Just about every moisturiser sold today contains collagen and there is a wide range of “collagen fortifying” vitamins available in any health-care aisle. Many of your beauty woes are because after the age of 35, the body starts producing less collagen. This in turn means that skin loses firmness and gradually starts to wrinkle and sag. There are many expensive cosmetics, treatments, supplements and even surgical procedures but the best solution might be much simpler.
Beauty starts from within, and not only in the “personality matters most” kind of way! When you are healthy, your body will look its best on the outside too. Put as many products on your skin as you want, you will ultimately be better off improving your diet!
Collagen And Your Skin
Collagen makes up the tissues of your skin, muscles, blood vessels, your joints, tendons, the lining of your gut, and the membranes that surround your organs. It is a very important nutrient and ingesting foods that are rich in collagen/gelatine can be very beneficial to your body, inside and out.
Collagen gives your skin its elasticity and also aids in the replacement of old skin cells. Collagen could be considered the “gluten” of your skin. When gluten (in dough) is kneaded, it forms elastic, gluey fibres. The skin contains similar fibers known as elastin, and collagen strengthens these fibres giving your skin elasticity, strength, fullness, and volume. It prevents the skin from sagging and developing the hollows that often accompany ageing.
As you age, environmental damage and diet and lifestyle choices damage the skin. Sun exposure, exposure to pollutants and chemicals, a high-sugar diet, and smoking can all wreak havoc on collagen production deplete your collagen levels.
Studies have found that supplementing with collagen is associated with improvements in skin barrier functions, increased hydration and reductions in signs of ageing on the skin, including wrinkles, fine lines, and sagging.
Furthermore, it is effective and necessary for wound healing as it promotes the replacement of old, dead skin cells with new ones. Collagen and collagen fibers are added to wound dressings to accelerate wound healing and prevent scarring.
From a Paleo perspective you would want to get more collagen into your diet naturally, as opposed to synthetically. Not only does it comply with the principles of eating real, whole foods, it is much more easily and readily absorbed by the body and much more effective at conveying its benefits for health.
Benefits Of Bone Broth For Your Skin
In nature, collagen is found in the skin, bones and joints of (preferably pasture raised) animals! When you cook down bones, it breaks down the collagen making it easily available and digestible. This form of cooked collagen is better known as gelatin.
Once the bones are cooked down yielding a gelatin rich bone broth, this nutrient-rich liquid can supply your body with much-needed collagen so you can prevent wrinkles and signs of aging.
Pete’s Paleo Bone Broth is made from the best sourced animals, slowly simmered and ready for you to drink or use – no extracting required!!
Want to make your own nutrient-rich bone broth – try this recipe
In addition to collagen-promoting gelatin, bone broth contains a rich content of three amino acids that are crucial for collagen production and maintaining the integrity of elastin fibres in the skin
Glycine
Daily consumption of glycine is crucial when looking to keep your skin looking its best. This amino acid is essential not only for a healthy metabolism but also, for collagen production as well.
Until recently glycine was always seen as a non-essential amino acid with the assumption that the body could make all that it needs. It is now understood that the body cannot make all of the glycine it needs from serine and ideally dietary sources would make up the slack.
A deficiency of dietary glycine can directly lead to ageing of not just the skin, but the tendons and muscles too.
Bone broth, rich in glycine, can be a healthy way to boost the youthful appearance of the skin, prevent ageing, and promote constant collagen production to fight the signs of ageing.
Proline
L-Proline is crucial for the production and synthesis of collagen. L-proline is a non-essential amino acid manufactured mainly from ornithine, glutamine, and glutamate in the liver. Proline is one of the primary amino acids needed to build collagen. It is a structural protein required to make the elastic fibres found in the skin, bones, ligaments and tendons. Together with lysine and vitamin C, proline is converted into hydroxylysine and hydroxyproline to help form collagen.
Recent research shows that by increasing the availability of l-proline it may be possible to slow down the ageing process and enhance skin health.
Arginine
Arginine is also vital for collagen production. It combines with carnitine in the body to form creatine, which stimulates the cells to produce both more collagen and elastin.
Creatine can also protect the cells from harmful substances by surrounding them with a film of water thus allowing the skin to replenish lost moisture. By enhancing and encouraging the production of creatine, arginine stimulates endogenous (internal) collagen production and supports the skin in retaining moisture, becoming thicker and having a smooth, fresh and wrinkle-free appearance.
Bone broth has even more skin-enhancing nutrients
Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs)
Hyaluronic acid has become a popular word in the anti-aging skin care industry with many clinics are offering hyaluronic acid injections as wrinkle fillers to reduce the appearance of lines on the face.
Bone broth contains glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), which are molecules found in the skin’s dermis, along with collagen and elastin. GAGs have a gel-like consistency and are used by the body to fill the space between collagen and elastin. This is what helps keep your skin plump and supple.
Hyaluronic acid is one of the many types of GAGs. In essence, bone broth provides the exact molecules used in dermal fillers but from whole food nutrition.
Minerals
Good circulation is essential for bright, glowing skin and the alkaline minerals bone broth provides encourage better oxygen flow throughout your body. The iron and zinc fund in a high quality broth are also important for wound healing, which can help reduce the appearance of red marks and scarring.
How to Use Bone Broth
You can sneak bone broth in to as many meals as you like. Soup or sipping it as a warm drink (Pete’s Paleo Broth is delicious this way) is the obvious choice but you can substitute it in places where you would usually use water.
Want your broth delivered to your door? Pete’s Paleo Bone Broth is made from the best sourced animals, slowly simmered and ready for you to drink or use – no extracting required!!
- Use as a base for a vegetable soup will give you the added benefits of anti-oxidants. Dark leafy greens like spinach and kale protect against the free radicals that breakdown collagen. Red vegetables like beets, tomatoes and red peppers are full of lycopene, which boosts collagen and protects against sun damage. Orange produce like carrots and sweet potatoes contain vitamin A, which restores damaged collagen.
- When braising proteins and greens try adding a splash of bone broth to give them some moisture and keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan. The liquid will evaporate but the minerals will remain.
- You could even try sneaking broth into popsicles like these fruity summer treats. As long as you do not add too much, the flavor will go unnoticed and every little bit counts.
Bone Broth is a treasure trove of all kinds of essentials for maintaining youthful skin. Rich in amino acids, gelatin, collagen, and other collagen and elastin-promoting compounds, bone broth is an essential food source to integrate into your Paleo diet to ensure your skin maintains its beauty and youthful texture.