5 Benefits of Collagen Powder

5 Benefits of Collagen Powder

Have you heard about collagen powder?  It seems like the next big hype but this time I actually feel the hype is warranted.  Collagen can now be found in just about everything — from creams and cosmetics, to powders and pills. As the most abundant protein in the body, collagen is found in your muscles, skin, blood, bones, cartilage, and ligaments. You may want to consider squeezing in an extra serving of this vital protein for several reasons, as collagen is a building block that:

• promotes skin elasticity
• holds together your bones and muscles
• protects your organs
• heals the gut

The good news is that your body produces collagen on a regular basis. But, it does slow down with age. It also slows down with smoking, sun exposure, and an unhealthy diet. If you don't have enough collagen in the body you may start to see wrinkles and sagging skin, or even experience joint pain.
Keep reading to discover five specific benefits you may experience if you take the time to up your collagen consumption.

1. Eases joint pain

As your cartilage weakens and deteriorates with age, you may start to feel stiff, achy joints. It’s possible that upping your collagen intake may help reduce joint pain and alleviate symptoms of arthritis.
In a 2009 study, participants took a collagen supplement for 90 days. Results showed that osteoarthritis symptoms decreased by 40% while the severity of symptoms dropped by an impressive 33%.
In an older study from 1993 with the same collagen supplement, participants with severe rheumatoid arthritis saw a reduced number of swollen and tender joints — 4 out of 60 participants also experienced complete remission. 

2. Reverses skin aging

One of the most well-known benefits of collagen is its ability to promote glowing, vibrant skin. This essential protein provides elasticity to the skin, helping it to appear more youthful and healthy. But as you get older and collagen production declines, fine lines, loose skin, and dryness can occur. 
A study published in 2014 randomly chose 46 of 69 women, ages 35-55 years old, to take a collagen hydrolysate supplement. The rest of the group took a placebo. The women who took the collagen showed an improvement in skin elasticity within four weeks.
The same manufacturer also conducted another study in 2014 with the same supplement, which significantly reduced wrinkles after just eight weeks.

3. Helps build muscle and burn fat

Collagen is a major component of muscle tissue, so it should come as no surprise that it can have a big impact when it comes to building muscle mass. Plus, collagen also contains a concentrated amount of glycine, an amino acid involved in the synthesis of creatine which provides muscles with the fuel needed to power through your workout. So what happens when you add collagen to your workout routine?
There’s not much research on collagen and exercise, but a study in 2015 looked at collagen supplements in 53 older males with sarcopenia, a condition where you lose muscle mass due to aging. After 12 weeks, those who took supplements along with resistance training saw an increase in fat loss and muscle strength more than the placebo group.

4. May reduce cellulite

Besides keeping your skin healthy and glowing, collagen may also help improve the appearance of stubborn cellulite. Cellulite is when the layer of fat under the skin pushes up against the connective tissue, creating a dimpled or lumpy appearance on the skin.
Another study was sponsored in 2015 by manufacturers to see what collagen would do for cellulite. They randomly assigned 105 women, ages 24-50, to take collagen for six months. Those who did demonstrated a clear improvement in skin texture.  Yet cellulite is incredibly common — an estimated 80 to 90% of women have it. It’s a natural part of aging and skin formation and not a cause for concern.

5. Improves digestive health

Collagen is in the gut’s connective tissue and can help support and strengthen the protective lining of your digestive tract. This is critically important because alterations in the barrier function of your intestine, also known as leaky gut syndrome, can allow particles to pass into the bloodstream. This may result in inflammation.
In fact, an older study from 2003 looked at 170 individuals with inflammatory bowel disease and found that they were more likely to have lower levels of serum collagen. So the current theory is that by increasing your intake of collagen, you could help build up the tissues that line your gastrointestinal tract and promote better gut health. 

Here are a few easy ways to kick up your collagen intake:

1. Experiment with bone broth

Bone broth is made by simmering bones to help extract the flavor and beneficial nutrients. Not only is it an excellent source of collagen, but it’s also tasty and easy to add to your diet by using it to make soups and stews, whole grains like rice and quinoa, and even to moisten leftovers. You can easily make bone broth at home, or save time by purchasing it in powder form. The brand I love for powdered bone broth and carry in the office for your convenience is Organixx.  

2. Try out powdered gelatin

Gelatin is essentially the cooked form of collagen, and powdered gelatin can be a quick and convenient way to bump up your collagen consumption. It can be mixed into any liquid, including soups, stews, and broths. You can also enjoy it to satisfy your sweet tooth by making homemade Jell-O or natural fruit snacks.

3. Supplement with collagen peptides

Collagen peptides are another easy option to get your fix of this important amino acid. Most brands sell hydrolyzed collagen peptides, which means that the amino acids in collagen have been broken down so that they’re more easily digested and absorbed.
Collagen powder can also be added to smoothies, hot beverages, or baked goods to pump some extra protein into your day. The collagen powder I recommend the most is also from Organixx which we also have in the office.  

There is also ways to get collagen in through your daily diet. If you want to consume collagen naturally, eat a well-balanced, high-protein diet that includes animal products. Collagen is in beef, chicken, fish, and egg whites.

But you don’t want to eat too much protein, either. Your body doesn’t tell the collagen where to go. Instead, it distributes the collagen like it would any other nutrient. So taking collagen supplements works much like exercise — it’s difficult to target a specific need, but increasing your intake could still have benefits.

How Toxic is Your Food?

How Toxic is Your Food?

As one of the world’s most common herbicides, glyphosate (the main chemical in “Roundup”) is present in a lot of different foods and is now labeled as a possible carcinogenic since 2015 by the World Health Organization.  I would say it is carcinogenic, for even last month a man was awarded $289 million from Monsanto after Roundup was found liable for causing his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  He used Roundup as part of his job as a pest control manager for a California county school system.  There are over 5,000 more similar lawsuits filed against Monsanto in the United States.  Yet there are 800 scientific studies and reviews that support the fact that glyphosate does not cause cancer so I guess the verdict is still out.  Yet I don't think it should be.  There is so much research showing that glyphosate has two primary damaging effects. 1) An endocrine disruptor and toxin that accumulates in the liver and bone marrow, lowering immune system and healthy cell replication. 2) It is a potent anti-biotic that kills or damages gut bacteria.

Last December Ministers of Environment or Agriculture of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Malta and Greece told the European Commission that a new study on the carcinogenic potential of glyphosate and also a study to identify alternatives to the world’s most used herbicide were needed.  Finding an alternative is needed because the European Parliament has expressed its support for the adoption of necessary measures to phase out the active substance glyphosate in the European Union by 15 December 2022 at the latest. 

I'm grateful Europe is making headway and who knows when the U.S. will get on board. Until the U.S. does we have to do our best as consumers and learn what not to buy while making sure we detox the pesticides and herbicides that we do consume.  There are lots of reasons to not eat the following foods but I listed them so you could see how it is present in just about everything.  

BREAKFAST CEREALS & SNACK FOODS AS TESTED BY DETOXPROJECT (2016):

• Kellog’s Raisin Bran
• Kellog’s Corn Flakes
• Kashi Organic Promise
• Kellog’s Special K
• Kellog’s Frosted Flakes
• Original Cheerios
• Honey Nut Cheerios
• Wheaties
• Trix
• Annie’s Gluten Free Bunny Cookies Cocoa & Vanilla
• Cheez-It Original
• Cheez-It Whole Grain
• Kashi Soft Bake Cookies, Oatmeal, Dark Chocolate
• Ritz Crackers
• Triscuit Crackers
• Oreo Original
• Oreo Double Stuf Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
• Oreo Double Stuf Golden Sandwich Cookies
• Stacy’s Simply Naked Pita Chips (Frito-Lay)
• Lay’s: Kettle Cooked Original
• Doritos: Cool Ranch
• Fritos (Original) (100% Whole Grain)
• Goldfish crackers original (Pepperidge Farm)
• Goldfish crackers colors
• Goldfish crackers Whole Grain
• Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies
• Lucy's Oatmeal Cookies Gluten Free
• 365 Organic Golden Round Crackers
• Back to Nature Crispy Cheddar Crackers

The Detox Project is a great website of research to help understand more about the probable harm being caused by glyphosate-based herbicides worldwide.

The top 3 things you can do to avoid ingesting glyphosate is:

1. Avoid the primary GMO foods: all soy, corn, canola and the animals that eat it too including the resulting meats, poultry, dairy and eggs
2. Avoid all non-organic cereals and grains, which are harvested with glyphosate, including wheat, barley, buckwheat, millet, rice, oats, rye, sorghum, wild rice, popcorn, and teff.
3. Avoid additives such as corn syrup, maltodextrin, fructose, baking powder, natural flavors, and cornstarch.
4. Eating non-GMO is not enough.  All your food should be as organic as possible.  

Now that the public is demanding non-GMO, a new generation of toxic foods has arrived in grocery shelves and flying under the radar. Marketed as healthy, these non-GMO products are sprayed with plenty of herbicides and pesticides. Don’t buy them. Let food manufacturers know we want CLEAN FOOD. The Non-GMO Project is busy certifying all kinds of nutritionally empty and toxic products from big food companies. Their stamp of approval may indicate there are no GMO’s, but it’s no indication of healthy food.



The food industry’s rapid response to public interest in non-GMO foods shows that they’re really listening to the marketplace. If you’re seriously interested in clean food, then vote with your money. Let the industry know we want CLEAN FOOD, and we want it NOW. We want non-GMO food that’s raised in a sustainable manner, in harmony with the planet, without harmful chemicals. We want no Glyphosate, Atrazine,  Chlorpyrifos, Metolachlor, or any of the thousands of other harmful chemicals that kill bees, humans, and damage the environment. 

To avoid both GMO’s and Glyphosate, look for the USDA Organic label, when possible. Talk to your local farmers and find out which ones are using sustainable organic practices. They may not be certified organic, but they’ll know a lot about it, and will be able to guide you. Fresh, local unprocessed fruits and vegetables immediately after picking, are the most nutritious foods on the planet. 

A Visit to the Standard Process Farm Part 1

This past weekend I had the privilege of attending a seminar, "Advanced Fundamentals" at the Standard Process farm in Wisconsin. I saw first hand how the crops grow on the 420 acres of farmed land to make 335,000 gallons of juice a day. The workers start at 630am to harvest and juice or dehydrate the crops before moving them to the production building 10 miles down the road.



Standard Process has been in business since Dr. Royal Lee made catalyn (Standard Process's multivitamin) for his dying mother in 1930. Dr. Lee grew up on a farm and knew how to take the nutrition in the food and make it into something the body could use to heal. As Hippocrates says, "let food be thy medicine."

The soil is the darkest soil I have ever seen for it is the soil that makes such nutrient rich supplements. The plants get their nutrients from this dark, nutrient-dense soil and it is those nutrients, juiced or dehydrated, that are made into supplements that help us heal when we take our Standard Process vitamins. For food is the genuine replacement parts for the body that is constantly turning over new cells.

To create this rich soil when Standard Process buys new land it needs to be cultivated for 3 years before crops can be harvested. So it's only in the 4th year that farming can begin. 90 acres are being cultivated right now.

Besides constantly testing the soil to make sure of it's nutrient content, Standard Process uses cover crops to prevent wind erosion and rain erosion of the soil. After a harvest cover plants are planted just to grow and then once mature are tilled back into the soil to never be harvested but to cover the soil so that it is never left bare and could be damaged from wind or rain plus the nutrients that the cover crops soak up are put back into the soil for the next planting of actual crops.

By nature the Standard Process land is marsh land and so their problem is how to keep water out of the land. Besides, the 6.5 inches of rain that came down the night before I visited the farm was not helpful. And so you see in this picture an impromptu pond among the crops.



Another way to keep the soil as amazing as it is is by not planting the same crop in the same area for at least 5 years. Because different crops absorb different nutrients from the ground such rotation of plants won't strip the soil of nutrients.

One of the arguements for non-organic food is that organic food cannot feed the world. Well, after seeing farming done correctly, I beg to differ. Organic farming, done right, can feed the world. We aren't going to win the battle in the courts. Every time a court case against Monsanto goes to the Supreme Court they win. The only way to win is by our grocery carts and choosing what goes in them. Please choose carefully and buy non-gmo, organic when possible!

Jennifer's Way Gluten-Free Bakery

At the suggestion of one of my patients who raved about it, I went to Jennifer's Way at 263 E 10th St, New York, NY 10009 at 1st Ave. this past weekend. Not only is it gluten-free but also refined sugar-free, soy-free, dairy-free, peanut-free and ORGANIC!!!

I went there 5pm on Saturday and the rolls were already sold out. But there were lots of other goodies, muffins. cupcakes, cookies, and bagels. I bought two sea salt bagels and this morning it was love at first bite!

Jennifer Esposito (yes, the actress) says on her website 'I’ve been a lover of food my whole life…the textures, tastes and smells! When I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2009, my whole world fell apart. I had to re-learn how to EAT, COOK and LIVE!! I quickly learned that gluten was the enemy and not just for me, a celiac, but for so many. I also learned that not all gluten-free food is created equally. I was longing for delicious, homemade flavors of yesterday, but ones that are HEALTHY and NUTRITIOUS as well. I created Jennifer’s Way as an answer to all of this. To be the CELIAC STANDARD, requiring the purest, healthiest, organic, non-GMO ingredients I could find. All made in a GLUTEN-FREE FACILITY, ensuring quality, nutrition and TASTE. For the celiac, the gluten-challenged, and anyone who demands CLEAN SAFE FOOD."

I know many of us can relate to Jennifer's story of relearning how to cook, eat and live as we take our own health into our hands and make healthier lifestyle choices. I love when people like Jennifer make it easier for us.

For my non-New Yorker patients or for those who don't want to make the trip down to East 10th St and 1st Ave the great news is that you can order online and right now they have a bagel sale! Buy one package of bagels and get the second package of bagels for half price. Offer good on ALL bagel varieties.
And as always, FREE SHIPPING on all online orders over $150.

Good Eggs - Local, Organic Food to Your Doorstep!

At the suggestion of a patient I checked out Good Eggs and it is AMAAAAAAAAZING! I highly believe in buying organic and local but I don't always have the time to go to the Farmer's Market so Rob Spiro, the genius that he is, put it online. Imagine Fresh Direct but straight from the farm. They have been in Brooklyn, San Francisco and parts of Los Angeles and New Orleans. And just last month they officially opened up Manhattan delivering in a handful of downtown neighborhoods. They're now delivering to Soho, West Village, Gramercy, Union Square, Flatiron, parts of Tribeca and Chelsea. This area covers: 10003, 10010, 10011, 10012, 10013 and 10014 (ZIP codes). They have plans to expand to more of Manhattan in the coming months.
Combined, the company uses more than 1,000 local farmers and food-makers.



On the website, www.goodeggs.com shoppers can sort by preferences such as items that are locally grown, vegetarian, vegan, organic, wheat-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, heritage breed, kosher, or even made with pastured eggs. Delivery is available seven days a week and is free on orders over $75. Unfortunately this is not an immediate gratification site. Deliveries must be scheduled at least two days in advance. I find the prices reasonable considering you are getting it local, organic food delivered at the click of a button!