How Collagen Nurtures Your Health

You don’t go to the dentist once, you don’t go to the gym once, and you don’t get the oil changed in your car once. So, why would you only take care of your body every once in a while?

When you go in for that dental check-up, you spend an hour with your dentist in an attempt to set the tone for how you care for your teeth in the next six months.

One hour out of 4,320 hours. An hour that sort of fades as your resolve waivers when your life gets busy again.

If you go to the gym, and you aren’t getting the results that you want, you need to go to the gym more or examine a different area of your life. The same thing goes for every aspect of your health.

In my practice, many of my patients are on maintenance care. But, when a new problem shows up, it’s time to re-examine both your treatment and supplement plans. New problems indicate that you need more care or a different solution.

There are a million different things you can do to nourish your health; you might be overwhelmed by figuring out which one to do first. Let’s figure out something simple you can do every day that doesn’t take a lot of effort but will provide a world of difference to your health (especially as you age).

I spent the weekend at Standard Process’s Back to School for Doctors, and I want to share important information I learned to ensure you’re stimulating enough collagen production to support your health.  You need collagen for healthy skin, joints, tissues, muscles, and more.

If your skin is dull, you need more collagen. When your joints feel achy all the time, you need more collagen. That stubborn back pain that won’t go away? It could be a sign you need more collagen.

How to Stimulate More Collagen on Your Own

In functional medicine class, we listened to a long lecture reminding us that collagen production requires vitamin C, protein, healthy stomach acid (watch out if you are on an acid-blocker), and a range of minerals.

What is this team of collagen building minerals? They include:

• HCL + Pepsin enzyme extracts amino acids to build collagen.

• Vitamin C builds important collagen components.

• Iron helps important enzymes that allow vitamin C to build.

• Copper helps tie the collagen strands together.

• Zinc helps your enzymes, tissue scaffolding, and DNA work together.

• Manganese helps form builder molecules for collagen assembly.

These nutrients work together so that you can build strong, healthy collagen – this is the foundation of a healthy body.

It’s not just about making sure you consume enough collagen, but making sure that your body has the tools to convert it into building blocks for healthy skin, joints, tissues, etc.

Increasingly, your diet is missing critical vitamin C and copper for healthy collagen production. So many of my patients want to resist the feeling of aging but avoid these important functional medicine steps to achieve their goals.

When I suggest the minerals above, often through Zinc Liver Chelate which contains iron, zinc, and copper, or when I remind them to eat 6-10 servings of vegetables daily, I often hear that their partner has a supplement they will take. The supplement often misses these important collagen building blocks, leading to poor results and disappointment.

I have spent a year working with other products lines, testing out different supplements to determine which will provide you with the best results. I am increasingly convinced that Standard Process is a superior source of nutrients that are low in your average produce.

How sad that we are failing to have healthy soil, healthy harvests, and enough nutrition in our vegetables. It’s important to realize this reality, so you can do something to counteract their effects.

Standard Process introduced SP RED Food – it’s looking like an amazing product if you’re struggling with getting enough of the red nutrients your skin needs. One of my patients went to Heinie’s Market, a family owned and locally sourced produce market and told me excitedly that the carrots tasted like carrots! This is an excellent sign that the produce is well sourced and contains a higher number of nutrients.

Other ways to support collagen production internally include Cataplex C or and TRACE Minerals B12. You can reach out to me for a Fullscript account, and I will pop your protocol in the cart.

In Chinese Medicine, diet, exercise, sleep, water, and emotional regulation are considered foundational to your acupuncture and herbal care working optimally. Bring it all together by drinking more water, eating less sugar, and getting plenty of sleep!

Other Considerations for the Collagen in Your Skin

Many of my patients who struggle to produce enough collagen worry the most about their skin appearance. Skin health is both what you do inside your body and outside. You can increase your skin’s vitamin C topically with My Zen’s Vitamin C Spray. Their entire line is made up of products created from herbal medicine, so it provides the most nourishment for your skin possible.

Fall is a great time to support your skin with other products like their Yin Nourishing Oil, Goji and Argan Cream, or Seaweed Mask. But never, never skip the Vitamin C Spray and Astragalus and Geranium Spray. You can order your nourishing skin care directly from their website.

Another important consideration for preserving the collagen in your skin includes using makeup and beauty products that don’t damage your skin. Unfortunately, many common ingredients tear apart the collagen in your skin. Provanity Cosmetics is a local clean makeup brand that offers long-wear products without harmful ingredients. They also perform lab research to determine how much collagen is destroyed by makeup ingredients and post the results to their website.

If you’re particularly worried about how collagen production affects the appearance of your skin, ask me about my Facial Rejuvenation Experience at your next appointment. This soothing treatment combines acupuncture, gua sha, light therapy, herbal skin care, and more to maximize collagen production and help your skin look its best.