How is your skin faring the cold, harsh winter months? Perhaps you’re on the other side of the world, where the sun is beaming down and causing your skin to dry out for different reasons. Wherever you are right now, and whatever stage you’re at in life, collagen is an essential component of our skin’s health, as well as the rest of our body.
In fact, collagen is one of the most important – and common – proteins that you can find in your body. From our organs to bones and, of course, skin, collagen is everywhere. Naturally, if you want to start the anti-aging process already to take care of your skin for the future, you need to consider how much collagen you're getting in your diet.
Eating your collagen is one of the best ways to get it. You can take care of your skin's collagen levels through skincare, as well, which we'll talk about a bit more below. Let's take a look at how to get more collagen in your diet.
Try a Supplement
- One of the most common forms of collagen on the market right now is bovine collagen, and the easiest way to take it is through a dietary supplement that you can add to various foods. You can get your collagen supplement either as a flavorless powder that you can dissolve into your morning smoothie or with an exciting array of flavors. Some of them come complete with prebiotics.
- The great thing about collagen supplements is that they’re easy to incorporate into your diet. We like to add collagen powder to our morning green smoothie
Try a Bit of Bone Broth
- If you’ve been keeping up with the beauty industry lately, you might have noticed that some of the rich and famous have been dabbling in a bit of bone broth to keep them youthful. While this is by no means a new discovery, it’s understandable if you haven’t really associated bone broth with health. Pairing it with soup makes it all very easy.
- Bone broth is both high in collagen and high in protein, and all you have to do is slowly simmer animal bones for a few hours at a time. Check out this bone broth recipe here for inspiration.
- If you don’t have hours right now to devote to creating a bone concoction that’s high in collagen, there are plenty of wellness stores out there that sell it. The good news is that this particular collagen-rich meal is also delicious, so we don’t think that you’ll have any trouble getting it down.
Try a Collagen Muffin Recipe
- Going back to the collagen supplements for a second, another way that you can take your daily dose of skincare is by baking it into a muffin mix. Of course, if this is your preferred way of taking it, there’s no limit to what kind of muffin mixture you use – as long as the supplement itself is flavorless.
- Perhaps you might want to try making berry chia muffins, so they're slightly on the sweet side, but still on the healthy side as well. Simply add your daily dose of collagen powder into the mixture before you bake them, and voila – you've got a beautifully made, delicious collagen muffin that can help you keep your skin and bones in check.
Foods That Are Rich in Collagen
- If you’re not someone who is particularly partial to collagen supplements, bone broth, or even muffins. Don’t worry, though – there are plenty of other foods out there that can provide you with the collagen you need.
- Try chicken, beef, fish – with the skin on – and eggs. While you’re at it, make sure that you’re getting enough zinc, copper, and Vitamin C, because all of these vitamins and minerals help your body absorb the collagen better.