The SUPPORT Phase
Tune the system that is struggling. Build the foundation that runs underneath.
The Chemistry dimension has three phases: BUILD what the body needs, SUPPORT what is struggling, and CLEANSE what has accumulated. These phases work together — and the order matters.
BUILD comes first. Foundational nutrients — a quality multivitamin, vitamin D, magnesium, B12, omega-3s — keep every cell in the body supplied with the raw materials it needs. These never go away. They run underneath everything else you do.
SUPPORT comes next, when it's needed. Once the foundation is in place, you turn to the specific system that is struggling — the weak link the Systems Symptom Assessment has identified — and add targeted nutrients to help it function and repair.
CLEANSE comes when the body is ready. Cleansing protocols depend on a body that has both the foundational nutrients (BUILD) and the system capacity (SUPPORT) to actually move toxins out. Cleansing without that foundation is at best ineffective and at worst harmful. See the Cleanse Resources page for the framework.
This page is the practical guide to the SUPPORT phase: the principles, the six systems and their support nutrients, the rotational protocol, and the dosing framework that make targeted system work safe and effective.
Before picking nutrients, identify which kind of person you are right now. After thirty-six years of clinical practice, I find almost everyone lands in one of three places.
You have multiple weak links — three or more systems lighting up on the assessment. You've likely already been handed a diagnosis or two. You've been through the barrage: specialist after specialist, lab after lab, often with very little to show for it.
If that's you, I am going to be direct: work with a trained functional medicine practitioner or a 3D integrative healthcare professional. Not because you can't understand this — you clearly can, or you wouldn't be reading this page — but because untangling several interacting systems at once is genuinely hard, and you deserve a guide. What this page (and the book) gives you is the map and the language to be a far better partner in that work.
You have weak links in one or two categories. This is the sweet spot for the work that follows. For most people here, the protocol below is a great place to begin building your personalized nutritional blueprint — adding targeted supplements for your weak system as you explore your own body and strengthen its capacity to heal.
You're in pretty good shape. Maybe a single weak link, maybe just a scattering of minor symptoms spread thinly across several systems. For you, I recommend the rotational protocol — described below.
A few principles hold no matter which group you're in.
Nearly every other system in the body is downstream of the GI system. Strengthen the soil before you fuss over any single plant.
Never more. Working too many at once muddies the water. Begin with the gut and, at most, your single weakest link.
Everything in this section sits on top of your BUILD-phase foundational nutrients. Support nutrients tune the systems; foundational nutrients keep building healthy cells. Both, always.
Most system support requires a minimum of six to twelve weeks before you can fairly evaluate whether it's helping. Stay the course.
What follows is the support layer — the targeted nutrients for each system, organized so you can build from them. Start with the gut. Add, at most, your weakest link.
The gut is the foundation underneath every other system. Seventy percent of immune function lives here. Most hormones are activated or cleared here. Most nutrients are absorbed here. Most neurotransmitters are produced here. Almost nothing else can be optimized until the gut is functional.
Digestive enzymes / HCl / bitters: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Gut lining repair: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Probiotics: (Foundational/Maintenance) Option 1 →Option 2 →
SIBO and Dysbiosis Support: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Prebiotic & fiber: Option 1 →Option 2 →
The mitochondria are the energy producers of every cell — and the brain is one of the most energy-hungry organs in the body. When mitochondria struggle, fatigue, brain fog, and metabolic slowdown follow.
The foundation carries a lot of the load here. Magnesium, B vitamins, and omega-3s (all in your BUILD-phase foundational nutrients) feed the mitochondria directly. For some patients, the foundation is enough.
CoQ10 / ubiquinol: Option 1 →Option 2 →
NAD precursors: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Mito Reboot Combo: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Acetyl-L-carnitine: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Glucose Support: Option 1 →Option 2 →
The cardiovascular system has two layers worth supporting separately: the heart muscle itself, and the vascular lining (endothelium) that runs through every organ in the body.
Foundation first — magnesium, omega-3s, and B vitamins are central to cardiovascular health. Stay on them.
This system also responds powerfully to behavior: aerobic exercise (with medical clearance), regular blood pressure monitoring, and stress management belong here as much as any supplement.
Cardiovascular foundation: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Nattokinase: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Nitric Support: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Endothelial support (diosmin, rhamnan sulfate, collagen): Option 1 →Option 2 →
Antioxidants (quercetin, resveratrol): Option 1 →Option 2 →
Hormones respond last — after stress, sleep, and gut are addressed, and the BUILD-phase foundations (omega-3s, magnesium, vitamin D) are in place. Trying to support hormones while the upstream systems are still struggling is one of the most common frustrations I see in patients. Address the foundation first.
Thyroid — thyroid glandulars, selenium (for converting T4 to active T3), and iodine.
One caution: in autoimmune thyroid conditions like Hashimoto's, high-dose iodine can worsen the autoimmune attack. Dose based on testing, ideally with a practitioner.
Estrogen balance and clearance — calcium D-glucarate, DIM and sulforaphane, lignans, and fiber. This ties directly back to the estrobolome in the gut — meaning hormone work and gut work are connected.
Adrenals — whole-food vitamin C (the adrenals burn through it under stress), adrenal glandulars, ashwagandha, and phosphatidylserine (especially for the nighttime cortisol that wrecks sleep).
Across all hormone systems — low-dose DHEA can help as a precursor to many downstream hormones, but only if testing confirms it's low, and ideally under supervision. DHEA is a hormone, not a vitamin. Test, don't guess.
Thyroid support: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Estrogen metabolism / clearance: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Adrenal support: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Adaptogens (ashwagandha and similar): Option 1 →Option 2 →
DHEA (only if testing indicates): Option 1 →Option 2 →
Start, again, with the gut. The immune system is largely a gut story — and addressing the gut alone resolves more immune issues than any single immune-targeted supplement.
The foundations are non-negotiable — vitamin D, vitamin C (a whole-food complex with bioflavonoids), and zinc. Most adults are short on at least one.
These cases need a trained professional and a start-low, go-slow approach, favoring immune-modulating rather than immune-stimulating nutrients — beta-glucans, andrographis, specific medicinal mushrooms, and the emerging polysaccharide / nutritional-sugar category (fucose, mannose, arabinogalactan).
And remember: the upstream drivers — gut barrier, chronic infection, food triggers, toxin load, sleep, stress — matter as much as any supplement.
Whole-food vitamin C complex: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Zinc: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Quercetin: Option 1 →Option 2 →
EGCG / green tea extract: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Beta-glucans / immune modulators: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Medicinal mushrooms: Option 1 →Option 2 →
This system is half chemistry, half motion — and the two only work together. The chemistry side prepares the body to respond to load; the motion side delivers the load that drives adaptation. Skipping either half wastes the other.
Motion side: load-bearing, resistance-based movement — the Structure work from the Three Dimensions framework. Start earlier than you think you need to. Bone and muscle quality decline silently for years before symptoms appear.
Protein (whey): Option 1 →Option 2 →
Collagen: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Joint support: Option 1 →Option 2 →
Bone-specific support (if needed): Option 1 →Option 2 →
Creatine: Option 1 →Option 2 →
If you landed in the maintenance category, here's how the rotation works.
It begins like every other protocol — gut first — with one difference: rather than camping on a single weak link, you rotate through the systems. You spend a stretch on one system, swapping in its basic supportive nutrients, then rotate to the next, and the next — all while staying on your foundational nutrients underneath, continuing to build healthy cells the whole way around.
A typical rotation might look like:
What I've noticed, again and again, is that each person quietly finds their own rhythm — a handful of nutrients their body seems to ask for most. Over time, that becomes their personalized rotation, and it shifts with their life: their current lifestyle, their current stresses, the current balance of their three dimensions. That's not a flaw in the plan. That is the plan. You're learning to read your own body.
I wish I had a clean, one-line answer for dosing. I don't — and anyone who gives you one is overselling.
Here's the honest version:
Use high-quality supplements from a reputable company — one with a trained science team and real clinical experience behind it. The dose on the label is, most of the time, a perfectly good place to start. Do your due diligence on the company. That single decision solves much of the dosing question before it's even asked.
Expect to adjust. Because we are all so different, each person tends to settle into their own best dose as they work through the 3D Healing protocol — and even that number keeps moving, because it depends on the current balance of your three dimensions, your lifestyle challenges, and the response-ability of your own cells and systems: their capacity, right now, to repair.
The SUPPORT phase is where many patients should consider professional guidance — particularly:
For guidance on finding a practitioner who can support you through this work, see the Practitioner Interview Guide.
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.