Eating Right to Stimulate Collagen Synthesis for Healthy and Youthful Looking Skin

Eating Right to Stimulate Collagen Synthesis for Healthy and Youthful Looking Skin

Having youthful-looking, healthy skin is accomplished in several ways. Good diet, adequate hydration, healthy lifestyle, sun protection, skin care regimen and dermatological procedures. Each method can bring about significant changes, but combining them yields the best result.

As we age, our body produces less collagen, since naturally occurring enzymes break collagen down, in turn, causing the skin to thin, lose fullness and form wrinkles. The sun, pollution, free radicals and smoke are also responsible for disintegrating collagen. Skin tightening and resurfacing treatments are the best way start the process of collagen re-growth. These treatments can range from Photo Rejuvenation to Fractional Ablation to Erbium Lasers to Micro-Needling to some deeper chemical peels. Deciding which treatment is right for you and your skin type would require a consultation with your skin care specialist.

A number of topical products have an ability to stimulate collagen as well. Choose a prescription strength product or over-the-counter products that have clinical studies available to support their claims.

Healthy Diet

This post will focus on what foods to eat to stimulate collagen synthesis. Collagen is a major protein in the skin, playing a key role in providing the structural scaffolding for cells and tissues. Collagen gives the skin its strength, firmness and durability and is responsible for the smooth, plump appearance of young, healthy skin.

A good diet rich in certain nutrients, enzymes and fats will stimulate collagen synthesis and improve the appearance of your skin. Start by eating more cold-water fish. Fish like tuna and salmon are loaded with omega-3 fatty acids. Our skin cells are surrounded by a fatty membrane that protects them. When the cells are healthy, they are able to support the structure of the skin.

Now add red vegetables. Tomatoes, peppers and beets contain the antioxidant lycopene. Lycopene acts as a natural sun block, protecting the skin from damage while increasing collagen levels.

Boost collagen production with dark green vegetables rich in vitamin C, like spinach and kale. Dark green vegetables also protect against free radicals to prevent weak collagen.

Eat plenty of vegetables that are orange in color, like carrots and sweet potatoes. They are rich in vitamin A, which restores and regenerates damaged collagen.

Blackberries and raspberries scavenge free radicals to ward off damage while simultaneously increasing collagen levels.

Try to incorporate soy into your diet. Whether sources come from soy milk, cheese or tofu, soy contains plant hormones that serve as antioxidants, which prompts collagen production and helps to block enzymes that can age the skin.

Studies show that citrus fruits such as oranges, limes, lemons and grapefruits that are rich in vitamin C have the ability to help amino acids like lysine and proline to convert to collagen. Vitamin C is also extremely important in helping to neutralize free radicals, which attack and break down collagen and elastin in the skin.

In addition to giving your body a dose of healthy protein that it needs, egg whites are high in both lysine and proline, as well as collagen itself, so adding more egg whites into your diet could help support your body’s natural production of collagen.

Garlic is one of the best sources of sulfur, which is necessary to collagen production in the body. Garlic also provides lipoic acid and taurine that help rebuild collagen fibers that have been damaged.

Oysters are a naturally rich source of zinc. Zinc is an essential element of the collagen-building process. They are full of vitamins and minerals including iron and vitamin B12, and provide a low-calorie option and a long list of health benefits. If you are not a fan of oysters, add zinc to your diet by eating beef, nuts and beans.

Summary

In case you haven’t noticed, all of the basic food groups have been represented here. Therefore, eating a clean, healthy diet is the best way to not only stimulate collagen repair and re-growth, but will also help you maintain optimum overall health. Now if you add a collagen stimulating treatment and a collagen stimulating skin care line to your daily regimen, you win!

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