benefits of collagen

I’ve recently been posting about collagen on snapchat and instagram stories – I add it to my coffee every morning, or put it in smoothies and have gotten alot of questions about the benefits of collagen, or why it’s a part of my daily routine! So today I’m going to attempt to answer ALL of your questions about collagen and why I am SO obsessed with it! (Be prepared for a lengthy post!)

Benefits of collagen (I sourced alot of this info from the vital proteins website, which is where I get my collagen!):

Collagen is the vital building block of our bodies including skin, hair, nails, bones, and joints. Our bodies cannot synthesize enough collagen on their own and our diets today contain minimal collagen. Collagen is responsible for giving skin elasticity, hair its strength, and connective tissue its ability to hold everything in place. The collagen protein makes up 30% of the total protein in the body, and 70% of the protein in the skin! The body’s natural collagen production declines with age and many modern lifestyle factors (like stress, poor diet, gut health imbalances, etc.) can also decrease the body’s ability to make it.

When you supplement your diet with collagen products/vitamins/supplements…you will experience SO many benefits. I’ve been taking collage for about a month and have noticed a huge improvement in the health of my hair, skin, and nails. I’ve even noticed my lower lashes seem longer! My hair feels stronger/healthier, my nails have grown faster, and my skin definitely has more of a youthful and healthy glow to it.

Other benefits of collagen:

Improves Health of Skin and Hair.
Reduces Joint Pains and Degeneration.
Helps Heal Leaky Gut.
Boosts Metabolism, Muscle Mass and Energy Output.
Strengthens Nails, Hair and Teeth.
Improves Liver Health.
Protects Cardiovascular Health.

Basically sign me up for ALL of those things! Collagen is seriously magic.

How to take collagen

There are tons of different options you can choose from for collagen. Personally, vital proteins is my favorite because they are natural, minimally processed, and clean (they only have 1 simple ingredient).

I add one scoop of this powder to my coffee every morning. It dissolves right into the coffee and I can hardly taste it at all. I also love this vanilla collagen peptides for adding to smoothies. Sometimes I’ll blend it with greek yogurt, chia seeds, blueberries, almond milk, ice, and almond butter for a really yummy smoothie, loaded with protein. (Which, is another benefit of collagen! Each serving of the collagen peptides has 18 grams of protein!)

So basically, one scoop of this magic a day and you’re preventing (and even decreasing) wrinkles, helping your hair and nails grow stronger and faster, improving gut health, helping in joint health (which leads to a shorter recovery time between workouts), and giving your skin a healthy glow…kind of a no brainer! Just make sure whatever collagen you decide to get, check the ingredients! There are alot of collagen products out there filled with tons of fillers…which you don’t want!

Other collagen products I love

Vital proteins also makes a marine collagen for any of you pescatarians out there, or if you can’t have meat products. I also love the collagen whey protein for post workouts! TONS of protein and makes a really yummy smoothie. Lastly, the collagen veggie blend is a great way to get in your fruits and veggies in one smoothie! One serving has 3 servings of veggies and 1 serving of fruit!

Outfit details: printed swing dress | tassel earrings | monogram mug | knotted sandals

Hope that knowing the MANY benefits of collagen encourages you to start trying it yourself! If you start taking collagen, I’d give it at least 2 or 3 weeks to let yourself see the results! It doesn’t happen overnight. If you’ve already been taking collagen for a while…I’d love to know some of your favorite supplements or ways to add it to your day!

Thanks for reading!

xo Lauren

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