coffee/tea. Absorption competition is real.
Magnesium, glycine, and other calming nutrients are usually best at night. B vitamins and CoQ10 are usually best in the morning.
The BUILD phase is foundational, but it is not the whole picture. You should continue maintaining the BUILD pillars indefinitely — but at some point, you will be ready to move into SUPPORT (Chemistry Pillars 4-9), where the work targets specific organ systems and physiology that need attention beyond the foundations.
The SUPPORT phase is covered in detail in Chapters 9 and 10 of the book. Specific protocols and recommendations will be added to this site as they develop.
Medical Disclaimer: The information provided on this page is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with a qualified healthcare practitioner before making changes to your supplement or nutrition protocol. Dr. James Macie is a Doctor of Chiropractic (DC), not a medical doctor (MD), and this content does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. Individual results may vary, and supplement recommendations should be tailored to your specific health status and needs through appropriate testing and professional guidance.