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| Using a Collagen supplement is one of the changes I have made to support my body |
(AD) If, like me, you have been hit hard by the peri-menopause, are you wondering how to feel like yourself again? Just four years ago, on my 40th birthday, someone told me I didn’t look like I was 40. I didn’t feel it either. When you are young you think 40 is ancient and I definitely didn’t feel I was in decline, but just 4 short years later it feels like age has hit every part of my body, except it isn’t age is it? It’s the decline of hormones that influence pretty much everything.
I was officially confirmed as peri-menopausal last year and finally prescribed HRT. Since then I have had an ovary removed so my hormone levels are even lower. HRT isn’t for everyone, but for me it has given me back the ability to think clearly, it means I don’t get instant rage and I can sleep through the night again. It’s helped me with a list of symptoms as long as my arm, but I’m not magically transformed back to how I was in my 30s.
The main things that I struggle with now are:
My skin: it’s drier, less elastic and some bits just seem all crinkly.
My hair: did I always have that much hair come out when I brush it? I doubt it, I feel like more of my scalp is visible every day.
My tummy: Peri-menopause symptoms and tiredness stopped me exercising and encouraged overeating, but now I weigh the same as I did 10 years ago. The scales may look the same, but my body shape is very different. Body fat seems to be highest around my tummy and when I eat food it balloons.
The really scary thing is how fast the transformation has been. 4 years ago I thought I looked good for my age, now I don’t.
Struggling so much over the last few years (physically and mentally) led me to research: how to feel more like me again, how to stop (and ideally reverse) the decline, and how to be stronger. Everyone you speak to has different suggestions of what to try. If your social media algorithms have picked up your age or peri-menopause concerns you are probably being bombarded with products and suggestions on there too.
So how do you know what to try? How do you know what is really worth it?
My research has convinced me that what is most important is: what you put in to your body and how you support it through movement. Yes my expensive shampoo and conditioner makes my hair feel thicker, but if I use a different brand while I’m away my hair looks thinner again. Likewise with beauty products and body lotions; they make my skin feel softer and more hydrated in the short term, but they aren’t making a difference under the surface.
I haven’t found a multivitamin that I really like. There are lots designed for women our age with very different combinations and levels of vitamins and minerals. It’s worth looking at what you might be missing from your diet and find a multivitamin or individual supplements that supports your needs. I take magnesium glycinate as I have always struggled with low magnesium, and I start the day with a Vitamin C and Zinc fizzy tablet which seems to help my immune system and helps support collagen production.
Our bodies actually make some of the creatine we need (from amino acids) and for most people this is topped up with creatine we eat in protein rich foods like red meat, seafood and dairy milk. If you want to support your workouts or to see if it helps your mental state it is worth trying a supplement. Naked Creatine is tested by a third party for heavy metals and is micronised so it dissolves easily in liquids (creatine is often hard to dissolve in liquids) making it easy to use. I definitely find it easier to focus on days I have creatine, so where it’s a placebo or not it’s worth it for me.
One of the problems with collagen research is there aren’t enough rigorous independent studies. We have all seen people rave about the difference various brands of collagen have made to them and studies published by companies selling collagen only give a partial picture. The success of collagen is likely to depend on: what it is made from, the dose you take, how regularly you take it and whether you also have the supporting vitamins it needs.
The interesting thing is if we consume collagen our bodies have to break it down into smaller pieces before it can be absorbed, this is why supplements are actually peptides (short strings of amino acids). All protein (including collagen) is made from amino acids. Around 500 different amino acids have been found in nature, but it’s believed that human protein uses just 20 of these. Our body can make some amino acids, but others need to come from what we eat.
Collagen is made from many amino acids, one of which is specific to collagen. If you have a high protein diet or use protein supplements it will make it easier for your body to make collagen, but the most reliable way to ensure your body has all the right amino acids is with a collagen supplement.
Despite wanting there to be better research, I am team collagen and I’m not leaving it to chance. I don’t know how well our skin can recover, so I want to make sure mine doesn’t get worse. I have used collagen from many different brands over the years and I believe I have seen a positive result when I take it consistently and regularly. The problem is I have struggled to find ones that are easy to take every day.
The first one I tried was horrible in drinks, but worked well in yoghurt. Great. Until I ran out of yoghurt or got bored of having yoghurt every day. The next I tried was a sweet flavour which worked well in sparkling water, but then my SodaStream ran out of gas and I started finding the taste too sickly. Then I tried a fruity syrup which came in individual pouches. Again this one was really sweet so I struggled to take it in the morning (and forgot to take it later in the day) and all the waste from the pouches frustrated me. The next one I tried was meant to taste great with warm milk as a hot chocolate, but again it was really sweet in an artificial way, it had lots of other additives and it gave me headaches.
Fortunately, Naked Collagen solves pretty much every single one of those issues. It dissolves really easily, it isn’t sweet or flavoured, and it doesn’t have any artificial additives. You can add it to a range of drinks or food without it being noticeable so it is easy to add to your routine. Even when I added a scoop to a glass of tap water it barely needed stirring. There is a very mild smell and minimal taste so in anything more flavoured than water you genuinely won’t notice it is there, but even in water you can hardly taste it. This means no horrible aftertaste or burps either.
Addressing what goes into your body is a crucial first step, but restoring your energy and confidence in mid-life also relies heavily on how you move it.
The more I move my body the stronger it feels, but that doesn’t mean you need to join a gym or take up jogging. My fitness level dropped significantly last year: having a frozen shoulder meant I couldn’t go swimming (my one armed stroke was pretty slow and even getting into my swimming costume was a huge challenge) and jogging seemed to make my arm worse so I stopped my gym membership. Just as my arm was getting more mobile and less painful I discovered I had a very large ovarian cyst. Even on the days I wasn’t in intense pain it was uncomfortable to walk for long and I was advised to be careful exercising to prevent it rupturing. Then I had surgery which took a good couple of months to recover from.
So a year and a half after stopping exercising my body was feeling pretty weak. I have been rebuilding my fitness through walking, using free weights at home and basic exercises like sit ups. Nothing too challenging, and I have been pretty sporadic, but my body feels so much stronger for using and building the muscles.
You can support muscle strengthening by increasing your protein intake. Meat, eggs, fish, cheese, tofu, chickpeas, lentils, nuts and seeds are all easily accessible high protein foods. Another easy way to add more protein is protein powder. You can add it to drinks or food you are making like pancakes. The most common type available is whey protein (from milk), but as I avoid dairy the normal alternative is soya protein. Some people who have dairy intolerance also have problems with soya. Naked Pea Protein comes from yellow split peas, with nothing else added which is a reassuringly pure, vegan option for easily adding more protein into your diet.
There are a couple of reasons I like products from Naked Nutrition. Firstly you get what you want, by which I mean: if you want collagen you just get collagen. Naked Creatine? That just has creatine in. While our bodies obviously need other things to use them effectively (eg collagen needs vitamin c, vitamin A, copper, zinc and manganese) that doesn’t mean you necessarily want them in your supplement. Very few of us just use one type of supplement at a time and if all of these have “extras” it makes it hard to keep track. At best our bodies just flush these extras out, at worst they can have side effects. Having supplements without these additions means you can build the perfect combination for your needs.
I also like that Naked use external testing to make sure they don’t contain harmful levels of contaminants including heavy metals and pesticides.
Finding what works during peri-menopause is rarely a quick fix, and what suits one person might not work for another. For me, using HRT along with reliable supplements and sensible movement has helped me feel far more in control of my body again. It is small, consistent steps rather than a complete overnight transformation, but feeling more like myself is definitely worth the effort.
Please note: I am not a healthcare professional. The information in this post is based on my personal experience and general research. It is not intended as medical advice. You should speak with a doctor or health provider for advice tailored to your individual needs.
I was officially confirmed as peri-menopausal last year and finally prescribed HRT. Since then I have had an ovary removed so my hormone levels are even lower. HRT isn’t for everyone, but for me it has given me back the ability to think clearly, it means I don’t get instant rage and I can sleep through the night again. It’s helped me with a list of symptoms as long as my arm, but I’m not magically transformed back to how I was in my 30s.
The main things that I struggle with now are:
My skin: it’s drier, less elastic and some bits just seem all crinkly.
My hair: did I always have that much hair come out when I brush it? I doubt it, I feel like more of my scalp is visible every day.
My tummy: Peri-menopause symptoms and tiredness stopped me exercising and encouraged overeating, but now I weigh the same as I did 10 years ago. The scales may look the same, but my body shape is very different. Body fat seems to be highest around my tummy and when I eat food it balloons.
The really scary thing is how fast the transformation has been. 4 years ago I thought I looked good for my age, now I don’t.
Struggling so much over the last few years (physically and mentally) led me to research: how to feel more like me again, how to stop (and ideally reverse) the decline, and how to be stronger. Everyone you speak to has different suggestions of what to try. If your social media algorithms have picked up your age or peri-menopause concerns you are probably being bombarded with products and suggestions on there too.
So how do you know what to try? How do you know what is really worth it?
My research has convinced me that what is most important is: what you put in to your body and how you support it through movement. Yes my expensive shampoo and conditioner makes my hair feel thicker, but if I use a different brand while I’m away my hair looks thinner again. Likewise with beauty products and body lotions; they make my skin feel softer and more hydrated in the short term, but they aren’t making a difference under the surface.
What You Put In Your Body: The Supplements That Can Make A Difference
Multivitamins
If you eat a healthy and balanced diet every day you probably don’t need supplements, but then you probably aren’t reading this post either. I know I don’t eat enough fruit and vegetables, I eat too much fat and sugar and I don’t eat enough variety. I may have got away with that when I was younger, but the peri-menopause pressure means my body has really been struggling.I haven’t found a multivitamin that I really like. There are lots designed for women our age with very different combinations and levels of vitamins and minerals. It’s worth looking at what you might be missing from your diet and find a multivitamin or individual supplements that supports your needs. I take magnesium glycinate as I have always struggled with low magnesium, and I start the day with a Vitamin C and Zinc fizzy tablet which seems to help my immune system and helps support collagen production.
Creatine
Creatine has long been popular with athletes and weight lifters because it helps gives muscles energy, but the more interesting research for me looks at the impact of creatine supplementation on brain function. There is research supporting the idea that creatine supplements can improve short term memory, reasoning, and it may even help prevent or slow down the progression of dementia. If you have experienced brain fog caused by peri-menopause you won’t be surprised that this research led to people looking at how it can help women in mid-life. Excitingly, it might be able to improve brain function, bone strength, mood and muscle mass for women, especially when combined with weight training.Our bodies actually make some of the creatine we need (from amino acids) and for most people this is topped up with creatine we eat in protein rich foods like red meat, seafood and dairy milk. If you want to support your workouts or to see if it helps your mental state it is worth trying a supplement. Naked Creatine is tested by a third party for heavy metals and is micronised so it dissolves easily in liquids (creatine is often hard to dissolve in liquids) making it easy to use. I definitely find it easier to focus on days I have creatine, so where it’s a placebo or not it’s worth it for me.
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| A scoop of collagen can be easily added to food or drink |
Collagen
This is the big one for the things that are bothering me most. Collagen is essentially a building block used in our skin, bones and connective tissue. It’s not the only building block our body uses, but it is an important one and as we get older it is harder for our body to make. This is a problem for everything from our hair (as the skin on our heads can be struggling) to our guts.One of the problems with collagen research is there aren’t enough rigorous independent studies. We have all seen people rave about the difference various brands of collagen have made to them and studies published by companies selling collagen only give a partial picture. The success of collagen is likely to depend on: what it is made from, the dose you take, how regularly you take it and whether you also have the supporting vitamins it needs.
The interesting thing is if we consume collagen our bodies have to break it down into smaller pieces before it can be absorbed, this is why supplements are actually peptides (short strings of amino acids). All protein (including collagen) is made from amino acids. Around 500 different amino acids have been found in nature, but it’s believed that human protein uses just 20 of these. Our body can make some amino acids, but others need to come from what we eat.
Collagen is made from many amino acids, one of which is specific to collagen. If you have a high protein diet or use protein supplements it will make it easier for your body to make collagen, but the most reliable way to ensure your body has all the right amino acids is with a collagen supplement.
Despite wanting there to be better research, I am team collagen and I’m not leaving it to chance. I don’t know how well our skin can recover, so I want to make sure mine doesn’t get worse. I have used collagen from many different brands over the years and I believe I have seen a positive result when I take it consistently and regularly. The problem is I have struggled to find ones that are easy to take every day.
The first one I tried was horrible in drinks, but worked well in yoghurt. Great. Until I ran out of yoghurt or got bored of having yoghurt every day. The next I tried was a sweet flavour which worked well in sparkling water, but then my SodaStream ran out of gas and I started finding the taste too sickly. Then I tried a fruity syrup which came in individual pouches. Again this one was really sweet so I struggled to take it in the morning (and forgot to take it later in the day) and all the waste from the pouches frustrated me. The next one I tried was meant to taste great with warm milk as a hot chocolate, but again it was really sweet in an artificial way, it had lots of other additives and it gave me headaches.
Fortunately, Naked Collagen solves pretty much every single one of those issues. It dissolves really easily, it isn’t sweet or flavoured, and it doesn’t have any artificial additives. You can add it to a range of drinks or food without it being noticeable so it is easy to add to your routine. Even when I added a scoop to a glass of tap water it barely needed stirring. There is a very mild smell and minimal taste so in anything more flavoured than water you genuinely won’t notice it is there, but even in water you can hardly taste it. This means no horrible aftertaste or burps either.
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| Naked Collagen mixed with a little orange squash - I can't taste the collagen powder |
Supporting Your Body Through Movement
Addressing what goes into your body is a crucial first step, but restoring your energy and confidence in mid-life also relies heavily on how you move it.
The more I move my body the stronger it feels, but that doesn’t mean you need to join a gym or take up jogging. My fitness level dropped significantly last year: having a frozen shoulder meant I couldn’t go swimming (my one armed stroke was pretty slow and even getting into my swimming costume was a huge challenge) and jogging seemed to make my arm worse so I stopped my gym membership. Just as my arm was getting more mobile and less painful I discovered I had a very large ovarian cyst. Even on the days I wasn’t in intense pain it was uncomfortable to walk for long and I was advised to be careful exercising to prevent it rupturing. Then I had surgery which took a good couple of months to recover from.
So a year and a half after stopping exercising my body was feeling pretty weak. I have been rebuilding my fitness through walking, using free weights at home and basic exercises like sit ups. Nothing too challenging, and I have been pretty sporadic, but my body feels so much stronger for using and building the muscles.
You can support muscle strengthening by increasing your protein intake. Meat, eggs, fish, cheese, tofu, chickpeas, lentils, nuts and seeds are all easily accessible high protein foods. Another easy way to add more protein is protein powder. You can add it to drinks or food you are making like pancakes. The most common type available is whey protein (from milk), but as I avoid dairy the normal alternative is soya protein. Some people who have dairy intolerance also have problems with soya. Naked Pea Protein comes from yellow split peas, with nothing else added which is a reassuringly pure, vegan option for easily adding more protein into your diet.
Why Choose Supplements From Naked Nutrition?
There are a couple of reasons I like products from Naked Nutrition. Firstly you get what you want, by which I mean: if you want collagen you just get collagen. Naked Creatine? That just has creatine in. While our bodies obviously need other things to use them effectively (eg collagen needs vitamin c, vitamin A, copper, zinc and manganese) that doesn’t mean you necessarily want them in your supplement. Very few of us just use one type of supplement at a time and if all of these have “extras” it makes it hard to keep track. At best our bodies just flush these extras out, at worst they can have side effects. Having supplements without these additions means you can build the perfect combination for your needs.
I also like that Naked use external testing to make sure they don’t contain harmful levels of contaminants including heavy metals and pesticides.
Finding what works during peri-menopause is rarely a quick fix, and what suits one person might not work for another. For me, using HRT along with reliable supplements and sensible movement has helped me feel far more in control of my body again. It is small, consistent steps rather than a complete overnight transformation, but feeling more like myself is definitely worth the effort.
Please note: I am not a healthcare professional. The information in this post is based on my personal experience and general research. It is not intended as medical advice. You should speak with a doctor or health provider for advice tailored to your individual needs.
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