Collagen & Protein Powder I’m Loving Right Now

I recently mentioned on social media that I was adding collagen to my coffee every morning in order to get collagen into my diet more often. Quickly people asked me what collagen I was using and why. So I thought I would throw all that information into a blog post for you and let you know what I’ve been using lately and the benefits I’ve been seeing! Here’s the thing – I’ve known for quite a while that I’ve needed to get more collagen in my diet, mostly because all my smart friends were doing it. And they told me all the benefits of collagen but the only things I really heard were that it grows your hair and nails, and helps with cellulite and tightening the elasticity of the skin. One of my girlfriends who is 10 years older than me and is super hippy always pushed me to add it into my diet, and she rarely pushes any of her hippy beliefs, so I finally did it. I sure as hell want longer hair, nails, and less wrinkles, so why not?! And it’s been super easy to add in!

But first, let’s just chat about some of the benefits of collagen because it’s pretty rad!

• It enhances your skin by restoring the skin’s moisture, improving the elasticity, tone and vibrance  and therefore reducing wrinkles!
• It reduces cellulite and prevents stretch marks!
• It helps your hair and nails grow, naturally!
• It supports healthy teeth and gums!
• It balances your hormones!
• It supports bone and joint health by preventing bone loss and relieving joint pain!
• It helps improve and repair muscle tissue and helps with inflammation and recovery!
• It aids digestion and can help repair leaky gut!
• It improves sleep quality!
• And a bunch of other sh*t that surpasses my understanding of the body

So it obviously does a ton of cool stuff! And it’s easy to add into drinks or shakes and is often unflavored so you don’t even notice it! What I’ve been doing recently is adding 1-2 tablespoons of it into my daily life, simply adding 1 tablespoon to my coffee (thank you to the reader who recommended that!) and 1 tablespoon to something else later on in the day! Every morning I wake up, I make my cup of coffee then add 1 tablespoon of collagen with my splash of heavy cream and some stevia extract and you can’t even tell it’s in your coffee!!

I’ve been using two different kinds of collagen lately and enjoy both of them so I usually switch between the two of them!

• Vital Proteins Pasture-Raised, Grass-Fed Collagen Peptides
• Great Lakes Gelatin, Collagen Hydrolysate, Pasture-Raised Grass-Fed

Vital Proteins is an awesome brand that has a bunch of different collagen products, but I seem to like this product the most. The only thing that I’ve noticed is that I taste more of a “beefy” flavor/aftertaste to it when I add it to anything. So I usually add this one to protein shake or anything that has a more intense flavor and will cover up this one.

Great Lakes is what I use in my coffee every day because it doesn’t seem to have any weird flavor or aftertaste for me. I think it tastes like nothing so it’s a great additive for coffee every morning!

Benefits I’ve seen so far from collagen – I think noticing benefits can sometimes be difficult. Honestly, I’ve been a lot less sore lately BUT I’ve also been doing less CrossFit and more boot camp style classes like Orange Theory, so I’m not sure if it has to do with that. My nails have DEFINITELY grown faster. But those are the only benefits I’ve seen so far after adding in collagen daily for over a month. Even though those are the only benefits I’ve seen, I think of collagen as a long-term thing, just like working out or eating healthy. I may not see the benefits right away, but I will long-term so I just stick with it.

The other thing I get questions about all.the.time is protein powder. Here are my thoughts on protein powder:

1. You can eat real food and get the same benefits without the sugar
2. You’ll stay fuller longer if you’re eating real food compared to having a shake
3. Shakes should be used for days that workouts are extremely intense – and not every day is super intense
4. I do not believe in shakes being a meal replacement, and if it is, it shouldn’t be very often

These are simply MY beliefs. I used to train WAY harder when I competed in CrossFit. So when I look at my workouts now compared to what they used to be, I don’t see myself always needing a shake to help me recover right away so I can workout later in the day. What I’ve noticed is I almost get slightly addicted to them. It will be the only thing I think about in my workout. And that’s probably caused by the sugar. And then once I drink them, I’m hungry within 30 minutes of consuming it, which seems to defeat the purpose in my opinion. So for post workout – I just eat real food. I eat breakfast or lunch or dinner, or I just have a food-snack. But on days I feel like treating myself or if I did a workout that made me feel like I couldn’t function afterwards, I’ll have a shake. You can see a ton of my favorite shake recipes here!

Below are the two different whey protein powders I prefer to use:

• Primal Kitchen Primal Whey Fuel Protein Powder – Chocolate Coconut
• Primal Kitchen Primal Whey Fuel Protein Powder – Vanilla Coconut

Both of these protein powders are delicious, sweetened naturally, only have a few ingredients, are gluten free, and they don’t upset my stomach! I probably make a shake once or twice a week since I consider it a treat. And when I make those shakes, I add in frozen bananas, ground chia seed, flaxseed meal, and collagen – to make sure I’m getting the most bang for my buck!

Let me know if you have any questions in the comment section below and I’ll answer them the best I can! Hope this helps you with figuring out your own diet and needs!

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