← The Thyroid (and Hormone) Fixer Podcast: Thyropause, Menopause, Metabolism and How to Fix It
The Thyroid (and Hormone) Fixer Podcast: Thyropause, Menopause, Metabolism and How to Fix It
655. The Collagen Lie: Why Your $30 Scoop Isn't Working (And the 3 Peptides That Actually Do
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The five types from five sources Marketing trap is real. Every multi collagen tub on Amazon brags about 3, 5, 10 types of different collagens. Chicken, eggshell, whatever. And here's the truth. The type and the source don't matter if the peptides aren't optimized to signal the right cells and to do that specific job they're supposed to do. I just want to say thank you. The fact that you're here means that you have trusted me with something. So, Val, these days, your time, and I do not take that lightly at all. So if you're listening because you're exhausted, you're gaining weight for no reason, losing your hair, getting really frustrated, or you've been told that everything looks normal when you know deep down something isn't right, I want you to know that I see you. I've been where you are. And that's exactly why I created this podcast. My mission is super simple, to give you the information, the hope, and the tools that I wish someone had given me years ago. So my goal is you get to stop wondering what's wrong with your body and finally start getting your life back. So if these episodes have helped you at all, would you do me one small favor? Take just a few seconds to follow the show, the little button in the upper corner, and then leave a review. Every follow and every review helps this podcast reach another person who's lying there awake at night, wondering why they don't even recognize themselves anymore when they look in the mirror wondering what's happened to this amazing, energized, full of life person they used to be. You're helping them. And not only that, when you follow the show, you'll be notified about the hottest episodes everyone is listening to and everyone's downloading along with any bonus episodes I drop throughout the month. Think of it as your insider pass. So thank you for letting me be part of your journey and thank you for your time. Now, let's get into today's episode. If you're over 40, which many of you are, and managing a thyroid or hormone issue, you know this feeling you're doing everything right. But your energy is low, your strength might be slipping at the gym, the scale definitely won't move, and you've hit just this wall you just can't push through. So that was me. And what finally changed wasn't another energy drink. It was starting essential amino acids. So here's the simple version. These are nine building blocks that your body can't make on its own. They're what protein Breaks down into, except your body absorbs them almost every instantly so no heavy digestion required. They go straight to work, feeding your muscle, building your muscle, supporting your metabolism and that's what we all need. So since I started taking them every day, sometimes two, three times a day, I've noticed better energy, faster recovery, muscle building, yes. At the age of 52, alongside my hormones, way more consistency in my workouts and I genuinely feel leaner and stronger. I really do. I have more muscle now than I had in my 20s when I was competing in bodybuilding competitions. More muscle now because I'm feeding it the right way. So even on rest days, especially when I'm eating maybe a little bit less, I still take them to stay on track. The brand I choose and have been using now for four years is Kion. They are sugar free, non GMO vegan, easy to digest and they taste amazing. That's why I put them in my water all day long. So if you're trying to lose fat without losing muscle, if you're on a glp, you better, you had better, better be taking these every single day. So you want to go to get Keon.com thyroid for 20% off. That's G K I O N.com T H Y R O I D forward SL thyroid for 20% off. Get the mango, get the berry. They're just all good. They're all good. You will love it. So if you're scooping collagen into your coffee every morning, thinking, wow, this is the answer to my skin and my joints and my hair, my muscles, I'm about to ruin your day. But then I'm going to fix it. So no worries. We're going to go over today a couple different questions. First of all, what collagen actually does inside of your body and why it basically breaks down and collapses as you age. Why 90% of the collagen on the shelf in the store is essentially expensive protein powder and the three bioactive collagen peptides that have real peer reviewed human clinical data and why they are the only ones I would ever put my name on. So, you know, most of you know, I'm, I'm a functional medicine provider, I'm a thyroid hormone expert. So my patient base is women 35 and up dealing with thyroid dysfunction, perimenopause, menopause and everything that comes with that. The dry skin, the joint pain, the hair loss, the muscle loss, the I don't feel like me anymore kind of feeling. Now collagen, how it plays a role in that Patient base for all of us. Ladies, Collagen matters more for us because thyroid hormone and estrogen literally regulate how much collagen that you make. Estrogen is a building block for collagen and elastin, and if those are off, then you are losing collagen twice as fast. So stick with me, because by the end, you will never buy the wrong collagen again. I'm all about saving you money. All right, so collagen 101. Let's talk about that. It is the most abundant protein in your body. Almost 30% of all of your protein in your body amino acids, is collagen. So I want you to think of it as the scaffolding. It's in your skin, your bones, your nails, your cartilage, your tendons, your ligaments, your blood vessels, your gut lining, even the connective tissue around your muscles contain and are made up of this scaffolding, this matrix, this collagen matrix. Now, it is collagen is made of amino acid, so it's glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline. It's those three that are braided into a triple helix. And then that braid is what gives your tissues the strength and stretch at the same time. So think about your skin as it's aging. You know, when you start to kind of play around with it in the mirror, and it seems like it's, like, loosening up? Well, think of it as that helix, that matrix all tied together. And as it starts to loosen and unravel, it can't hold your skin tight. So that's where you start to get the laxity and the wrinkles. So collagen is like the. You know when you're watching someone build a home or poor driveway, and they have the rebar underneath, and then they put the concrete on top of it. But that rebar is the scaffolding. So that rebar is the collagen, basically inside the concrete of your body. So if you take out that rebar, then everything is going to sag and crack and break, because that's essentially what's keeping the concrete set and stable so it doesn't just collapse. And now you have a big, giant hole that sucks in a bunch of cars. That's like your skin wrinkling. As we age, it's like we have these big divots in our face, I. E. Deep wrinkles and lines. And that's where our rebar is starting to break down and everything is folding inward. Now, there are three types of collagen. You probably have seen this on the collagen containers, right. There's type 1, type 2, and type 3. What does this mean for you? It's important for you to know the different types of collagen as well, especially if you are a consumer purchasing collagen and hoping for actual real results. And isn't that the only reason why we purchase products of any kind is that we want to be spending our money wisely and we actually want the results that are promised? Yeah. So type 1, about 90 of the collagen in your body. Skin, bones, tendons, ligaments, teeth. That's type one collagen. Type two is over half the dry weight of your cartilage. So it's the joint cushion. So we really think more of type 2 collagen as that lubrication of our joints. And for helping joint pain, type 2 isn't going to do anything for your skin. Type 3 is the elasticity type. So this is even beyond skin elasticity. This is blood vessels, your gut, your uterus. So it works side by side with type one in that young, bouncy skin, but it's also working on our gut lining, our blood vessels for elasticity and overall health of our, of our circulatory system. So then you're going to see labels bragging about type 5 and type 10. So type V and type X. So type 5 and type 10, these exist in trace amounts. They're on the label for marketing. They have no clinical impact, no body impact whatsoever. So you don't need more types of collagen. You need the right peptides at the right dose that actually signal your cells to do something. So we start losing our collagen. Get this, ladies, in our mid-20s. In our mid-20s. So that's when collagen production starts declining. You lose roughly 1% per year after that. So if you're like me at the age 52, okay, so let's go by 25. So I have lost 27% of my own collagen production. So women lose up to 30% of their skin collagen in the first five years of menopause. So you're losing it at 1% per year in your mid-20s. But once you hit menopause now, it is becoming more rapid. And ladies, this is why, and I've talked about this in past episodes, you can look in the mirror and say, how did I just age five years in the last week, or overnight, for that matter? It's like you look at your face in the mirror and you're like, I didn't look this way yesterday. It's that rapid decline, that rapid loss of collagen in our skin that makes it so noticeable. After age 60, everyone experiences a significant drop in collagen quality, not just quantity. So now, okay, we have menopause hit. Boom. Collagen is dropping hard. We crest the age of 60. Now, the quality of our collagen is declining along with the quantity. Now, how does the thyroid tie in? So this is where I go deep, because nobody else is talking about it. T3 directly stimulates fibroblasts to make collagen. So the fibroblasts in your skin to make collagen. So if your free T3 is low, or if you're on T4 only and you're not converting well, then your collagen is literally at half. At half capacity, you are running on half power. If your thyroid's in the toilet, it doesn't matter what age you are. You don't have to hit menopause to have a deep, steep decline in your collagen. And this is why even thyroid patients in their 30s, 40s will say, why is my skin so dry? Why does it look like I'm aging fast? I'm aging quickly. That is that drastic loss of collagen and the non stimulation of the fibroblast to make more because your T3 is low and or you're on crappy T4 only, which we say over and over again on the show. Doesn't work, doesn't work, doesn't work. I want to drive that point home in your head as often as I can, no matter what the topic is that I'm talking about. If the thyroid ties into it, I am going to state over and over and over again, if you are on Levo or Synthroid, you will never, ever, ever, ever, ever get optimized and you will age quickly. Okay, now estrogen is the other big regulator. We talk about this all the time. Estrogen is that building block for collagen and elastin. So when estrogen tanks in perimenopause and in menopause, then that collagen synthesis gets pulled down with it. So now picture this. You're 50 years old. 45, 50, you're in perimenopause, maybe walking your way into menopause, or maybe you're in full blown menopause. Oh, and you have a thyroid problem that you're not addressing properly. You will age so rapidly, there's no amount of lasers or topicals. And I have two anti aging unfiltered beauty podcasts. Where I talk about everything top to bottom, topical, internal laser surgery, the whole deal. You can go back and find those episodes, but the bottom line is, none of that matters. If you're not addressing your declining hormones and you're not addressing your in the toilet crap tastic thyroid, it's not going to matter at all. Estrogen is that building block. So if you feel like you are older than what you actually are, that you look older than you actually are, then I want you to think about what are you doing internally to address your hormones and your thyroid. Are you saying, oh, I'm just going to age gracefully? Well, it's not too graceful when you look 80 and you're 50. I would rather look like Dr. Lindsay Berkson, who's been doing hormones since her 30s, basically when she went through breast cancer. I just showed her picture to a person today, and she's like 74 years old and looks 52. That's my goal. I don't know about yours. I don't know any woman that's like, you know what my goal is? That by the time I'm 55, I want to look like I'm, like, 75. Now, you can achieve that goal by ignoring your hormones and your thyroid all day long, as you're learning in this episode. But bear with me. I know. Tangent, tangent time. So just like we said, if you're a thyroid patient and you're in perimenopause, you're getting that double whammy, you're getting the double hit, and that's just not cool. But there are things that we can do about it. Obviously, you can address your thyroid, you can address your hormones, and you can add in the right types of collagen so what that decline actually looks like. So you might see the fine lines, you might see creepiness, that creepy texture, you might see more sagging. Yes, you're losing the laxity or you're losing that tightness. You're getting more laxity in your facial muscles, which are starting to droop down. But so is the fat, because it doesn't have the matrix. It doesn't have that rebar to hold it up. Then that tissue paper look on the backs of your hands and on your chest. That's from lack of collagen, hair and nails thinning, brittle, rigid nails that split joints, achy knees, stiff hips. And that first thing in the morning where you have to, like, kind of shuffle your way to the bathroom because your knees and your ankles and your feet and everything and your hips aren't Quite working sarcopenia, or the loss of muscle. You are losing lean muscle every year after the age of 30 unless you actively, actively fight it. And less muscle means slower metabolism, more fat storage, less strength and less protection of your bones because we now know that muscle is our organ of longevity. You cannot age well if you don't have muscle. And you will lose muscle without collagen. Your gut, we said this earlier. Thinning of the intestinal lining, more permeability and more inflammation. You know, so many of you are dropping all this cash on these gut healing protocols and gut testing and then you won't even take some damn collagen to improve your gut lining. Did you know that collagen and by the way, berberine, which is in blood sugar fixer, are two vital, vital components of a gut healing protocol. You really don't need big time expensive bundled packages of gut healing supplements, right? You don't need to drink cases of bone broth. Add some collagen to increase that intestinal lining to prevent permeability or I. E. Leaky gut. When we say permeability, we mean leaky gut. When we say inflammation, we mean leaky gut that creates this systemic full body inflammatory response recovery. Are you noticing your workouts that used to take a day to recover from, now take three. And then there's the beloved cellulite, not just fat. So what is cellulite? It's the collagen scaffold in the dermis, breaking down and letting fat push through. So again, if you think of a, like a mesh fabric, right, where it has those little squares that if you put something like, I don't know, silly putty, butter, whatever, on the back end of that mesh and pushed it, the fat or the butter would start popping through the little holes. That's what cellulite is. It's the breakdown of your collagen matrix, allowing the fat to push through and dimple, essentially. Okay, so let's talk about why not all collagen is created equal and why buying the collagen at Walgreens or Costco might not be a great idea. So we're going to talk about hydrolyzed collagen versus bioactive collagen peptides. So regular hydrolyzed collagen or collagen peptides on a label means one thing, they took the collagen. And what I mean by collagen peptides is just not the bioactive kind. You might just see on the label collagen peptides or hydrolyzed collagen. That's it. So that means they took the collagen, they chopped it up with enzymes and put whatever came out of that chopping up into the tub. And then the result is a random mix of peptide sizes with no consistency and no targeted action. So there's a big difference here. Bioactive Collagen peptides, or BCPs, are completely and totally different. These are engineered so the manufacturer controls the exact enzymatic cut so that you get specific peptide fragrance. Let me say that again. The manufacturer controls the exact enzymatic cut so you get specific peptide fragments of a specific molecular weight and a specific amino acid sequence. So why does this matter? What does that mean? These specific fragments are chosen because they signal specific cells to do specific things. So it's like targeted therapy. We know that this bioactive collagen peptide will signal the fibroblast in the skin to make more collagen to improve fine lines and wrinkles and plump those up and decrease the appearance of cellulite. That's what I mean. Chondrocytes in your cartilage. We know that this type of bioactive collagen peptide will signal the chondrocytes in your cartilage to make more lubrication so your joints don't hurt. So it's these specific fragments that have specific jobs to do. It's not a. A spray and pray. It's not a. Let's dub all these collagen fragments into a tub and hope and pray that the person buying this notices. I don't know. Something. No. These BCPs, these bioactive collagen peptides are specific signalers to do a job. Just like again, you wouldn't send a plumber to build a house and wire the electricity in your new house. You send the plumber to do a specific job, do the plumbing in the house, and then I'm going to get electrician to do the electricity in the house and I'm going to do a contractor to build the framing of the house. Each one has a specific job and we shouldn't really cross over because if we cross over, we're not going to get good work. Generic collagen is. It's kind of like a. When you send out a text blast to everyone in your contacts where bioactive collagen peptides are a direct message to the person that you want to receive that message. So maybe that analogy lands for you. The five types from five sources Marketing trap is real. Every multi collagen tub on Amazon brags about 3, 5, 10 types of different collagens. Chicken, eggshell, whatever. And here's the truth. The type and the source don't matter if the peptides aren't optimized to signal the right cells and to do that specific job they're supposed to do. So a random type 2 collagen dumped into a blend does not equal a clinically studied targeted type 2 peptide. Like for gel. It's just essential. It's just protein. You're just throwing protein in there. You're not throwing a targeted peptide into that tub. So most multi collagen powders are commonly hydrolysate with a fancy label and a big markup, basically. So the three questions to ask about any collagen that you're about to buy. Number one, does the label have a specific trademarked named bioactive peptide? Look for names like Verisol, Body Balance, Tendo Forte. If it just says hydrolyzed collagen or collagen peptides, that's a huge red flag. You are wasting your money. Just throw it down the tubes. Because in fact, it's not even counting to your total protein intake because you'll say, well, at least I'm getting in. Protein. Collagen is not a complete protein. Remember we said earlier it only has three or four amino acids. So it's not a complete protein. It really is made up of glycine, proline and hydroxyproline. So essentially three amino acids. You're not getting the valine and the leucine needed for muscles. So it's not a complete protein. You really can't count it. You can count a couple grams of it, but if you're taking a chibi chibi collagen that's just hydrolyzed collagen, then you literally are just wasting your money. Question number two, is the dose in the product the same dose used in human clinical studies? Because a peptide that works at 5 grams does nothing at 500 milligrams. And fairy dusting is real in the supplement world and we see it all the time. And then question three, are there published peer reviewed studies on humans, not just cell cultures, not just rats. Can you actually look up these studies on PubMed? If the answer to even one of these is no, then you are paying for cheap protein powder with a label slapped on it for marketing purposes. That's what you're doing. And it's not even protein powder because it's not a complete protein. Let's address the you eat collagen and it becomes collagen myth. So people think if they eat collagen, it magically deposits in their skin that's not how digestion works. So whatever you eat is broken down. So the question isn't whether you're eating collagen. The question is whether the peptides of that collagen that you are ingesting survive digestion, get absorbed intact into the bloodstream and then act as signaling molecules like they should, telling your body to build more collagen in the right place. That is exactly what bioactive collagen peptides are engineered to do. Everything else is just an amino acid supplement pretending to be more. And it's not even the complete amino acid profile that we need. So let's talk about some really important, intriguing, fascinating bioactive collagen peptides that have all the science to back them. Yes, the human studies, the clinical data, the PubMed studies, Therasol, my favorite skin nails, cellulite. What it targets is the fibroblast in the dermis of the skin, the cells that build your skin's collagen and elastin. Now Verisol peptides will get absorbed intact and they will signal fibroblast to ramp up production of pro collagen, elastin and fibrillin, the three proteins that give that young skin it's bounce, it's snap backedness, the smoothness, you know, the springiness of young skin, that plump, youthful look that is Verisol. That is the bioactive collagen peptide. Now it doesn't add collagen to your skin. There's no collagen out there that adds collagen to your skin. It tells your skin to make more of its own, make more of its own. And that's where you get the plumping and the cellulite reduction. So what is the data? One study published in 2014 in Skin Pharmacology and Physiology used 114 women ages 45 to 65 right in that sweet spot of where y' all are at. They took 2.5 grams of Verisol per day for eight weeks. Their eye wrinkle volume dropped by 20% versus placebo. Pro collagen type 1 in the skin went up by 65%. Elastin went up by 8%. And here's the kicker. The effect was still present four weeks after they stopped taking it. A moisturizer can't do that. That's tissue level change. That is mindblowing numbers. Mindblowing another study in 2017, the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology, Women with brittle nail syndrome, which is a real thing. It's also tied to hypothyroidism of course took 2.5 grams of verosol for 24 weeks. Nail growth went up by 12%. Cracked, chipped and peeling nails went down by 42%. And 64% had clear global clinical improvement of this brittle nail syndrome, 64%. Over half additional Verisol studies have shown reductions in cellulite in normal weight and moderately overweight women because of the buildup of that matrix. So this is the peptide that my thyroid and perimenopause and menopause patients feel first because it's the one that you see in the mirror. After just eight weeks, two months of consistent use, you can see a noticeable difference in your fine lines, your wrinkles and your cellulite. Now, you pair this with appropriate optimal levels of T3 because T3 also boosts fibroblast activity. You stack that with Verisol, boosting fibroblast activity together. That's the one, two punch that nobody else is teaching, that nobody else is doing. This is your, I don't know. This is your secret weapon in your back pocket. You get your thyroid optimized, you have optimal levels of T3 and you add in Verisol. Oh my goodness, you'd be looking younger and younger by the day. Your neighbors will be jealous of you. Now let's talk about body balance, muscle metabolism and body composition. It targets skeletal muscle protein synthesis and fat mass reduction. So here's how it works. Body balance is heavy in glycine, proline and arginine, so three other non essential amino acids that stimulate anabolic pathways in muscle through a different mechanism than just ways or branch chain amino acids. Whey protein works through lucine and the MTOR pathway. Body balance works through a complimentary pathway, meaning you can stack them. And body balance actually outperformed whey protein head to head in the studies. Now, most of you know that I'm not a huge fan of whey protein because it will spike insulin. So any type of animal based protein, I prefer a beef isolate protein stacked with body balance or stacked with our Collagen Protein Fixer 2.0, which has Verisol and body balance in it, is the absolute most amazing combination. Because of this and the changes in your body composition are real. So data. One study published in I can't even say the journal's name, I J E RPH in 2021 used men aged 30 to 60 who did resistance training three times a week and took 15 grams of body balance per day versus a group of men that only took whey protein and another group that was just Placebo only. So the body balance group had significantly greater increases in fat free mass, so I. E. Muscle versus the placebo. Significantly greater decrease in fat mass versus the placebo and the effects were more pronounced than the way group. So let that sit in. The collagen peptides outperform the whey protein for body composition. An earlier study in older men with sarcopenia muscle loss using 15 grams a day plus resistance training significantly improved muscle mass and strength. So this is really one of the only supplements with real sarcopenia reversal data. So why is this important? Because as we age, we lose muscle after the age of 40, both men and women are going to lose muscle with every passing year. And then we add on the big C. So sarcopenia is most noted in elderly populations because as we see, we get older. You can see, you can look at grandma, you see her getting more thin and frail. That loss of muscle is real. If you look at your I, I have, Sorry, dad, you have no butt. If you look at your dad, he's got no butt, right? He's got his jeans on and there's nothing there. There's nothing there anymore. Loss of muscle, HIV patients, cancer. Sarcopeni is huge. They should be using double the amount of Collagen Protein Fixer 2.0 every single day because it has body balance in it. But this is why I am obsessed with collagen for women over 40. You're fighting sarcopenia, you're fighting the thyroid driven metabolic slowdown and the estrogen loss all at the same time. So body balance literally shifts body composition. More muscle, less fat. And it did it in better than whey studies, better than whey protein peer reviewed data right there. So let's tie in the GLP1s. If you're on a GLP1, you're at a high risk of losing muscle along with the fat. I have multiple podcasts on this and again, every time I say these three freaking letters, I always feel like I need a disclaimer next to it. I am not anti glp. My God. If you want to have some fun, go look at my YouTube channel on the different GLP posts we've done, the videos I've done. And for those who know and love me, you know, I look at both sides of the story. You know that I take a GLP one and a microdose, we prescribe it to patients, we do it the right way. The videos on there are mainly blasting people that are doing it the wrong way or influencers that are pushing GLPs. Or people buying GLPs from TikTok people. Not a smart move. So if you're taking a glp. Oh by the way, yeah, look at the comments on there. People really just are bananas these days. You really want to have some fun. But if you're on a GLP1 you are at a risk. Sorry, stick your head in the sand and don't listen to me then. But it's the reality is still going to go on above you while your head is in the sand. The risk of losing muscle is real. Body balance plus resistance training is one of the most evidence backed ways to protect that muscle. I'm going to say that again because my guess is about 60% of you are on a GLP right now. I don't care if it's retta, that's still going to eat your muscle. I don't care what the bodybuilding influencers say. Retta protects your muscle. It's a glp. It's going to deplete your muscles if you take too much of it. So if you're on a GLP you are at a high risk of losing muscle along with the fat and body balance collagen peptide plus resistance training is one of the most evidence evidence backed ways to protect that muscle. Then when we optimize your thyroid we get your metabolism moving again and then body balance plus strength training builds the muscle that keeps the metabolism up for the long run. All right, let's talk about your joints. For gel targets chondrocytes, the cells that build and maintain your joint cartilage. So forgel peptides get absorbed and accumulate in cartilage tissue. There they signal the chondrocytes to synthesize type 2 collagen and literally makes the material that cushions your joints. And this isn't pain masking like anti inflammatory ibuprofen. This is regenerative signaling. So we are regenerating the joints to decrease the pain. That makes more sense than masking the pain. In a 12 week randomized control trial in 2024, 182 adults with functional knee or hip pain during daily activities took in 5 grams of the Fort gel per day versus placebo. The pain at rest reduced significantly. The pain while walking, climbing stairs and kneeling down dropped significantly. That's the whole get on the floor and play with the grandkids. Yeah, that test significant reduction improvement in overall flexibility restrictions when squatting improved. And then earlier studies in young physically active adults showed reduced activity related knee pain. Meaning this works for athletes and for aging joints. So if you're the woman that's waking up stiff, your hips are complaining. That can be estrogen as well. Remember, we need both collagen and estrogen and proper thyroid function all working together. Then this is for you. This is not covering up the pain like ibuprofen. This is rebuilding the actual cartilage. There's a huge difference there. And then again, we're tying in the GLPs. When you lose weight fast, your joints are exposed to new stress patterns. And if you lose the muscle around a joint, you lose stability. So for gel helps protect the cartilage while your body composition is shifting. Now, we already mentioned estrogen, which is also protective of cartilage. So when it drops, joint pain will skyrocket. Many of you will feel it in your knees and your hips. Ladies, most women don't connect that new pain to menopause, but I do, because this is one of the tools that I reach for in addition to proper hormone balance. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy for my aging in pain. Ladies. So why do you need this combination? So Verisol doesn't rebuild the cartilage for gel doesn't smooth the wrinkles. Body balance doesn't grow the nails. Each one, like we said earlier, is a cell specific signal. They don't compete. They do their own job. So together they hit the three biggest complaints that my patients have. My skin doesn't look like mine anymore. I'm aging quickly, my joints hurt and I feel old, and I can't hold on to muscle no matter what I do. So this is why years ago, and this is really the first time that I've broken this all down for you, because it's a question I get quite often. Is it even worth it to take collagen? When I wanted to formulate a collagen, I didn't want just any other collagen on the market. And there are many, many influencers that will just buy Chibi Chibi collagen and slap their label on it, slap their name on it and sell it. That's not me. You know that. So I wanted to formulate something that was the Mac Daddy bomb that'll actually produce results. You want those three bioactive collagen peptides in the mix. Now, are you wasting your money? I'm going to give you a red flag checklist right here. The seven red flags of a money wasting collagen. The label only says hydrolyzed collagen with no trademark or name peptide. So if you don't see Verisol Body Balance Florida gel, you don't have a bioactive peptide. Red flag number two, no clinical dose listed or the dose is way below what the studies used. Red flag number three, the marketing screams about types type 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, but never says a word about bioactivity or targeted peptides. That's just a distraction. We want it to be signaling peptides. Red flag number four, proprietary blends. Oh, my God. Come on now. You don't ever go with proprietary blends of anything. Red flag number five, no published human clinical studies that we just went over for all of those three bioactive collagen peptides. They actually have multiple studies. I just don't have the time to sit here and go through all of them. So I wanted to highlight a couple of them for you. If they're loaded with sugar, Red flag number six, natural flavors, gums, fillers, cheap protein blends like Casen that's just put in there to bulk up the scoop and hide the fact that there's very little active ingredient. And red flag number seven, suspiciously cheap. How do I want to say this? I'm sorry. If you're buying your collagen from Costco or Walgreens or Walmart, it's probably not great. Bioactive collagen peptides cost a lot. It cost me a boatload to manufacture collagen protein fixer 2.0. And that's the only way I'm going to do it. Though I would rather pay a higher amount to manufacture something high quality for you than to go the cheap route and have a less expensive product that I just think, oh, well, everybody, I buy it because it's under $20. Under $30. And no, no, you deserve the best, so I'm going to give you the best. But that's a huge red flag for me is when it's cheap. So we're gonna do the you're literally wasting money math. So let's say your collagen costs $30 for 30 scoops. So that's a dollar a day for 10 grams of unspecified hydrolyzed collagen. Sounds cheap, right? Except that 10 grams gives you the same amount of glycine and proline as a chicken thigh or a cup of bone broth. So which one costs a dollar? Both of them do. The value in a good collagen is not the grams of protein. It's the signaling. Untargeted peptides equals no signal. No signal equals no clinical result. Money spent mirrors unchanged. Joints are unchanged. Body comp unchanged. Wasting money. So I think you see by now that you actually need the name Trademark Bioactive collagen Peptides. So how do you take it? One scoop, with or without food. Throw it in your coffee, Throw it in your water once a day. Miss a day here or there, no big deal. But this is a daily habit, not an occasional one. Now we saw in the one study of aerosol that the lady's wrinkles stayed plump even four weeks after use. But I do recommend using it on a consistent basis. And it's just, it's so easy to throw it in your morning coffee or your smoothie. I mean you can literally, I'll throw it in my water bottle. The taste disappears, disappears and then give it time. Skin changes. Most people notice something at like four to six weeks. Big, big, big changes at eight to 12 weeks. Nail growth takes about 12 to 24 weeks because nails grow slowly. So be patient. Joint comfort. Some people will feel it in about six to eight weeks. Full data, full result at 12 weeks. Everything takes about three months. By the way, I talk about this all the time, even when I'm talking about thyroid fixer, metabolism fixer. Hormones take three months to build up in your system. So if you think you're going to take any supplement for a few weeks to a month or even two months and notice the difference, you're so, so wrong. You need to give things time. A full 12 weeks for pretty much everything. I don't care if it's a B12, a vitamin D, T2, or collagen or prescribed hormones. It's going to take three months to move the needle. Body composition. You'll notice a difference in 12 weeks if you are resistance training. Not without resistance training. You got to be. You can't be sitting on the couch eating bon bonds thinking that body balance is going to change your body comp. It's not going to do that. It works with you. So who needs this the most? Every woman in perimenopause and menopause, you are losing collagen faster than any other time in your life. Every thyroid patient, Hashimoto's hypothyroid On Synthroid, on NDT, it doesn't matter. If T3 isn't optimized, then collagen synthesis is compromised. Anyone on a GLP to protect your muscle and protect your skin and protect your joints. This is a non negotiable. If you're on a glp, athletes and active adults for that joint protection and recovery. And anyone over 30 who just wants to age the right way on their own terms instead of just watching it slowly happen, watching your face degrade so Verisol recap. Skin, nails, cellulite, body balance, muscle metabolism, body composition, Florida gel, joints, cartilage and pain free movement. All three at the clinical dose in one scoop. That is the formula and collagen protein fixer 2.0. Why is it 2.0? Because years and years and years and years and years ago I used a different collagen that had all of those three but the base was. I didn't like the base, it didn't mix well enough. So we reformulated it but we kept all of those bioactive collagen peptides intact. And now the formulation is just so smooth, so beautifully powdery. Disappears. Disappears in your coffee, disappears in your water. It's amazing. So grab a tub of Collagen Protein Fixer 2.0 this is why I want you to use high quality. This is why I formulated this just for you. And share this with one of your friends who's over 40 who's tired of feeling like their body is falling apart. Because maybe you can save her skin and reduce her cellulite. And if you do that, she will be your friend for life. Check the show notes for a link. We're always running specials. Different sales, different specials all the time. As a new customer, go to betterlifedoctor.com and you will see a pop up to save 15. Try the collagen today and let me know about your skin in three months, not in two weeks. I don't want to get your email that my skin isn't looking like it's 30 because you haven't taken your collagen for two weeks. You got to give it three months. Love you all the information shared on the Thyroid Fixer Podcast is intended solely for informational and educational purposes. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult with your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, treatment or before making changes to your healthcare regimen, including medications, supplements or other therapies. Use of the information provided in this podcast does not establish a doctor, patient or client provider relationship between you and the host or between you and any other healthcare professionals featured on the show. Any medical opinions or statements made by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or affiliated parties. 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