Collagen For Weight Loss?
June 29, 2023 Ashley 0 Comments
By now, everyone’s heard about collagen supplements.
And most of us understand why we need collagen. There’s the skin and joint health benefits. The possible weight loss it imparts. It has anti-aging capabilities. Absolutely magical, right? Say less. Add to cart. But, wait…. does it legitimately work the way we think it does? I had been buying buckets of the powder for the past several years – even getting a couple kinds and mixing ’em together like a mad chemist. I’d always chosen the powder over the pills, as I’d read it was more easily absorbed. Now in my mid 30’s, I was leaving no stone unturned. As soon as I heard this anti-aging trend was happening, I went out and bought it all – all the youthing, pro-beauty, skin-illuminating collagen powders. And I plopped scoopsful of them into yogurt, coffee, and whatever other vessel I could use to get it into my body. So… did it work? Well, I did get a little glow with one powder. And I did get a little skin hydration with another. And my hair and nails improved slightly with another. And, of course, my joints felt a little less inflamed meaning I could stay on top of my weight loss workouts better. (Who wants to do a two-a-day when everything’s aching?) I was even able to run a little further for a little longer. So, I kept using it.
Plus, it tasted pretty delicious…
Then it kinda plateaued at an unimpressive level.
So, I did my research. And what I learned was this: yes, our body absolutely needs collagen to operate well. And, yes, we start losing it at an age that’s cruelly unjust. However, it doesn’t work the way we’d like it to. When consumed, our body doesn’t just say, “Oh, great! Collagen, let me go ahead and send this to your face so you can look 25 again and to your joints so you don’t feel like a reanimated corpse this morning!” Not at all. Rather, it hits your stomach – and breaks that collagen down. What a waste, right? Like sending a fresh Ferrari to a chop shop. Granted, when it breaks down, your body can reabsorb the remnants. But there’s no telling whether you’ll get what you wanted out of that to make your own collagen or if it’ll use those building blocks to make other proteins.
So, why was I benefiting from my powders?
(I don’t have this glow now, but keep in mind I wasn’t working full time then either. #variables)
Because these “beauty collagen” powders are never just collagen.
They’ve always got something else in them. The vitamin C makes your skin glow. The hyaluronic acid plumps up your skin. And the biotin helps with hair and nails. Together, all of these things had been generally improving my appearance – but none of these effects were due to “collagen”. And none of them were restoring it. When I found this out, I had feelings as mixed and clumpy as this stuff is if you put it in plain water. I mean it was augmenting my appearance. I did feel slightly better with it. And it did have collagen. But it wasn’t the collagen that was doing anything at all. The collagen had died a horrible death in my stomach upon arrival, ambushed by gastric acid like Sentinelese natives on a missionary.
Okay, so what could restore my collagen?