Should we be taken a collagen supplement?

We’ve had an offer of Collagen with a wide ranging list of benefits – ‘money back guarantee’.

Ref. Collagen. I am copying direct from the pamphlet sent ………. There will be visible improvement within the first few weeks for rosacea, migaines, swollen legs, oedema, varicose veins and stroke….Dr. M Lauraine’s opinion.
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Gary:
Collagen is a wonderful nutrient that most of us do not get enough of.  This is because we no longer eat the animal parts that are rich in it - gristle, cartilage, bone and skin.  We cut all these parts off, dump them and eat only the meat - the least nutritious part of the animal.

Replacing dietary collagen with a relatively expensive supplement is, in my opinion, a waste of money and poor nutritional practice.  

The best alternative is to go to the butcher or supermarket and ask for a couple of chicken frames.  These will cost you next to nothing and may even be free. Take them home and turn them into a collagen rich chicken broth and have at least one cup daily as soup and as the stock for much of your cooking.  It can be stored in the fridge and freezer.  When the broth is cold it is jelly-like which is indicative of just how rich it is in collagen.

Collagen does have many health benefits, including soothing and nourishing the digestive tract, as well as being beneficial for joints, hair, skin and nails.

The best collagen is the chicken broth because it is rich in minerals as well as collagen.

For recipes and ten rules for making your broth, here is a good start.

This Hair Analysis indicates a disorder with zinc
metabolism and low copper.

Of equal, if not more importance for strong collagen is ensuring you have healthy a cellular balance between copper and zinc.  Copper and zinc regulate the enzyme processes for the formation of healthy collagen.  Going by hair tissue tests, most New Zealanders have a problem with zinc and copper and this fits with the epidemic of related health issues, ranging from poor healing, fluid retention, tendonitis, anxiety, eating disorders, infertility, high blood pressure and even learning disabilities.

As a matter of interest, athletes have huge needs for additional zinc as do anby

Correcting these imbalances is a very, very slow process that may take years of steady dietary supplementation that should be regularly monitored by way of repeat hair tissue mineral analyses.  Of course, there will be steady but very subtle improvements in health as levels are built up and balanced.

Some of the subtle signs that things are improving may include stronger skin that is less prone to damage, faster healing of wounds and less visible appearance of veins in the hands, feet and legs.

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The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation.  Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.  Please give me your support by subscribing to my free email updates. Please shop at my Online Store. Please encourage your family and friends to do the same. While we may not always be able to compete with the big operators on price, we aim to more than compensate through personal service!


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Six Simple Steps you can take to Improve your Skin and your Health

Perhaps the most exciting discovery for me during 2008 was how to reverse the scourge on my skin of ageing and a hard outdoors lifestyle.  From about 48 years age, regular visits to the skin specialist were mandated to remove precancerous lesions from my forehead, ears, hands and arms.  Treatment, including burning off of the affected parts were beginning to seem pointless as lesions quickly returtned worse than ever.  My skin was also steadily losing its elasticity.

Dietary deficiencies may be a more important factor with poor skin health than ageing

That was then.  Today, all but the slightest blemishes remain of the skin ker

astoses.  The pre-cancerous lesions have all dropped off.  The elasticity of my skin has been restored.  I have realised that diet has been the principal reason why my skin and health began to deteriourate at such an alarming rate.  This deterioration coincided with my attempts to follow an increasingly "heart healthy" cholesterol lowering diet!

Photos: Clear skin once again despite all the damage

Lower your cholesterol:  Ruin your skin and your health

My health is better than ever; I am running as well as I was 20 years ago and I am able to

 mountain bike 4+ hours no problem.

Here is how I improved my skin and my health through six simple steps:

1. Balance your Active Elements tissue salts - the key ones (not exclusively) for healthy skin being silicaea and calcium fluoride
2. Ensure your diet is rich in the B vitamins and take extra during times of physical and emotional stress
3. Have a good intake of all of the fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K)
4. Have a good intake of a wide variety of fresh, industrially unadulterated oils and fats, including animal fats
5. Ensure your diet is rich in plant antioxidants
6. Avoid all processed foods as much as possible, especially those that are fat reduced and filled with carbohydrates and synthetic fillers

Here is how you can do these:

• Complete an Active Elements Assessment to work out your tissue salts needs
• Take a daily supplement that contains silicaea, the vitamin B6, zinc and manganese
• Take a daily B Stress vitamin
• Get rid of all fat reduced foods from your pantry.  Do not have any fat reduced or homogenised dairy - search out and have plenty of full cream non-homogenised milk.  If you can get it, have raw milk only.  Have a wide variety of oils and fats while avoiding all hydrogenated oils and fats.  A diet that is gnerous in healthy fats and oils will generally be rich in most of the fat soluble vitamins.
• Have fresh greens daily.  Green vegetables are a rich source of vitamin K which has many health benefits including reducing wrinkles and varicose veins.  Cook greens lightly in fat or oil to release the vitamin K.  Being fat soluble, vitamin K needs to be dissolved in fat, so steaming is not good enough.  If your lifestyle prevents regular greens consumption, then consider having in reserve a high quality supplement such as Load Up Fruitful Greens.
• Get some cheap frozen dark berries, or fesh ones, and make up a large bowl of fruit salad mostly made of berries and keep in the fridge.  Add some Load Up Berry Brights to enrich the mixture.  Have one to two plates of this daily along with home made yoghurt.
• Vitamin D: Get regular midday sunlight on your body especially your torso rather than arms, face and legs.  If your are fair skinned, then 5-10 minutes either side is adequate.  If your skin is naturally dark then you will need more sunlight.  On sunless days, especially winter, take a vitamin D supplement.
• Eat a wide variety of fresh, quality meats, fish and other seafoods, carefully avoiding the intrensively farmed forms and preserved meats.  Include a little animal fat and regular bone broths.

How obsessive is that!

No, don't be obsessive, although you need to be pretty diligent with matters for a while.  All that you need to do is start with about 6-8 weeks of being as consistent as possible with your diet and supplements, then you can relax.  Who cares if you have a day or two of indulgent slacking about here and there with your diet?  Once you have built your internal nutritional reserves up to healthy levels, you then have a safety margin for periods of stress or deficiency (Such as during a Polar trek).  

I personally never take supplements all the time.  Instead, I will do a course of this or that supplement (according to need) and then give it a break and perhaps switch to another for a period (again, according to need).  Most of my work goes into ensuring my diet is varied and nutritious with any supplements going on top for special needs such as now while I am doing mountain bike rides of up to five hours non stop.

To my surprise and great delight, as my skin has improved, so has my blood cholesterol (slightly) despite the high fat intake! 

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