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Today, Laura shares her simple yet significant rules for success when it comes to graceful aging, staying fit, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle as an active mom and engaged member of her community. Find out how collagen plays an important role. Keep reading.
Article cross posted on Laura's site, as well, here.
The pressure we put on ourselves as women and mothers, to be “on” all the time, to do all the things and look amazing while we are doing it is just too much.
We need to free ourselves from the shackles of perfectionism and focus on things that truly matter - family, faith, and our total health (mental, physical and emotional). When we lower the incredible standards we’ve set for ourselves, then, and only then, can we truly give our attention to those aforementioned things.
I know your health is important to you. But I also know that your health probably takes a back burner to all the other things you have going on in your life. And if you’re anything like I was when my well-being was on the back burner, on top of your schedule, you probably don’t know where to start when it comes to being in control of your health or even understanding it.
Before I deep dive into one amazing, small change you can make right now and continue each day to start regaining control of your health to feel AND look better (hint: it may have something to do with collagen), I want to mention a couple things that are incredibly important to note when it comes to health habits.
In a fast paced world, you are probably hoping for fast results with anything you do. It’s natural for anyone to desire quick results for anything they are doing. Our brains have been re-wired over the last few decades to need quick, easy and cheap all the time. But those three adjectives don’t describe lifelong health, do they?
Have you ever seen the venn diagram of great, fast, and cheap? Though everyone wants all 3 at once, the reality is you can only choose 2 options at a time, and the results of any 2 option combinations are lackluster. Of the 3, the best pairing is “great and cheap”, but the perceived downfall is that it takes time to achieve. I say perceived because, again, we want everything fast - including results from healthy changes.
With that being said, the reality is you CAN get amazing results from a “great and cheap” combo as long as you understand and change your mindset to that of knowing you’ll see results over a longer period time. (Hence the subtitle “Consistency = Results”.)
That doesn’t mean you have to wait to see results for a year or that you won’t notice positive effects of the changes in your daily health habits right away. It simply means that those goals you’ve set for yourself, the changes in hair, skin and nails, the results that you are promised will happen over time - AS LONG AS YOU STAY CONSISTENT and quit starting over.
I’ll put it to you this way… if you have to “start over” with healthy habits as often as you charge your phone, then you’re not doing yourself any favors. Consistency is your best friend when it comes to your health.
Take our quiz and find which supplements your body is craving.
Does consistency in your healthy habits mean that you have to be perfect and on point all the time?
Absolutely not!
Consistency simply means changes to your small daily habits that you can keep up with over your lifetime. For example, you’re consistent with brushing your teeth daily in order to keep cavities away, gum disease risk at a low, and your teeth looking clean and white. Does that mean you go to the dentist monthly to get a check-up and cleaning to ensure your teeth are “perfect"? No.
All I’m trying to say is you just need to be 2% better than you were yesterday. Make a few small changes everyday that will snowball into big results. Don’t beat yourself up for not being perfect. Don’t feel like you have to start over everyday if you “messed up” the day before. Don’t stress about every little thing when it comes to your health.
Just strive to be a little more consistent, aware and goal oriented than you were the day before.
If Ponce de Leon had known about collagen supplements, maybe he wouldn’t have been so hell-bent on finding the Fountain of Youth.
If you’ve been following me on social media the last few years, then you are probably very familiar with the fact that I take collagen daily. I add it to 12-16oz. water in a shaker cup and drink it on an empty stomach- first thing in the morning. Because of that daily consistency, I’ve seen incredible improvements in my hair growth and hair thickness, skin, nail growth, joint mobility (and less creaking), digestion and more. I also absolutely notice a huge difference when I don’t take it.
In order for you to have the desire to take collagen daily, I think it’s important for you to have a little background on why it’s recommended.
Collagen is a protein found naturally in all animals, including humans. However, by our early-mid twenties, our collagen production slows down significantly. Mother Nature leaves us with less hair growth, earlier signs of aging, and more. There are many different types of collagen, but type 1 is the most abundant in our bodies, and is found everywhere from our cartilage, to our skin, bones, tendons and connective tissues.
This is why it’s so important for us to take a collagen supplement if possible. We need it but we stop producing it naturally.
The two types of collagen on the market are bovine and marine. One is made from cows, the other from fish. Both have amazing overall benefits and I honestly recommend both, with choosing one simply based on your personal preference of source and flavor.
Side note: I get asked a lot, and unfortunately collagen is not vegan friendly.
Remember though that not all supplements are created equal. I’ve tried many brands of both liquid and powdered collagen over the years and I’ve figured out the ones that agree with me and the ones that don’t. Some collagen supplement brands may cause bloating, nausea, breakouts, headaches, etc. if they don’t agree with you or if they are not sourced well. This is the part where I strongly urge you to vet the collagen supplement companies you’re looking at and see which ones are actually providing you with what they are advertising.
My favorite powdered collagen supplement brand is Amandean. It was recommended to me by my naturopathic doctor and has served my body very well. It doesn’t upset my stomach or leave my feeling bloated or gassy. I see many benefits from Amandean Collagen, but my favorite is my rapid hair and nail growth. I constantly have baby hairs flying around the top of my head, but I’m okay with that because I know it means new hair growth!
I also appreciate that Amandean is sourced from grass-fed, pasture raised cows, contains BOTH types 1 & 3 collagen, and on top of that, is gluten free (which is a must for me!).
If you have any questions specifically about collagen, please comment below. I know this subject can be overwhelming and we just don’t have time to research everything on our own! Allow me to be a source of knowledge and guidance for you as you take back control of your health.
Commit to yourself that you will do 2% for yourself today and you’ll stay consistent with your knew choices. Commit to yourself that you’ll drink collagen every morning for the next month to see what an incredible difference such a small change can make to your overall health and I promise you won’t be disappointed!
