What exactly is Collagen and should you be adding it to your diet?! To be honest, when I first heard about Collagen a few years ago I was a little freaked out. I haven’t eaten meat since High school because it was hard for my body to digest it and break it down. Since most collagen is made from the bone marrow and cartilage of cows, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to consume it. Since my diet is mostly plant based, with also consuming eggs and eating fish about 3 times a week, I am always game to add more protein to my diet considering my very active lifestyle.
Collagen is an amino acid composition found in our skin, bones, tendons, ligaments, and connective tissues. These substances naturally make up a third of all the protein in our bodies. As we age, we slowly make less collagen… resulting in weaker bones, wrinkles in our skin, and pain in our joints.
It is known that adding a Collagen supplement to your diet can help with building lean muscle, prevent arthritis, improve your skin elasticity, help strengthen your joints and ligaments, brain health, heart health, hair and nail health, and improve leaky gut syndrome!! I highly recommend using a high quality collagen peptide powder. Peptides are more easily absorbed in the body because they are already broken down and ready to digest. My favorite is from Vital Proteins! They have a great unflavored powder that is extremely versatile. When I add it to my smoothies and baked goods, you can’t taste it and it doesn’t mess with the texture of your food.
There are many types of Collagen supplements out there and it’s important that you pick one that is grass fed, and hormone and cruelty free. Some of the most popular types of Collagen are made from Bovine (cow), chicken, Marine collagen (fish). When looking for a brand just do your research and make sure it is quality so you can reap all the amazing benefits it has to offer!
With my experience of adding Collagen to my diet consistently for the past 2 years, I have noticed a huge difference in my overall health. With being very active every day I used to have many injuries. I had chronic shin splints, plantars fasciitis, pulled hamstrings, and tendonitis in my sitz bones. I can proudly say that all of those injuries are completely gone, and I still can’t believe it writing this right now. It is amazing how your diet is strongly correlated with how your body functions! Everybody is different and I would love to know if you try collagen and how you feel it is impacting your health!
