Last week I stood on my little soapbox and sang the praises of being an older woman. Today I’m going to flip things around a little and talk about one of my favorite anti-aging supplements….collagen! I may appreciate the wisdom and other good stuff that comes with age, but if you think I’m gonna sit around and let Father Time have his way with me, you’re wrong. I plan on going down swinging in my battle with him. I’m not ready to look like the Crypt Keeper just yet (although there are some mornings when that can’t be helped)….and I have my holistic arsenal ready for battle.
I’ve written a little about collagen in an earlier post regarding healthy skin. Just enough to give you some basic info, but the more I use this stuff, the more I want to praise its benefits and share them with everyone! So…what exactly is collagen? Collagen is the main structural complex protein that is found in our connective tissues, bones, blood vessels, digestive system, and skin. Some experts like to say that collagen is like the glue that keeps our bodies together. When we’re kids we have an overabundance of this stuff coursing through our bodies, but as we age, we naturally stop producing as much. The result is seen in our skin, hair, nails, joints, digestion, and even muscle tone. Things start to get sluggish, painful, dull, and brittle. No fun, right?
What makes collagen a complex protein is the fact that it is made up of 19 different amino acids which include glutamine, arginine, proline, and glycine. These are also the amino acids that most of us don’t get in our regular diets, and without them our bodies just don’t function optimally as we age. Adding a collagen supplement to your daily diet works wonders to help slow down the aging process and give you brighter, plumper skin, and thicker, stronger nails, teeth, and hair….but that’s not all. Supplementing with collagen also helps your digestive system work better, and has been shown to help heal Leaky Gut Syndrome. It helps boost your metabolism, energy output, and muscle mass, and if that isn’t enough, it also helps repair joints.
So, can you see how important collagen is? I mean, I love the stuff. I’ve been taking it for a year now, and plan on taking it forever. Two scoops of collagen powder in my coffee every morning….and it really has kept my skin youthful, and helped so much with my hair and nails. Knowing it’s doing other good stuff on the inside is icing on the cake. I recently had someone reach out to me that read my original post mentioning collagen, to let me know that her skin and hair have also shown significant improvement as have her energy levels. I love getting emails like that!
I swear by the stuff, but also have to point out that, as with anything, quality is so important. There are two companies that I trust, Great Lakes and Vital Proteins. Their collagen is harvested from grass-fed, pasture raised cows, and the powder is completely taste-less and scent-less. You can add it to your coffee, tea, smoothie, juice, pretty much everything (maybe not wine)….and it won’t change the flavor or consistency of your drink. You’ll just be changing your beverage into something really beneficial.
We may not be able to stop growing older, but we can definitely do things to make the signs slow down while boosting our overall health. Cup of collagen, anyone? I’m about to put on the kettle!
**As an affiliate, I may make a small portion of some of the sales made via some of the links in my blog.
