The Collagen Your Body Is Asking For

If you haven't noticed, the supply of collagen our bodies starts to decline-- at like twenty five. Losing about 1% of our collagen a year from then on eventually leads to sagging skin, lackluster hair, brittle nails, stiff joints, digestive issues, wrinkles and more. Some races get off easier than others, but pretty much no one's completely immune. By age 50, we will have lost almost half the collagen from our skin. And since women make less collagen at any age than men, they are more likely to notice the changes.

How best to beat the clock?

For one, nutrient dense, primal nutrition. Yes, that means cooking and eating like your great grandmother (or great grandfather): soups and stews of ligaments, bones, marrow, and skin. It might even be time to discover or re-discover the joys of chicken feet.

In a pinch there is always the supplementation route. We like marine collagen or bovine collagen powder. The benefit to marine collagen is its superior bio-availability due to the smaller particle size of fish collagen peptides. Then again, probably one of the all time best sellers is the humble Great Lakes hydrolyzed (bovine) collagen powder. (The green canister.) You can snag a 16 oz supply for like twenty bucks. Go hog wild.

Linus Pauling was onto something.

Contrary to what your orthopedic surgeon might be telling you, the human body continually makes collagen (yes, even at 60 or 70 or 100) in order to maintain and repair connective tissues. Without adequate vitamin C (and a few other key nutrients), however, collagen formation will be disrupted. Loading up on vitamin C, but more through food than through tablets, will give your body the prime key ingredients it needs to stoke up the collagen mills. You can look up a list of ascorbic acid rich foods as easily as I can, but we're thinking kiwi, red and blue berries (better organic), just about all citrus, (raw) bell peppers (unsprayed only, please), broccoli, cauliflower and kale. Guava, fresh pineapple, papaya, jack fruit, mango and guanabana, if you're feeling tropical. Added bonus availing yourself of the cruciferous sources, as you'll be detoxing cancer causing estrogen metabolites at the same time.