Plant Based Collagen for glowing youthful skin

Collagen is the main structural protein in the extracellular matrix found in the body’s various connective tissues. It is the most plentiful protein in your body and is one of the major building blocks of your bones, muscles, skin and tendons. You can think of it as a kind of glue that holds all these things together.

Collagen plays an important role in providing structure and elasticity to your skin, but as we age our body produces less and lower quality collagen. As we lose collagen our skin becomes less firm and starts to wrinkle.

Even though our body’s natural collagen levels decrease as we age, there are ways to help the body produce this protein by eating certain nutrients and foods which support collagen production as well as making lifestyle choices.

Here are some ways in which you can boost your body’s collagen production as well as protect the collagen in your skin.

1. Collagen Boosting Foods

As of now, unfortunately most Collagen supplements which are currently on the market and foods which contain collagen come from animal sources. However, you can help your body to naturally produce more collagen by eating plant foods which contain the most abundant amino acids which are found in collagen(Glycine, Lysine and Proline) and boost your collagen production this way. Additionally getting enough Vitamin C and Copper is also important for Collagen production.

Here are some Plant foods which contain essential amino acids necessary for Collagen production

Proline rich foods: Cabbage, Asparagus and Mushrooms.

Glycine Rich foods: Beans, nuts and seeds.

Copper Rich foods: Sesame Seeds, Cocoa powder, cashews and lentils.

Vitamin C Rich foods: Citrus fruits, Bell Peppers and Strawberries.

Lysine rich foods: Quinoa, Legumes, Tempeh, Soy Milk, Pumpkin seeds, and Beans.

As you can see there is a pretty wide list of plant based foods containing the essential amino acids your body needs in order to produce collagen. These are all foods that are super easy to incorporate into your diet so before you spend your money on expensive supplements make sure that you i include some of these.

2. Don’t Smoke

If you care about your skin, don’t smoke. Many chemicals present in tobacco smoke, damage both elastin and collagen in the skin. Additionally Nicotine narrows the blood vessels in the outer layer of the skin, compromising skin health by reducing the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the skin.

3. Avoid excessive sun exposure

Exposure to Ultraviolet rays causes collagen to break down faster and damages collagen fibres. The UV rays in sunlight damage the collagen in the dermis making the skin rebuild incorrectly and forming wrinkles. Hence if you want to preserve your collagen, it is very important to minimise your exposure to the sun. Even if you wear sun screen, sun bathing and spending excessive time in the sun is an absolute killer for your skin.

4. Stay away from sugar and too many refined carbs

Having a high sugar diet is absolutely detrimental for your skin. Eating too many high sugar and high carb products increases the rate of gycation , which is a process in which blood sugars attach to proteins to form new molecules that are called Advanced Glycation End Products (AGES).

These AGES end up damaging nearby proteins and make collagen brittle, dry and weak.

5. Plant Based supplements

I believe that plant based supplements to support Collagen production can be a great addition to already eating foods that promote Collagen production. I am a firm believer to always start with your diet and then add some additional products such as supplements. These days there are more and more great plant based collagen supporting supplements on the market, such as Plant Collagen superfood mix by yoursuper.com. It has a delicious Vanilla flavour, is great to add to Lattes and Smoothies, and made from Collagen promoting real plant foods.

As you can see, maintaining healthy Collagen and promoting your body’s natural collagen production isn’t that hard. There is a lot to be done by eating a well balanced, healthy diet and making the right lifestyle choices. We all get older and our skin will change eventually, but we definitely have the ability to slow down this process and age gracefully. So, it’s up to you, what you put into your body and how you live will pay off eventually.