Benefits of Collagen

Have you tried collagen? If you've ever eaten Jell-o or any type of gelatin, the answer is YES. But are you getting this vital form of protein in your daily diet? I'm guessing for most of us, the answer is NO.

Why add collagen to your list of daily supplements?

Collagen comes from the joints--specifically the connective tissue--of animals. Because we are animals, our joints also contain collagen. But collagen is also found in our skin, hair, and cartilage. Collagen provides structure, making our skin firmer, our hair thicker, our bones stronger. All of this translates to younger-looking and healthier skin, hair, and bones.

Not to mention, collagen contains about 20 different amino acids, many of which are not available in muscle meats--like chicken and turkey breast--the type of meat we tend to eat. Most of us don't eat the connective tissue when we eat meat, so these amino acids are usually missing from our diet. Unless you cook your own bone broth, you are not getting the benefits of collagen. Without collagen, our joints tend to break down, our skin wrinkles, our faces fall, and our hair gets thin and limp.

Yes, collagen can make us look better and younger!

But this is not the only benefit. Collagen has been shown to help the digestive system, to support joint health, to promote restful sleep, and to assist in post-workout recovery.

How can you add collagen to your diet?

1) Buy whole chickens, beef bones, or other carcasses and cook them down for long enough to extract the collagen from the cartilage, joints, and connective tissues. This means a minimum of 24 hours for a chicken carcass and at least 48 hours for bigger bones like beef knuckle bones. You can be sure you have collagen in your bone broth if it turns gelatinous once it has been refrigerated.

2) Purchase hydrolyzed collagen. This comes as a powder and will completely dissolve in both hot and cold drinks. It has absolutely no taste, so you can put it in any drink and it will be undetectable. I had some in my coffee today, but it works in smoothies, juices, tea or whatever you like to drink.

I will be continuing my experiment with added collagen. After a month or two, I'll post an update and let you know if I'm looking younger, sleeping better, jumping higher, and feeling fantasticker...