If you’ve spent any time on social media the past year or two you have probably noticed the huge collagen trend that started small but quickly exploded in the world of all things health.

It seems like every wellness blogger on Instagram has created some type of concoction using it, but is this for good reason?

It boasts incredible benefits like glowing skin, long hair, a healthier gut, and joint/muscle pain relief. But again, is the hype for good reason?

I would argue, YES! 

I have been taking this supplement for the past two years, before it was popular amongst Instagram bloggers, and before I really knew much about it. When I first started taking it, it was because I was largely struggling with my immune system and had heard of it via online forum.

I don’t take a lot of supplements daily, just because food tends to help my body more, but collagen is one that I do take every morning without fail.

Are you looking to take collagen but don’t want to take it blindly? Here I’ll answer some of the basic questions I have gotten regarding the super supplement.

What is collagen?

Collagen is essentially what holds your body together! It’s the fiber in connective tissue that holds everything in place. It’s kind of like cement, except it helps you move, not stay in place -ha!

Collagen is something that is produced by special skin cells we have that produce small molecules using vitamin C and protein that it gets through our diets. These molecules are called procollagen and after they are made, latch onto other ones forming fibrils.

Ok- no more science!

Essentially as we get older, the less our bodies produce collagen, which you can see in thinning hair, easy breakage of bones, weak nails, etc. Because of this decrease, it can be important, depending on your body, to take a collagen supplement.

What are the benefits of collagen?

Collagen helps our bodies by supporting our hair, skin, and nail growth as well as increasing our joint and bone strength. Because collagen supports these things it creates a healthier inflammatory response when you exercise. This in turn also aids your guilt health which affects a crazy amount of things, one including your quality of sleep.

Does collagen have a taste? What is the texture?

I have never had an issue with adding collagen to anything because it has absolutely no taste, whereas most supplements have strong tastes! It’s one of my favorite things about supplement actually and is part of what has made it so easy to incorporate into my diet.

Texture wise it’s the same! There really isn’t a change in texture when you add it to something unless you blend it with a liquid like I do with matcha. When you blend it with a hot liquid, it becomes a bit frothy, which I actually enjoy!

How has collagen personally helped you?

Before I incorporated collagen peptides into my diet I had terribly weak nails and hair that was constantly breaking. A few months into taking it I noticed a crazy change in both my nails and hair: both were strong for the first time in a long time!

My nails used to break all the time, and now they are long and strong. The only downside I will say is now when I get a manicure, it grows out after 2 weeks. I used to be able to go so long with a gel because they barely grew, but now they grow too fast!

Another huge change I saw was in my gut health. I fully believe that collagen is what helped heal my gut. I’ll be doing a more lengthy post on how I healed my gut naturally in the future, but this is one of the items that helped a lot. Collagen helps re-build your stomach lining which is something that took about a year for me!

How do you take your collagen?

I take my collagen every morning in my post-workout smoothie. It’s super easy and something I just add along with my protein powder. On days that I can’t workout or chose to rest I put it in my afternoon matcha, coffee, or tea. I placed a recipe at the bottom for my favorite kind of matcha latte where you will see the collagen used!

Which brand of vital proteins would you recommend?

I have always used Vital Proteins. I love their brand and what they stand for, and I fully believe you can’t get a better quality! I love to claim the fact that I used them before they became famous in the blogger community, ha.

Here are the links to my favs:

Which types of collagen peptides do you take?

I switch it up between a few different types from vital proteins. They have different types you can choose from, with full confidence that they are coming from a great place.

I usually switch between Marine collagen and collagen peptides. I do this to make sure my body does not become used to either, which can even lead to a food intolerance! Marine collagen comes from fish while peptides come from cows. I usually do two days with peptides and one day with marine because peptides have 20 grams of protein while marine only has 12!

Aside from that, they are basically the same nutritionally!

How can I take collagen if I don’t make drinks like coffee, matcha, or smoothies?

You can incorporate it into your food! I always bake it into things like bread, brownies, cookies, and muffins when I am baking. You can’t taste it and it is a great way to sneak it into the diets of the ones you love that might be too stubborn to take it.

Here is a recipe for my favorite way to incorporate collagen!

Matcha Latte Ft. Collagen

INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS – for cold

  1. Pour water and almond milk into a blender and blend on high with collagen, matcha, coconut butter, cinnamon, and ashwagandha for about 1-2 minutes, until smooth and frothy.

  2. Pour mixture from blender into cup + add ice. Enjoy!

INSTRUCTIONS – for hot

  1. Pour boiling water and almond milk into a blender and blend on high with collagen, matcha, coconut butter, cinnamon, and ashwagandha for about 1-2 minutes, until smooth and frothy.

  2. Pour mixture from blender into mug. Enjoy!

I hope this post helped you understand nootropics a little bit better. As always, reach out with any questions, comments, etc. You can send me an email here or shoot me a DM on Instagram.

xx Linds

P.S. This blog post is part of a series on different wellness trends, you can check out All About Adaptogens, All About Nootropics, and All About CBD Oil.