Boosting Your Wellness with Collagen: A Chat with Cynthia Mancuso on The Debbie Nigro Show
If you’ve been curious about collagen and whether it actually works, my latest chat on The Debbie Nigro Show is just for you! I caught up with my longtime friend Cynthia Mancuso—who I recently spotted in an ad for Native Path Collagen—to find out why she’s such a fan and how it’s helped her feel better from the inside out.
I thought Cynthia would get a laugh out of my calling her out of the blue to see just how this collagen thing was working for her, because I’ve seriously been thinking about starting taking it but have not yet.
I knew Cynthia would smile and knew she’d be OK having some fun with me talking about it live on my radio show
Cynthia shared how she started taking collagen to help with joint pain, fatigue, and osteoporosis, and after a few months, she noticed big improvements—less knee pain, more energy, stronger nails, thicker hair, and firmer-looking skin.
She’s been adding two scoops of Native Path Collagen to her coffee every morning, and the results have been worth the consistency!
(BTW this is NOT a paid commercial for Native Path Collagen. Just a commercial for lovely Cynthia Mancuso who was featured in their collagen ad. LOL)
Cynthia and I also talked about the science behind collagen—did you know we start losing collagen in our 20’s and lose about half of our body’s natural collagen by age 60? Seems collagen supplements can help restore what’s been lost.
While research is still evolving, Cynthia swears by it, and after hearing her experience with collagen, I think I’m ready to give it a try too!
Obviously I must be low on supply by now. Ha!
If you’re looking for an easy wellness boost, tune in to this fun, informative conversation.
And stay tuned—Cynthia promised to report back on her next bone density test to see just how much of a difference this routine is making!
🎙 Listen to the podcast of our warm live conversation on The Debbie Nigro Show. If you’d rather read than listen the transcript of the audio is below.
0:00:00
And now, back to the Debbie Nigro Show.
3
0:00:03
If you need a drink, then I’m fine. If you need a minute to think, I’ve got time. If you need a shoulder, come over. It’s all good, baby, cry on mine.
1
0:00:17
Hey, we all need somebody.
And coming up, my next story here on my Wellness Wednesday edition of the big brain people just found out is the key to longevity and getting rid of stress and depression and it has a lot to do with some people being around you. Anyway, hi, I’m back. This is a great interview we’re about to have because I’m really excited that Cynthia Mancuso,
1
0:00:46
a gal who I used to see a lot but haven’t seen in a really long time. Great girl, a friend from way back is joining me in this segment right now. I happen to spot her and flip. I go, is that Cynthia Mancuso? In a collagen ad, as I was scrolling through Instagram and I’ve been thinking about taking collagen, I’m like, I got to call Cynthia.
1
0:01:06
This looks like it’s working for her. She says in her testimonial for Native Path Collagen in the ad, my joints were hurting, especially my knees. I was feeling fatigued and frustrated. I started taking native path collagen for about 10 months now. And after about three months, I felt less pain in my knees and was feeling more energetic.
1
0:01:26
The added benefits have been thicker, healthier hair, stronger nails, and firmer-looking skin. And that’s why she’s here on the show because she’s my go-to girl for college and now Cynthia hi there good to have you girl say hi Liliana can who say yeah anybody can say hi my granddaughter hey I love granddaughters how are you how are you Liliana how old are you oh seven and a half. You’re getting older now. You’re almost like a teenager.
2
0:02:08
No, no, no. Oh, don’t tell her that.
1
0:02:10
What does she call you? What’s your grandma name?
2
0:02:14
Mimi.
1
0:02:16
Ah, that’s cute. All right, well, me and Mimi are going to talk about why she’s looking so good. Is that okay, Liliana?
2
0:02:23
All right.
1
0:02:25
Okay. Okay, wow, that’s the greatest job in the world, grandma. Yeah.
2
0:02:34
Well, first of all, I want to know what your grandma name is.
1
0:02:37
Mimi, she calls me Mimi. Oh, right, right, great, great, I was conscious, I was right here. So Mimi. I knew that too. Mimi, I just said it, Mimi, you look beautiful.
2
0:02:49
What’s going on? Oh, so I take the collagen, I put two scoops in my coffee every morning. And I also added the bone health and the joint health. So I take all of them first thing in the morning in my coffee. That way it’s in all day long. My portions are taken care of.
4
0:03:09
And I do it every day.
1
0:03:10
Does it change the flavor of the coffee?
2
0:03:14
Absolutely not. You don’t even taste it. They do have flavored collagens, but I have the regular. But no, the regular, you don’t even taste it. You just put
1
0:03:23
it in your coffee and you go. It dissolves quickly. Okay, so I want to know, yeah, I want to know what started you on the collagen thing. Like what made you start taking it? Well, you could see like with
2
0:03:35
with the testimonial mostly was because my joints were always hurting, kind of like fatigue. I also was diagnosed with osteoporosis, so then I have to start taking on prolio, which I have to take every six months. So all of that started adding up. I’m going to do my research, and I said, let’s see what I can do to help us a little bit more. And I stumbled across the Native Path and did my research, you know, kind of followed them along.
2
0:04:07
They even on the Facebook, they have a great support group. And so I said, let me just give it a try. So I just started with the regular collagen first. And like you saw, you read in my testimonial, it just felt like things were starting to feel better. Now the sperm and skin, I think the jury’s still out on that one.
2
0:04:26
I always laugh when I see that. But with the nails definitely and the joints and even the thicker hair, when I was going to the hairdresser for her to get cut, it was like, wow, it grows so fast and thicker. So those are the great benefits of it. After that, I started seeing their other products and I said, you know, the bone health would probably help supplement the osteoporosis and I’ll be due for probably a density test
2
0:04:55
pretty soon to see if it’s really made a difference. I’m kind of anxious on that one. And then the joint health, it’s really helped with my knees especially because it’s supposed to help with the cartilage, you know, and so I really, I just feel like it’s made a big difference.
1
0:05:11
I was reading about the company and I was educating myself about collagen. I didn’t know by the time you’re 60 years old that like half the collagen that was naturally in your body is gone. It starts in your 20s and that when you lose collagen, it affects your hair and your skin and your nails and your joints and all kinds of things. But it’s restorable.
1
0:05:35
But I did notice that Native Path, the brand you chose, says you have to take this for a couple of months in order to see things change. Yes. Did you feel that?
2
0:05:46
Yes, it took a few months before I said, let’s just be diligent and really stay with it. Yes, it does take a while, but I think that’s with a lot of different products or different things that we always start with. We always want instant feelings, instant gratification. But I did, like after a few months, I’d say maybe three months or so, I started to feel things. I started noticing like even at night your legs weren’t as jumpy, you know, like when you have like the leg, what do you want to call it?
2
0:06:16
When they bother you at night. I know.
1
0:06:18
Restless leg syndrome. Restless leg syndrome. There you go. Thank you, Bob.
4
0:06:22
My brain doesn’t work either.
2
0:06:26
Thank you, Bob.
1
0:06:27
But…
4
0:06:28
Merezla’s brain syndrome. Yeah, there you go.
2
0:06:30
Leg syndrome. Or both. But I just felt like it was making a big difference. Now, you know, I do have arthritis, so there’s, you know, once in a while you get a little bit of flare up. It’s not a cure-all, but it helps, I think, with slowing things down, you know, like if
1
0:06:46
you set…
2
0:06:47
That’s great.
5
0:06:48
…like if you’re losing, yeah.
1
0:06:49
So, Cynthia, how did you get in the ad? Did you write them a note and then they called you?
2
0:06:55
Or did they just… How did that work? Oh, because I joined their Facebook group and I started getting involved. It’s a great support group. And one of the administrators, she’s always doing all kinds of challenges and, you know, different exercises she’ll offer, but like different challenges, which are always fun to do. So if you’re participating all the time, you kind of become one of their, you know, Facebook buddies or whatever. And then they would reach out and say, you know, what is it about it that you
2
0:07:24
like the best? And then eventually, one of the challenges she had, I want a year’s supply of the collagen. And then you just, it’s fun. And there’s support too, like if you have questions, you could throw it out there and other members will kind of give the answers, you know, yeah, I felt this way or, you know, different things like that. Or if you have questions about the product even, but yeah, then I’ve won a few other
2
0:07:51
things too with it. This is fun. It’s fun. It kind of keeps you motivated to like really say, okay, this is all worth it.
1
0:07:58
So that’s how I was reading, I went over to the Harvard review of collagen just to see what they had to say about it, what science says about collagen drinks and supplements. The first thing they said, the research on the skin, they did a review of 19 studies published in the International Journal of Dermatology that had a total of like 1,125 participants. And those who used collagen supplements saw an improvement in the firmness, suppleness, and moisture
1
0:08:28
content of the skin with wrinkles appearing less noticeable and it sounded promising but they did say there’s no like they didn’t know if it was just from the collagen or maybe they were having something else with vitamins. So there’s not a lot of evidence scientifically. Yeah there’s variables in there you’re right and everybody’s different. Everybody’s system is different too.
1
0:08:51
But that’s what I always say about the permanent skin. Yeah, but also they talked about the bones and the nails and all these things. A lot of people have had great success, but I don’t think they’ve really studied this long enough. But I have plenty of friends, including you,
1
0:09:06
who are like swear by it and take it every day. And if I’m going to try it, I wanted to get your take on it first. I like this brand, Native Path. Would you recommend
2
0:09:16
it? Oh, definitely. Plus, too, they call it grass-fed. It’s pretty clean, I would say. Yeah, I definitely find that it’s… As a matter of fact, I have my facts. You have
1
0:09:28
your what? I got my facts. Am I talking over you? There must be a delay, and somehow there’s a bit of a delay here. I apologize. Oh, okay. But Native Path grass-fed collagen has 10 grams of the highest quality grass-fed collagen from happy healthy cattle. I like the cattle and then they’re happy. And they have type 1 and type 3 fibers which make up over 90% of the collagen in your body. And these fiber types are the most important for healthy joints, bones, skin, hair, nails
1
0:09:55
and more. It sounds like you’re putting the fibers back in to sew everything back together. It sounds like it. It’s right, yeah. It’s like stuffing the stuffing back in a down vest. And then they also said that their grass-fed collagen is hydrolyzed, meaning it’s been
1
0:10:19
broken down into small peptides that digest easily and mix well in hot or cold beverages. Now say you put it in your coffee, have you ever just put it in
2
0:10:27
anything that wasn’t hot? No, I haven’t really. No, actually I haven’t. I just because I guess it was just that way if I send a routine that I don’t forget to do it. Yeah. To take it. Oh gosh. No, I haven’t. But they do claim that it dissolves in either hot or cold. And
1
0:10:45
I have no digestion issues, you know, with it either, which is good. Oh yeah we can’t have additional issues. Not really. Causes another issue. There’s always a one good one up and one down you’re like okay I cured that but now you have this oh geez can’t have that. We don’t want stomach issues and and yeah not good. Not good. So are you still very active where these joints matter? Like where you are you running or flipping or walking or going to the gym or doing anything like that?
2
0:11:16
No running and flipping isn’t happening, but we do, Chuck and I always walk, like, you know, we try to do power walk, like as many days as we can. We try to make it every day. Sometimes the zero degree weather kind of holds us up, but, and I’ve been doing like some of the hand weights, you know, so like any, they call it bearing, you know to add to it. So yeah I’m anxious to see where in this after my my density like it should be coming up soon to see if like the difference and everything the
1
0:11:51
improvement I hope. But in general. I hope you’ll report back on that. Yeah report back on that to me. I want to know how that went. Say hi to Chuck too. I’m going to do a shout out to Chuck.
2
0:12:03
Hello Chuck.
1
0:12:04
He’s right here.
8
0:12:05
Oh hi Chuck.
4
0:12:06
Hi Deb, how are you?
1
0:12:07
I’m glad you’re both walking. Good Chuck, nice talking to you.
7
0:12:11
Isn’t this funny?
6
0:12:12
Thanks for having Cynthia on today. It’s great hearing your voice Deb, take care.
1
0:12:17
Oh you too Chuck, that voice is unmistakable. Unmistakable. But you guys are doing about the same thing as me, just walking. Although you’re braver, I can’t walk in the freezing cold. I just did my whole spiel I finally after driving around the parking lot 50 times went into the gym and started going and started doing lightweights, too Yeah, yeah the winter isn’t we know we’re up here in New York and people who are listening in the tri-state area
1
0:12:40
It’s a very different scenario than people who live in warm weather climates You don’t have to like give up being outside and moving around it really it really affects your health not moving. So you have to force yourself Yeah, we do. We have to bundle up In fact, it’s so bad that I’m gonna post today on my social media the biggest icicle I’ve ever seen which is right outside my house and It just it’s not my favorite.
2
0:13:15
And the river across the street from our house is all frozen too. It’s pretty, but it really shows you how cold it’s been. That it’s like literally freezing over.
5
0:13:24
So it’s crazy.
1
0:13:25
Well, you sound like you guys are doing good, and I’m sure your great-grandparents, Mimi, to that cute little granddaughter. How many grandkids do you guys have?
2
0:13:34
We just have her, spoiled princess.
1
0:13:36
Oh, she’s… It’s the greatest gift, isn’t it?
2
0:13:40
Absolutely. I know you’re enjoying yours too.
1
0:13:44
Yeah, we have two and one on the way.
2
0:13:47
Oh, great. Well, that’s great. Right?
4
0:13:50
They keep you busy.
1
0:13:52
I looked at my daughter, because I, you know, I only have one child, and I looked at her, I go, who are you? The mother of three. I said, you must be terrific, because I raised you, but, you know, thank goodness. You always hope your kids turn out. You always hope your kids turn out okay, but along the way, there’s always a moment when you kind of doubt yourself.
1
0:14:09
You’re like, oh, I hope I did the right thing. All right, Cynthia Mancuso, you are a doll to take the time today. Thank you, dear.
2
0:14:18
Thanks, Debbie. Good to hear from you.
1
0:14:21
Yeah, so nice having you and having you just honestly talk about this collagen thing I do want to hear back from you after you go to your phone density to see how the Yeah, and a shout out to native path collagen that nice company that’s doing the right thing by all right Shout out, and I guess I’m gonna have to try it now so congratulations to you for convincing me Great, and let me know how you like it I? Will do that all right have a great day. Bye. Bye take care
