8 Collagen-Rich Foods To Add To Your Diet

Eating foods rich in collagen is a definite way to help your skin, hair, and general well-being. Collagen ensures your skin remains firm, your hair grows stronger, and your joints are sleek with flexibility. This also rejuvenates the health of your tendons, ligaments, and bones. As for the production of collagen, it wanes off as age sets in, and this could just be why wrinkles and aches come into play. Fortunately, some foods will help you increase your collagen levels so such a thing becomes possible.

Read on for some of the best foods to consider working into your diet daily.

1. Bone Broth

Bone broth is full of collagen. Beginning with the slow cooking of the broth, it elicits collagen and other nutrients from the bones into a broth. It pulls out gelatin—that is, collagen—from the bones, in addition to minerals. Drinking bone broth is said to make your skin elastic and relieve you from the pain associated with your joints.

There are just too many different ways of enjoying bone broth in your diet. You could warm some up to drink on its own during winter—a very palindrome time in itself. Most of all, it is a good base for soups and stews, and you can also enhance rice or quinoa when cooking these with it.

2. Chicken

The chicken is another wonderful source of collagen protein. The chicken contains huge amounts of collagen in the connective tissues of its body parts. By eating chicken foodstuffs, your body can more or less receive the ability to clear the skin from numerous defects and increase the working pace of your joints. Chicken feet Type II collagen is used to cook different types of soups and broths globally.

Among the most delightful options, grilling, baking, or roasting chicken breasts will get you one of the leanest sources of protein. Shredded chicken will be good for salads, sandwiches, or tacos for some quick, on-the-go meals. This is where you can score as much collagen as possible, taking the full chicken with cooking—bones, and skin.

3. Fish And Shellfish

Fish and shellfish skin/bones contain rich sources of collagen. Rich in content, these fish, when included in the diet, deliver maximum amounts of collagen. They include salmon, tuna, and mackerel. Fish collagen contains a higher level of bioavailability than all other collagen types. Bioavailability is a degree of absorption into the body and utilization compared to other collagen types.

You will keep your skin more hydrated and elastic if you consume fish regularly. Grilled or baked fish taste wonderful and make excellent healthy food. Now, fish skin, commonly discarded or ignored, turns out to be a great source of collagen, crispy in taste when properly cooked. Another set that produces collagen from your typical intake can be accelerated by adding to your diet more shellfish-like shrimp, crab, lobster, etc.

4. Egg Whites

The amino acid proline, which is abundant in egg whites, plays a role in the production of collagen in the body. Proline helps to structurally provide for collagen and promotes healthy skin, joints, and muscles. Just adding some egg whites into an omelet or scrambled eggs can make a protein-based breakfast at the beginning of the day.

The egg whites could also be used for various processes, such as whisking for meringues or even added to a smoothie for extra proteins. These are not all the enhanced roles of binding agents in their respective recipes. Finally, eating egg whites every day increases your natural production of collagen in the human body.

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5. Citrus Fruits

Citrus fruits are a rich source of vitamin C, a substance essential for the right constitution of collagen. It has been shown that vitamin C is a co-factor in the conversion of proline into hydroxyproline, another compound in collagen. Eating such fruits boosts the potential of your body to bring up the compound on its way to healthy skin.

Citrus fruits are great in so many tasty ways. Fresh-squeezed orange or grapefruit juice tastes refreshing plus good for you. They could be added to salads, which give one bravado in flavor and add some nutrition to your salad. Enjoy them plain otherwise. These are a delicious healthy snack or pair well with yogurt.

6. Berries

They taste yummy, but that's not all; they are packed with antioxidants and vitamin C, which, combined, will most certainly protect the skin and help increase collagen production. The antioxidants in berries fight free radicals that can do damage to collagen and hasten the process of aging.

A quick and delicious way to pump up your nutrition is by adding berries to your meal plan. Add a small handful of berries to your breakfast cereal, oatmeal, or yogurt. Not only will it have added flavor, but it also adds something nutritionally valuable. Plus, due to their natural sweetness, berries make the perfect addition to virtually any smoothie.

7. Garlic

Not only does garlic flavor your food, but it also increases collagen in your skin. Garlic is jam-packed with sulfur-containing elements plentiful for synthesizing and preventing the breakdown of collagen. Adding garlic to your meal will help you to maintain your skin and joints in good condition.

For that reason, garlic can be added to anything from savory soups and stews to stir-fries and roasted vegetables. Of all forms, the highest garlic content with respect to sulfur compounds is in the raw form, so adding it to things like dressings, salsas, and dips will help one to get more of its benefits.

8. Leafy Greens

Spinach, kale, and Swiss chard are all green leafy vegetables that contain a lot of essential vitamins and minerals for the collagen synthesis mechanism. The vitamin C, vitamin A, and numerous antioxidants in which such vegetables are rich go a long way in rejuvenating the skin while protecting against collagen degradation.

The diet can easily be increased with leafy green vegetables, and their versatility can be highly instrumental. You can add them to salads or smoothies or use them in vegetable wraps. Quickly sautéing the leafy greens can be done with garlic and a little bit of olive oil; it's quite simple. There you have a nutritious side dish.

Conclusion

These very nutritious foods packed with collagen, will give good health a boost and keep your skin youthful. The diet should be well balanced with all these to help ensure the production of body collagen. Bone broth, chicken, fish, egg whites, citrus fruits, berries, garlic, and leafy green vegetables will give you elastic skin, strong hair/nails, and flexible joints.