Whether you like it or not and I guess not because as we get older with age, our skin starts to lose its elasticity and begin to look dull, saggy, wrinkly, dotted with age spots and other skin blemishes and as such, we will be looking older and older. There is no escape from the merciless ravages of time, isn't it?

One of the main reasons for the flaws in our skin becoming more and more apparent is because of the loss of collagen or collagen deficiency, which is an important protein to keep the skin youthful and bright. Collagen is the most plentiful protein in our bodies and is also a domineering protein vital for our connective tissues to remain healthy and strong. While collagen is usually associated with beautiful skin and skin care, this protein is also absolutely required for the good health of our hair, nails, bones, muscles, organs, tendons and ligaments.

As a person gets older with age, the collagen level continues to drop incessantly and thus the aging process starts to show up more and more with the appearances of wrinkles and fine lines on the face and other parts of the body. Some people will even start to get stiffness in their joints while others will develop painful chronic medical conditions such as arthritis and degenerative joint diseases such as back pain, painful hips, creaky knees and neck pain among other age related medical conditions. Since our own collagen production declines with age, then it is paramount that we get enough of it from other sources such as from the foods that we eat, collagen supplements, topical creams and serums.

Your internal organs can also play a part in influencing the production of your natural collagen and the health of your skin and some if the reasons are as follows :-

a) If your thyroid gland is not functioning properly as it is meant to, it can lead to undesirable skin conditions such as acne, wrinkles, dry flaky skin and a sallow skin complexion. The this is because your thyroid's hormones can affect several important bodily activities especially those that are related to your metabolic processes such as in regulating your heart beat, breathing intervals, your body weight, fatigue, your body temperature and so on and so forth. Therefore any problem in the thyroid can give rise to various medical conditions which at times can be quite ominous.

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b) The health of your endocrine system (hormonal system) can also jeopardize the health of your skin when it produces insufficient hormones that are vital for healthy looking skin. One such hormone is the human growth hormone, also commonly known as Hgh.

c) Your intestines absorb the nutrients from the foods that you eat and send the nutrients into your bloodstream to be circulated to all parts of your body. The remnants of the food which were not absorbed as nutrients becomes toxic wastes which will cause skin problems among other health issues. Therefore it is vital to move your bowels more frequently.

Your lifestyle and environmental circumstances around you can also have a negative impact your skin health and collagen production such as smoking, pollution, stressful living, too much sun exposure, free radicals, alcohol indulgences, eating too much processed food, taking drugs and so on. Although over exposure to the sun is bad for the skin, it is important that you do not avoid the sun completely as it is an important source of Vitamin D and the vitamin is needed for the absorption of calcium which is vital for your bone health.





















One of the best food to replenish your collagen level is bone broth. Since collagen is found in animals' connective tissues and bones, boiling meat and bones to make bone broth and soup to consume is a very good way to add collagen into your diet. Slurping up the meat and bone broth not only supplement your collagen intake, they also have anti inflammatory substances to sooth aching muscles and joints. 

Make meat and bone broth by boiling them and add other ingredients like herbs and spices for more delicious taste. Boiling the meat and bones breaks down the collagen in them and you will see the gelatin and fat floating on top of the broth. Please do not scoop them off as most people do as this layer of oily gooey stuff contains collagen. You may also add some animal organs into the boiling pot for more variety. Some animal organs like the heart and liver contains plenty of collagen too.

Take a page from the orientals like the Chinese, Korean and the Japanese. They have a communal way of eating which can be very rich in collagen. The Chinese calls it steamboat while the Koreans and Japanese calls it hotpot. They will have a boiling pot of soup in the middle of the dining table and then everyone tosses in whatever they fancy eating into the bubbling broth. They will throw in all kinds of food into the pot such as seafood, various types of vegetables, meat, bones, animal organs, vegetables and so on.

















Another good source of collagen rich food is eating animal's connective tissues especially that of a cow (bovine collagen). Bovine collagen also contains glycine that is required for the building up of the RNA and DNA strands. These strands are necessary for your body's production of creatine which is needed for muscle development and repair. Bovine collagen also have an amino acid called proline. This amino acid plays an important function in helping your body to produce more its own collagen.

Eat animal skin whenever you have them in your meals. Do not throw the skin away. Many people tend to avoid consuming animal skins such as chicken skin because of its high content of saturated fat. This is because they are simply have no idea that animal skins contain a lot of connective tissues which means plenty of collagen. Such a needless waste, don't you think so?

You should also supplement your diet with more Vitamins A, C and E as these vitamins can help to replenish collagen levels. They are also very powerful anti-oxidant for healthy glowing skin. Also it is very important to avoid alcohol and smoking cigarettes as these indulgences can lead to the deficiency of these vital vitamins. This is one of the reasons why alcohol drinkers and smokers often look older than they actually are, don't you agree?



















Retinol (derived from vitamin A) is another powerful antioxidant that helps to mop up ravaging free radicals which can cause devastating and permanent damages to your skin as well as other parts of the body. Retinol not only helps to avert the destruction of collagen from overexposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays, it can also helps to increase and boost your own collagen production. However in many countries, you can only get your hands on oral retinol with a doctor's prescription. 

Another way to supplement your collagen level is via injections administered by your medical professional. However, these injections can be rather costly and you need to go for another injection when the positive effects of the previous injection wears off.

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So are there many ways to replenish and increase your collagen level. Scientists and researchers have formulated the Collagen Intensive anti-aging cream using natural active ingredients to stimulate and boost your skin's natural production of collagen. Your skin will appear firmer and more supple as your body's capability to produce collagen is retched up. Your skin, nails and hair will also begin to mend itself from the devastating effects of sun damage, pollution exposure and smoking. Check out what is this Collagen Intensive anti-aging cream here.






 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1) If our bodies produce collagen naturally, why should I eat more collagen rich foods? - It all boils down to the aging process. As we get older with age, from our twenties onward, our natural production of natural occurring collage begins to decline. The older you get, the less your system produces it and that is one of the reasons why we see wrinkles, skin pigmentation and joint pains becoming more and more pronounced.

So in order to make up for the incremental scarcity of collagen in our systems, we should consume more foods that are rich in collagen or even supplementing them with health supplements containing this protein.


2) What are the tell tale signs of low collagen levels in the body? - Well, there are quite a few physical symptoms you may notice because collagen is a very important protein and being deficient of it can lead to several problems, especially those regarding skin, teeth, bones, hair nails, muscle and joints. Here below, we will discuss just a few of them.

Firstly your cartilages and tendons will degenerate through normal wear and tear or will be wrecked by diseases such as arthritis. Without enough collagen to repair and to slow down the degeneration of the cartilages and tendons, you will experience joint stiffness, joint disfiguration and even chronic pain in the joints. 

Because collagen is needed for good skin health, a deficiency of this protein will cause wrinkles, fine lines, eye bags and other skin blemishes to develop much faster than they usually would. Since the shortage of collagen affects your skin health, your skin becomes thinner making it more prone to skin inflammation, allergies and sun damage and as such, speeding up the process of aging skin making you looking older than you should be. 

If you noticed that your hair is dull and limp, this can also be attributed to collagen scarcity since collagen is found in your hair follicles which helps to feed your hair with nourishing nutrients. Not enough collagen may mean that not enough nutrients are being fed to your crowning glory, that is, if you still have a full head of hair. So low levels of collagen will result in making your hair looking dull and lifeless, much like a sad withering plant.

Your muscles also need collagen to be firmly and healthily affixed to your bones, so if you have not enough of it to reinforce your muscles, you may suffer from muscle aches and stiffness. 

Although the ladies are more susceptible in getting cellulite formation, some unfortunate men do get it too. So when your collagen your level is low enough, the skin becomes weak and wrinkled resulting in the building up of fluid just beneath the skin and this in turn may develop into the appearances of unsightly dimpled cellulite skin.

Collagen also helps to secure your teeth firmly to your gums. With less of the protein, your gums will just recede away causing your teeth to get loosen up and sometimes even falling out. This phenomenon can also lead to toothache and painful sensitive teeth.