Collagen is very à la mode at the moment. Before it was the elite who used it seeking the answer to eternal youth. Nowadays its benefits span much more than combatting skin dryness and wrinkles. It is renowned for building muscle mass, easing joint pain, burn fat and improve digestive health.
What is Collagen?
Collagen is a protein that is found in our muscles, joints, tendons, cartilage, and skin, to name a few tissue producing areas in the body. It is most commonly known as an injection to inflate lips and remove wrinkles. Aside from beauty esthetics Collagen can rebuild weak tissues around our joints, thus being effective when recovering from sports injuries or after a hard workout. Also, some people just lack collagen in their system! A lack of collagen can visibly result in dry, wrinkly skin, and affect our joint flexibility.
I don’t like needles!
And neither do I! I feel that it is not natural to pump and inject to make ourselves “more beautiful”. If you feel self-conscious click here to check out our blog from last week there may be some tips in there that could help you!
The other route I propose is increasing your collagen intake via food and supplements. Of course, there are creams out there but so many of them have a lot of extra unwanted ingredients, and not to mention that they are often tested on animals. Check out this blog for some DIY Skin Care recipes
Where is Collagen naturally sourced?
Rather than eating foods that contain collagen (unless you enjoy slow cooking animal tendons, joints, and ligaments into a broth) you can eat foods that will boost your own collagen production. Vitamin C is a HUGE collagen booster which can be found in citrus fruits and leafy greens. Some foods to note are:
Kiwis, berries, almonds, avocados, carrots - basically everything you eat as part of a healthy diet anyway, although I have never actually mentioned Kiwis before! Fruits are great as part of your breakfast but also I love to eat kiwis after my lunch! They are like a juicy tasty dessert, and of course, healthy.
Are supplements vegetarian?
It will be impossible to find a vegetarian collagen supplement as Collagen is an animal sourced protein. What you can find are collagen support supplements but they won’t have the same potency as a collagen building supplement. That is for you to decide in regards to your values. We at Vimerson Health sell a Glucosamine and Collagen supplement which contains collagen from bovine - this is actual collagen. We have competitors who promote their collagen products as Vegan or Vegetarian but if you look at the description it is usually a list of ingredients that together can help boost collagen.
When to take collagen?
Collagen is one of the largest proteins produced by our body, but as we get older we produce less. This why aged people wrinkle, have sore joints, difficulty with moving, hair loss, etc. It is also very good for people who work out consistently, or if you have an injury from sport or an accident. But do not go overboard with Collagen! Too much of it can have a hardening effect on your skin and some organ issues can arise. Age prevention does not need to start in your 20’s.
Vimerson Health Team
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