There are plenty of cosmetics around the market that dub themselves as “Skin Food”, but the reality is that the key to maintain healthy skin is more than the beauty creams and lotions. All these skin care treatments or cosmetics are just digging a deeper hole in your wallet than you’d like.
The good news is, you can save your money by eating collagen rich foods. That helps the body produce its natural anti-aging protein: collagen.
Being the most abundant protein in the body, Collagen rich food plays a key role in joint health and maintaining supple Skin elasticity along with strengthening hair and nail roots. But as we get older, our body produces less or low-quality collagen which leads to dull skin, early signs of aging, weak joints, hair, and nails.
So to make sure you’re giving your body the ingredients it needs to keep your hair, skin, and nails healthy and glowing, here are the 10 major collagen rich foods that can help:
Fish Along With Skin
Fish Collagen is most popular collagen rich food. Fish contains Type I collagen and rich in amino acids which helps in producing good quality collagen in human body. Collagen derived from fish has the smallest particle size, making it much easier to break down and enter your bloodstream.
Tomatoes
Tomatoes are rich in vitamin C containing all of the major carotenoids, including lycopene. Carotenoids and lycopene have been shown to protect your skin against damage from the sun. They may also help prevent wrinkling. Being rich in carotenoids, they’re an excellent food for maintaining healthy skin.
Garlic
Garlic boosts your collagen production. Due to the high concentration of sulfur, which is a trace mineral that helps synthesize and prevent the breakdown of collagen.
It’s important to note, however, that how much you consume matters. You probably need a lot of it to reap the collagen benefits. It also contains taurine, which helps build damaged collagen fibers.
Soy Products
Soy products like soy milk and cheese are a must for healthy skin. As they help you get rid of wrinkles and fine lines.
The presence of genistein, a natural plant hormone in soya improves the production of collagen which gives skin its strength and elasticity. The presence of antioxidants in soya benefits in skin care is skin firming.
Carrots
Rich in Vitamin A, Carrots helps in increasing collagen production and slows the breakdown of collagen & elastin that causes skin aging. Vitamin A thickens and stimulates the dermis where collagen, elastin, and blood vessels are present and it also helps improve blood flow to the surface of the skin.
Walnuts and Flaxseeds
Flaxseeds along with walnuts are an amazing source of omega 3 fatty acids. One-quarter cup of walnuts contains about 2.7 grams. And one-quarter cup of flaxseeds contains about 6.3 grams of omega 3 Fatty Acids.
Omega 3 fatty acids are immensely necessary for health but our food is the only source of it as our body can’t produce it.
Citrus Food
Food that is rich in vitamin C and amino acids can increase the levels of hyaluronic acid, and collagen in the body as both are important for skin. For example oranges, red peppers, kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and strawberries are all rich in vitamin C.
Egg Whites
Eggs do not contain connective tissues like many other animal products but egg whites do have large amounts of proline which is high in amino acids necessary for collagen production.
Cashews
Do not hesitate to go for a handful of cashews to snack on. Cashew nuts contain zinc and copper, both of which boost the body’s ability to create collagen.
Beans
Not only in high-protein but have beans also contained a good amount of amino acids. That are necessary for collagen synthesis. They are rich in copper, another nutrient necessary for collagen production.
Make sure to include the above-mentioned collagen rich foods in your daily diet. That increases collagen production for skin to make it youthful and glowing.