Winter Health Guide: Identifying Allergies, Colds, Flu, and COVID-19

Estimated Read Time: 9 minutes

Winter is the prime cold and flu season. Cold and flu viruses love cooler weather and lower humidity. We are also more likely to be indoors and closer to others when it's colder outside so weather also plays a role in the spread of viruses.

As we enter the colder months, it's important to be able to recognize the difference between a cold, the flu, or COVID-19. While these illnesses share some symptoms, key differences can help you determine which one you may be experiencing. I'll review the symptoms of each of these and provide you with a handy chart to compare them in order to figure out how to care for yourself. I'll share some of the nutrients, backed by science, that provide well-documented efficacy for immune strength and respiratory health, along with an all-in-one formula using the latest innovations in those nutrients called Qubeco Immune Primer.

TL/DR: Understanding Your Symptoms

The onset of a seasonal allergy, common cold, flu, or COVID-19 infection can have similar symptoms. But there are subtle differences that can help you identify and differentiate between them. It is important to know the symptoms of each condition to help you manage your symptoms and seek medical attention if needed.

A cold is caused by a virus, and often starts with a sore throat, followed by a runny or stuffy nose, and a cough. Body aches, chills, and a fever are common, but they are usually mild. Symptoms generally improve after three to seven days, though a cough may last longer. Colds are more common in the winter and early spring.

Flu, caused by the influenza virus, causes symptoms that are similar to a cold, but they tend to be more severe. Unlike colds, the flu comes on suddenly, and often includes a fever, body aches, chills, and a headache. Fatigue and weakness are also common, and can last for several weeks. The flu can lead to serious complications, especially in children, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems.

COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, shares many symptoms with the flu, such as fever, cough, and fatigue. However, loss of taste or smell and shortness of breath are unique to COVID-19. People can also be asymptomatic, and still be carriers of the virus. COVID-19 can cause serious complications, especially in older adults and people with underlying health conditions.

Seasonal allergies, on the other hand, have different symptoms. Allergies include a runny nose, sneezing, and itchy eyes but do not include a fever or body aches. Allergies are caused by allergens such as pollen, dust, and pet dander. Symptoms can last for weeks or months depending on the allergen.

It is important to note that the symptoms of each condition can overlap. If you are experiencing symptoms, it is best to get a professional medical opinion to determine the correct diagnosis and receive proper treatment. And in the meantime, Qubeco can help you mount the best immune defense possible.

COVID-19, cold, allergies and the flu: When to raise the alarm?

COVID-19, the common cold, seasonal allergies, and the flu have many similar symptoms. If you think you might have the symptoms of COVID-19, please contact your healthcare support system immediately. COVID is surging again, and new variants have arrived. It's not the time to "see how it plays out." Just as important, people often brush off the flu, yet every year, thousands of people die of the flu.

Diagnosing The Flu vs Cold

The common cold and the flu are both contagious respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses. The flu is caused by influenza viruses only, whereas the common cold can be caused by a number of different viruses, including rhinoviruses, parainfluenza, and seasonal coronaviruses, not to be confused with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Because they are so similar in how you feel their symptoms, it can be difficult to tell the difference between the flu and a cold just based on symptoms alone. In general, flu is worse than the common cold. Flu symptoms are typically more intense, and their onset is abrupt.

Colds are usually milder than flu. People with colds are more likely to have a runny or stuffy nose than people who have flu. Colds generally do not progress to more serious health problems, such as pneumonia, bacterial infections, or hospitalizations. However, flu can have serious associated complications, and hospitalization is a very real possibility.

What Are The Symptoms of a Cold

The most common symptoms of a cold are a runny nose, cough, congestion, and sore throat. The tell-tale is that you won't usually have the aches and elevated fever, and typically you'll feel better in a couple of days. The symptoms of a cold usually appear 1 to 3 days after exposure, and most people recover from a common cold in 3 to 10 days.

Also of note is seasonal allergies. Allergies can cause a runny nose and sneezing, but you may also have a sore throat from post-nasal drip, itchy, runny eyes, itchy ears, and an itchy nose. You may also experience a fever as your body works to bring inflammation to the affected site and try to deactivate the allergens with a lot of runny mucous.

Typically, your doctor will not suggest an antibiotic for cold symptoms or seasonal allergies unless they are progressing in a way that allows a bacterial infection to take hold. The warm, watery environment of mucous and inflammation can create a welcoming environment for a virus to take hold, too, so it's important to do all you can to support your body's natural defenses to ensure this doesn't happen.

What Are The Symptoms of the Flu

Unlike a cold, the flu virus tends to come on suddenly and quickly makes you feel really bad. Symptoms come on 1 to 4 days after exposure. The flu typically includes chills, fever, headache, aching muscles, and chills and sweats. You may also experience a nagging, persistent dry cough, exhausted abdominal muscles, and shortness of breath. Most notable with the flu is fatigue.

Your flu-like symptoms should get better after about 5 days. That said, even if your fever, chills, and aches are gone, you can still feel fatigued for a few weeks. For severe symptoms, your doctor may prescribe an antiviral drug.

What Are The Symptoms of COVID-19

We've all had to learn a lot about coronaviruses in the past few years! COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, a rapidly mutating coronavirus (constant mutation is a hallmark of coronaviruses.) As we all learned, COVID-19 is a highly contagious respiratory illness. As we watched millions of Americans fall to COVID, we learned that COVID can cause severe illness, long-lingering symptoms, and even death. Our older populations and people with underlying medical conditions were devastated by the virus.

COVID-19 symptoms are similar to some symptoms of the flu and the common cold, but there are other important-to-note differences. COVID symptoms usually come on quickly and start 2 to 14 days after exposure. COVID symptoms include fever, chills, respiratory symptoms, congestion, shortness of breath, body aches, and a possible loss of taste and/or loss of smell. Unlike the flu, blood clots can be a dangerous effect of infection, cytokine storms can happen when the body's systems overreact, and children can experience multisystem inflammatory syndrome. Notable for people who have COVID is extreme long-lasting fatigue after the most obvious symptoms subside.

It's important to note that not everyone with COVID-19 will experience all of these symptoms, and some people can carry the infection but be asymptomatic. Remember, COVID-19 is a virus; an antibiotic will not help. Viral infections require antiviral medications.

How To Tell Quickly If You Have Flu, Cold, or COVID

What To Do To Care For Yourself

For a cold, we do not have a cure yet. Your best course of treatment for yourself is to get plenty of rest, drink plenty of fluids, even if you have a loss of appetite try to at least eat soup, reduce muscle aches and muscle pain with a hot soak in the bathtub, increase your vitamin C intake, and look to some of our long-time, time-proven natural support nutrients like Beta Glucan, Colostrom, and Vitamins C and E. Zinc can also help dry out the very watery symptoms of a cold. Many people also like to use a Neti pot to rinse their sinuses. If your symptoms don't clear, you may have a bacterial infection and need an antibiotic. It's not uncommon to also develop a sinus infection or ear infection. Rather than be miserable, your healthcare providers may be able to help you avoid these complications too.

For the flu, you can see your doctor and be prescribed antiviral medications to shorten the duration of the illness and reduce the severity of symptoms. An antibiotic will not help! Make sure to rest and stay hydrated. Dehydration can be a confounding factor in getting over the flu.

Be kind to other people and avoid "sharing" your infection with others. Stay home if you can. Wash your hands with soap and water often. Manage your person-to-person exposure with social distancing. Don't share personal items like cups, food, etc. Wear an N-95 mask around other people until your symptoms go away.

It's better to err on the side of caution if you're sick. Allergies can create an environment for you to get sick. Take care of yourself until you can get to a doctor, but don't just try to muscle through it.

The flu and COVID can be dangerous if you are at high risk of complications (overweight, heart issues, heart disease, lung issues, lung disease etc.); seek medical care; go to the ER if you have chest pain/pressure, confusion, difficulty breathing, or blue discoloration in your lips or face.

What To Keep In Your Natural Medicine Chest

Three nutrients have been studied for decades and documented to be helpful to your respiratory health. Quercetin, colostrum, and beta-glucan are natural supplements that have been studied for their potential benefits in fighting cold, flu, and COVID-19.

Quercetin is a flavonoid that has been shown to have antiviral and viricidal activity against influenza A virus (IAV) and other viruses. It is also a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent that may help reduce inflammation and oxidative stress associated with respiratory infections.

Quercetin can help boost immunity by stimulating the production of white blood cells and enhancing the activity of natural killer cells, which are important immune system components. Some studies have suggested that quercetin may have potential benefits in the early stages of COVID-19, including reducing the duration of symptoms and improving clinical outcomes.

Colostrum is a milky fluid that is produced by mammals in the first few days after giving birth. It is rich in antibodies, growth factors, and other immune-boosting compounds that can help strengthen the immune system and fight off infections.

Colostrum may help boost immunity by stimulating the production of white blood cells and enhancing the activity of natural killer cells. Some studies have suggested that colostrum may have potential benefits in reducing the severity and duration of cold and flu symptoms.

Beta-glucan is a type of soluble fiber that is found in the cell walls of certain fungi, yeast, and grains. It has been shown to have immune-boosting properties and may help stimulate specialized cells in the immune system, such as macrophages, natural killer cells, and T cells, to fight off infections.

Well-done clinical studies show that beta-glucan can reduce the severity and duration of cold and flu symptoms and reduce the risk of upper respiratory tract infections. Beta-glucan has also been shown to have antiviral activity against influenza and COVID-19.

One Simple Resource

Quercetin, colostrum, and beta-glucan can help prime your body's immunity against cold, flu, and COVID-19. They can also reduce inflammation and oxidative stress that are associated with respiratory infections.

Knowing that new innovations in these nutrients have dramatically increased their strength and absorption, Jim Caras, President of Health Direct, set about creating an easy-to-use, all-in-one formula when the pandemic began. He wanted a science-backed resource to help people protect themselves from the respiratory devastation that had begun sweeping across the nation.

The immune response in your body is a delicate, coordinated thing. While many other people were offering immune-boosting formulas, Jim realized that immune system overstimulation and fatigue were actually the result of boosting. Consequently, Jim created a formula that would prime the immune system.

Priming the immune system means giving your body nutrients that prepare it to perform better with immunomodulators. These are substances that help regulate the immune system's response, allow it to respond quickly when needed, and support a balanced cellular inflammatory response. Priming allows the body's other well-regulated systems to function properly; the research showed that boosting was creating chaotic responses in other systems in the body.

The result of hours of investigation and research by the Health Direct team was the creation of Qubeco - a cutting-edge formulation with Quercetin, Beta-glucan, and Colostrum supported by zinc, vitamin D, Pureway C (which stays active in the body for 24 hours with each dose), and Selenium. Unlike other companies, Health Direct went the extra mile - rather than just Quercetin, which is difficult to digest and assimilate, they found Quercetin Phytosome - a new form that is 50 times more powerful and delivers the equivalent of 1,000 mg of quercetin in a serving. It also acts as an ionophore to pull zinc into the cells so it can kill viruses.

A new form of Ultra-Pure Beta Glucan supports healthy intestinal inflammation levels and strong Natural Killer Cell activity, a critical part of your immune system. This ultra-purified form is between 30X and 60X more powerful than other Beta-Glucans.

Golden Colostrum provides twice the amount of immunoglobulins IG-30 antibodies found in normal colostrum. Your body transforms these antibodies into specific weapons to fight pathogens. Health Direct uses a non-GMO Colostrum iG30 that is free from hormones, including rBST and non-medically necessary antibiotics.

What The Science Says About Immune Supplements

The recommended dosage of quercetin, colostrum, and beta-glucan supplements for cold, flu, and COVID-19 varies depending on you, your health, your existing conditions, and the form of these nutrients you are taking.

For regular quercetin, a study showed efficacy in the peer-reviewed International Journal of General Medicine; it used a dosage of 1,000 mg of quercetin per day for 7 days in COVID-19 patients. Quercetin phytosome delivers the equivalent in a far more concentrated and bioavailable form. Another study published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine used a dosage of 500 mg of quercetin daily for 30 days in COVID-19 patients.

For standard colostrum, a study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine used a dosage of 500 mg of colostrum per day for 8 weeks in otherwise healthy adults for efficacy in treating respiratory infections. Of course Golden Colostrom has twice the amount of immunoglobulin IG-30 antibodies.

For beta-glucan, a study published in the Journal of Nutrition used 3 g of beta-glucan per day for 8 weeks in otherwise healthy adults to treat respiratory infections. The new form of Ultra-Pure Beta Glucan is 30 to 60 times more powerful.

Again, these are all studies with the regular forms of quercetin, beta-glucan, and colostrum. The newest innovations provide far more potent and effective immune support than these studies, which are representative of the hundreds of studies done on these nutrients.

The unique thing about Qubeco is that you get these nutrients in a more concentrated and more readily absorbed form, so you can take a smaller dose for greater effects and even better outcomes. With Qubeco less really is more!

It's worth repeating: natural supplements are a means of supporting and priming your immune system; they are not a substitute for medical treatment. If you get sick, it's important to seek medical attention if you are experiencing any symptoms of a cold, flu, or COVID-19, especially if you are in a high-risk group for complications. Be sure to let your healthcare professionals know you are taking natural supplements.

While the nutrients in Qubeco are safe even for children, full disclosure with your care team about your supplements is crucial to ensure they do not interact with any medications you may be taking. Who knows, you may even expose them to new information that could help them and their other patients!

Want to Learn More?

• What we've learned about corona viruses.
• What is a cytokine storm?
• Why you might want to try a Neti pot.
• What is oxidative stress and how it can hurt your body?
• What are immunomodulators and how do they help balance your body's immune response?
• What is an ionophore?

References

• Cold vs. Flu via CDC
• Is It Flu, COVID-19, Allergies, or a Cold?
• Long Term Effects of Covid
• Role of food nutrients and supplementation in fighting against viral infections and boosting immunity: A review
• The Functional Medicine Approach to COVID-19: Additional Research on Nutraceuticals and Botanicals
• Antioxidant Effects of Dietary Supplements on Adult COVID-19 Patients: Why Do We Not Also Use Them in Children?
• Food Ingredients and Active Compounds against the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Comprehensive Review
• Treatment of COVID-19 patients with quercetin: a prospective, single center, randomized, controlled trial
• A Review on the Antiviral Activity of Functional Foods Against COVID-19 and Viral Respiratory Tract Infections

About the Author

Lisa Moretti is a Certified Health Coach from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition (IIN), the largest nutrition school in the world. She was at the top of her cohort in 2015. She's professionally been involved in the natural health and supplement world since 1981.

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Why Fascia is More Than Just Connective Tissue: Discover Its Vital Role

Estimated Read Time: 11 minutes

Article Summary

Fascia, that white fibrous layer under the skin that wraps around and separates our muscles, bones, organs, and other body structures throughout our entire body, is one continuous piece of connective tissue from the top of our heads to our toes.

Scientists used to think that fascia in the human body was just a holding system, so we didn't just fall apart, but now we know it's also within our tissues and nerves. In fact, our fascial system interpenetrates our organs, muscles, bones, and nerve fibers in what scientists think may be a giant communications system that helps our bodies operate in an integrated way.

New research demonstrates that fascia may hold the key to relief from chronic pain and overcoming immune dysfunction. Pretty impressive! It is not only flexible, but it is also strong enough to stabilize, strengthen, and protect our muscles and organs. Fascia is comprised of closely packed bundles of...wait for it...collagen fibers! Even more intriguing, collagen fibers are produced by the fibroblasts within the fascia.

What is Fascia Made Of?

Your fascia has three components: collagen, elastin, and extracellular matrix (ECM for short.) You probably know a bit about collagen if you follow Health Direct, but long story short, collagen fibers are as strong as steel and hold us together. The word "kolla" in Greek is the basis of the word collagen and means glue.

Collagen fibers in fascia help attach tendons to bones and ligaments to muscles and on and on. Collagen is the multipurpose foundation that helps keep it all together and strengthens our fascia.

Elastin provides the flexibility aspect of fascia. Elastin allows our fascia to stretch, bend, and bounce back to its original position. A good example is the fascia in our dermal layers. When you pinch your skin, it stretches and then goes back to normal; this is the elastin in your fascia doing its job.

The elastin in fascia also acts as a shock absorber, which is especially helpful when you bump into things in the middle of the night. Thanks to elastin in fascia, we don't end up with lots of dents.

Third is something you probably are unaware of called the extracellular matrix (ECM). This is a gel within your fascia. It helps nourish your fascia and transports food to your cells.

What Kinds of Fascia Are There?

Different types of fascia exist at different interdependent layers, from our skin to our deepest recesses. Fascia is classified into four categories:

• Superficial - the fascia in the deepest layer of our skin. When preparing chicken, it is the same white fibers you see between the skin and the meat.
• Deep - this fascia is more dense and fibrous. It encases our muscles and ligaments to ensure they work together, as well as our tendons and bones. Deep fascia helps us move and flex.
• Visceral - the fascia that holds our organs in place and wraps around them like a tight-fitting sock.
• Spinal Straw - this is the most dense form of fascia that surrounds our spine and provides nourishment to our discs. When this fascia gets too tight, it can shorten the length of the vertebrae.

What Does Fascia Do?

You already have a sense of what fascia does just by the different types of it, but that's only half the story. Remember, your fascia is one continuous complex with different formations within that system. So it connects our body parts, stretching and moving and relaxing with the movement of our muscles and bones but also with the nerves and vascular system that feed them.

Your fascia is also a trauma specialist - it creates scar tissue after an injury and tightens up to guard against creating more damage. When we use our muscles, our fascia is like a train line conductor, transferring force from one muscle to another to create coordinated, efficient movement while preventing injury and exhaustion.

Our fascia also absorbs nutrients from our capillaries/bloodstream. It delivers them to our cells and helps take out the trash from them, too. And, in one of the most astounding discoveries in the study of fascia, it's also a sensory organ embedded with nerve endings and mechanoreceptors responding to stimuli. This helps our posture and movement, awareness of where our body parts are, and our coordination as it facilitates communication from one part of the body to another.

It communicates all this information faster than our nerves themselves. In fact, our fascia makes up 70% of the nervous system. Messages from a cell conducted by the fascia to the brain arrive three times faster than those transmitted via a nerve.

Finally, our fascia also senses our positioning in space; it moves, stretches, and twists in all directions. As it responds to our changes in movement, sensing load and force in one part of the body, it changes the tension in other parts of the body to counteract them and keeps the body stable.

How to Keep Your Fascia Healthy

You're probably wondering, "How do I know if my fascia is healthy?" The first red flag is feeling stiff, sore feet, and an aching back. Fascia that's not in good health becomes thick, stiff, and brittle. This creates a cascade of increasing health problems.

Tightness leads to reduced mobility and pain. Your fascia becomes less efficient at absorbing nutrients to transport to your hungry cells, which can let the cellular trash pile up. You may experience migraine headaches and fatigue.

If you push through the pain without helping your fascia return to good health, you can create muscle tears and adhesions where the fascia fibers fuse with surrounding tissues. We can get adhesions from injuries, internal scars, and fascia trying to create stability for a system that's not functioning properly.

You can keep your fascia healthy by keeping hydrated. Fascia is more than 70% water. Your fascia can actually store water, and proper hydration makes your fascia flexible.

Beware of too much alcohol in your weekend "hydration;" it can be like static in your whole body communications system. Try to maintain a healthy weight for your skeletal structure size. Opt for an anti-inflammatory diet that supports connective tissue and reduces body-wide inflammation.

Make sure you move and stretch your body daily so your fascia gets a good stretch. Animals do this naturally, and humans are starting to mimic that with somatic stretching. 

Does Collagen Help Fascia?

Make sure you get enough protein; the thing your fascia needs for "food" is protein like AminoSculpt Liquid Collagen. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Your body needs a continuous supply to create more collagen and rebuild, repair, and rejuvenate its fascia.

Can You Harm Your Fascia?

In 2007, a researcher in Italy discovered that fascia is full of nerve endings. If your fascia is chronically inflamed, it grows more sensitive and can become a source of pain. If you are sedentary, your fascia can shorten because it's not being stretched regularly.

Your fascia can also become brittle and congeal in places, creating adhesions that impair movement and mobility. Over time, that regular routine of sitting - especially in front of a computer - can lead to physical changes and reshape your fascia.

On the other side of the coin is too much repetitive movement; it can lead to inflammation and injury, causing your fascia to become rigid or stuck together. Sadly, the older you are, the more it can lead to stiffness and pain. Chronic stress, physical injuries, surgeries, and even mental distress can also cause your fascia to be damaged.

Even though pain often makes us want to reach for an aspirin or NSAID to make us more comfortable, it's also essential to pay attention to it and determine the source of our pain.

Our damaged fascia will send messages to the brain that the body is experiencing pain. But, it will also try to shift/reposition the body to avoid that pain. This can end up causing other issues. But, if we pay attention to what we are feeling with an eye to how the fascia works when it's healthy, we can avoid long-term damage and find ways to relieve physical pain.

What to Feed Your Fascia

For the ongoing health of your fascia, look at what you eat. What you feed your fascia can help your body stay supple, flexible, and strong. Here are six easy ways to eat a more fascia-friendly diet.

1. Reach for antioxidant-rich foods that, handily enough, also help with collagen production. Foods like avocados, berries, bell peppers, citrus fruits, cocoa powder or dark chocolate, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, herbs (parsley, rosemary, and basil), honey, leafy greens, onions, spices (ginger and turmeric), tomatoes, and white or green tea.
2. Get your fiber. Fiber is essential for gut health and overall fascia health. Add beans, hard squashes, nuts (walnuts or pecans), and seeds (sunflower or chia) to your diet. You should get at least 25 grams of fiber each day. You can also use Ready Fiber to get 12 grams of fiber in a clear, unflavored liquid; add it to anything.
3. Include collagen-based foods like yogurt, kefir, fish, red meat, eggs, and oysters. You can also use AminoSculpt liquid collagen to get 10 to 18 grams of collagen in a single tasty serving.
4. Add plant-based proteins like pulses, grains, gluten-free pseudo-cereals (buckwheat, quinoa, and amaranth), nuts, seeds, and shoots.
5. Make friends with (healthy) fat! Remember, you need fat to get fit! Healthy Omega-3 fats can help reduce inflammation and support overall fascia health. Try to eat fatty fish (e.g., salmon, mackerel, and sardines), flaxseeds, chia seeds, and walnuts.
6. Get a helping of brassica vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower -- just remember to steam them a bit if you have thyroid issues.

How to Keep Your Fascia Fit

As you can guess, fascia fitness is vital to feeling fit as you age. I'm not saying you need to become a fitness model, but I highly recommend doing small things that will pay big dividends as you get older.

Try basic stretching for at least 10 minutes a day - you can use resistance bands or simple muscle activation workouts that won't cause you to break a sweat. Even chair yoga while you're at your desk is a good choice.

If you can, dedicate some time in your week to walking with purpose. Try to walk for about 20 minutes and do short bursts of fast walking during that time. A good pace, in general, is fast enough that you have to work to get words out. Try activities that involve a variety of movements like dancing, tennis, swimming -- even jumping jacks keep your fascia lubricated.

Several therapies are fascia-friendly. Try an Epsom bath at home or a foot soak in a dishpan. (Throw the water on your roses when you're done and watch them become more radiant, too!) If you have access to a sauna, sweating out those toxins helps lighten the load on your fascia.

If you have adhesions around scars or general tightness, an experienced massage therapist can help you get that fascia flexible again. Many people also like cupping to help improve circulation and movement. You can also approach yoga and Pilates as therapeutic movement classes, gently and slowly stretching your fascia to increase strength, flexibility, and elasticity.

Finally, you've probably seen a foam roller; these can be a little painful at first but, over time, will help refresh the flexibility of your fascia.

The number 1 enemy of your fascia is sitting for long periods! Without movement, our fascia becomes stiff and brittle. Add in some injuries, and your fascia can become "glued" in adhesions that make it tough to move, stretch, and bend.

Other bad things for our fascia are smoking and high sugar consumption, which creates brittle connections in our connective tissue and makes us look old before our time. Avoid all three of the fascia fiends!

So, What's The BEST Thing You Can Do For Your Fascia? Collagen!

As I explained earlier, collagen protein creates strength and flexibility in our fascia. It's also a key component found in our fascia's extracellular matrix (ECM). Our fascia itself helps produce collagen fibers from the fibroblasts in our fascia, but after age 30, it is less efficient at it.

The collagen fiber network that is so important to the mechanical strength of our fascia needs to be constantly replenished with micronutrients called amino acids. Adding liquid collagen, which contains amino acids, to your daily regime helps to ensure your fascia has enough nutrients for strength, resistance to tension, and stretch required by our fascial tissues (ligaments, tendons, sheaths, muscular fascia, and deeper fascia.)

The type of collagen most prevalent in your body is Type 1 collagen. If you supply your body with sufficient Type 1 resources, it can make all 27 types on its own. There's no need to take exotic versions of collagen!

But the key to nourishing your fascia with collagen quickly lies in your digestive system. Collagen on its own from an outside source is a big, lumbering nutrient that needs a lot of breakdown before entering your bloodstream. The race is to see if you can break it down quickly enough to be absorbed before your digestive system moves it down the digestive tract. The simple truth is you can't. You can get some collagen benefits, but generally, collagen that isn't hydrolyzed (predigested) wastes your money. This is why companies advertise that they have hydrolyzed collagen.

But here's an industry secret: most companies use the same twice hydrolyzed collagen from the same supplier. They add in other nutrients or other exotic forms of collagen as a marketing effort to stand out from the crowd (and charge more money), but you're basically getting the same low-grade collagen from most of the products in the market. This is why AminoSculpt liquid collagen is so different. It is hydrolyzed and cleaned three times using fruit enzymes. Health Direct is the only company that does this for consumers. Hospitals and care facilities use the same collagen, but only Health Direct makes it available to you.

If you want to feed your fascia, only AminoSculpt has the level of premium, bioidentical collagen micropeptides that can be absorbed into your bloodstream with virtually no digestion needed. You lose about 1% of your collagen each year after 30; that means you're robbing your fascia of one of its three components.

Signs your fascia isn't at its best are if it's not holding you together well, you're not pain-free and flexible, and communication throughout your body isn't moving quickly. Remember, your fascia communicates faster than your nerves.

Regular use of liquid collagen can turn back time on the outside, which is nice, but it's what's happening inside your body where the most significant improvements to your health are taking place...in your fascia.

Want to Learn More

• Read about the extra cellular matrix (ECM) - the intercellular elements that are not cellular in themselves.
• Here's a fascinating display of fascia and the ECM at work.
• Keep your fascia healthy with movement and stretching.
• Learn why fascia may be the key to relief from chronic pain and overcoming immune dysfunction
• Interested in cupping? How about a foam roller?
• Don't overlook the importance of your fascia.

References

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration.  This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.