If you’re anything like me, you probably heard about maca root because someone (social media) told you it’ll help you get curves. Twenty-something-year-old me wanted to lose weight and keep my curves. Or maybe you just wanted to get some curves. Thirty-year-old me takes it to balance my hormones.
I’ve taken maca root on and off for four years, so I want to share my experience and additional ways this superfood might be beneficial to you.
What is it?
Maca root is a popular superfood from Peru. It’s a part of the radish family, and it is beneficial in balancing hormones, providing energy, mood enhancing, strengthen the immune system, sexual health, and more!
It grows in the Andes at high altitudes of over 7,000ft and takes eight months to form. Just one month shy of avocados.
Types
If you’re an Amazon shopper like me, it’s easy to go for the maca root with the most or best results, but they’re other things you need to consider like the color of the root. Do you know which maca to take?
Yellow maca is the most common and affordable. It’s good for boosting your energy, enhancing concentration, and balancing hormones.
Red is usually suggested for women. It balances hormones and is great for female fertility and bone and prostate health.
Black Maca is recommended for guys and people who weight train. It’s great for muscle building, endurance, mental focus, male libido, and fertility. 
Go raw?
Now that you know the types, you’re going to have to decide if you want to go raw or get gelatinized maca root.
What’s the difference?
If your stomach errs on the sensitive side like mine, I’d suggest gelatinized maca. The starch is removed, and you get a higher concentration of some of the nutrients. The downside of the starch removal process is that the enzymes are destroyed when the root is heated to remove the starch.
Raw maca is never heated above 115° F. This preserves all the nutrients and enzymes of the root. The only downfall I found was a slight chance of indigestion and gas.
The burning question!
Maca sounds great right? Well, here’s the thing: does it make you “thick”? Yes and no. Maca is an adaptogen. It adapts to your body’s needs. From my experience, if you’re already shaped like a coke bottle, it’ll enhance your shape. If you’re not, then you won’t see massive changes in your shape.
Maca helps balances your hormones, so if you see your body changing, then that’s it helping your body even out to its healthy state.
Can I be honest for a second? This is the part where I pretend I’m a preacher in a Southern Baptist church. I’m asking the congregation to gas me up because the sermon is so bomb, and all the church aunties are yelling, “Go head, Pastah! Take yo time!” accompanied by a hand swatting the air and a handful of loud claps echoing in the sanctuary.
So, here it is…
For some body types, maca won’t give you curves, and that’s okay. When I was at 120lbs, I wasn’t as shapely as I first was. I broke my toe and couldn’t do sprints anymore, but I loved working out. I started consistently weight training and was able to build my healthy curves, sans the tire around my waist, and I was still as soft as a Tellytubby.
Beware!
maca can make you hungry! So, if you’re not working out and eating fairly well, you will gain some weight.
Balancing hormones is my main reason for taking maca root. I talk about my issues surrounding a cyst here, and how it gave me hell. Seeing as cysts and fibroids happen when you’re producing more estrogen than progesterone, I decided maca root would be great for my nutritional needs. In fact, the only other time that I had cyst issues was when I’d take a long (six months or more) break from taking maca root. 
Powder or pill?
In my experience, either works well. I like adding a teaspoon in my morning smoothies to get me going in the mornings. I’m not a coffee person, I prefer matcha tea and there are a few reasons why. I usually take it for three weeks and give my body a during my cycle and swap it out for raspberry leaf tea. I mention it here.
The Georgia humidity is in full effect! lol
Recipe:
- Handful of spinach
- One banana
- 1/2- 1 cup of frozen mango
- 1 cup of Nut milk (almond)
- Maca root (per instructions)
- Water for desired texture
- Milk thistle powder (optional)
Cliff notes…
Maca is great for the following:
- Energy
- Better mood
- Fertility
- Libido
- Thickness
- Thyroid
- Balancing hormones
- Building muscles
As you can see, maca is great for women and men! If you watch my Instastories, you’ll know to expect a morning smoothie from me almost every day! I love incorporating my supplements into my smoothies early in the day so that my body can get a healthy start to the day. Here’s one of my morning smoothie recipes that includes maca, and here is the maca I use, it’s currently $13.29.
So, which supplements are you in love with? I wish you warm weather and a healthier you! Cheers!
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