Gelatin is basically cooked collagen. It comes from the super-nutritious bones, hides and connective tissues of animals. It is an excellent source of protein as it contains 18 amino acids, including essential and non-essential amino acids like glycine and proline, which are a critical part of our diet.
There are so many fantastic benefits that can come from eating gelatin, including improvements in digestive, skin, and mental health. Powdered gelatin can be used in smoothies, for making desserts (healthy ones!) or very popular now is making “gummies”. Another easy way (and my favourite) is to include a good quality bone broth as part of your regular diet – either as a drink/snack or in cooking, and choose gelatinous meats for cooking, my favourite is Osso Buco . Many of my recipes include bone broth as part of the recipe – (it’s really just a good quality stock ). A simple recipe idea is Miso Soup
Traditional diets are typically higher in gelatin than our modern diets, because these cultures wisely practiced nose-to-tail eating and consumed parts of the animal that are high in gelatin, such as skin, tendons, and other gelatinous cuts of meat.
We’ve lost the practice of whole-animal eating, meaning that we’re eating a lot less gelatin than our ancestors, if any at all. The following four reasons will explain why nearly everyone should be eating gelatin on a regular basis.
Gelatin heals your gut.
Gelatin can improve gut integrity and digestive strength by enhancing gastric acid secretion and restoring a healthy mucosal lining in the stomach; low stomach acid and an impaired gut barrier are two common digestive problems in our modern society.
Healthy intestinal cells prevent leaky gut, which is often at the root of many food intolerances, allergies, inflammatory conditions, and autoimmune diseases.
Gelatin makes your skin healthy
Gelatin provides glycine and proline, two amino acids that are used in the production of collagen. Collagen is one of the primary structural elements of skin, so providing the building blocks for this important protein can ensure that your body is able to create enough of it.
A diet rich in gelatin may also protect against the damaging and aging effects of sunlight – this is important as we now know that we need unprotected sun exposure to help boost vitamin D!
Gelatin protects your joints.
Body builders have been using gelatin for decades to help improve joint health and reduce inflammation. If you exercise a lot, eating gelatin can help keep your joints healthy and pain-free.
Also, if you have inflammatory joint or bone diseases like arthritis or osteoporosis, getting adequate gelatin can potentially help you manage the pain and inflammation and build stronger bones
Gelatin helps you sleep.
Glycine is also an inhibitory neurotransmitter that can decrease anxiety and promote mental calmness. This is because glycine antagonizes norepinephrine, a stress hormone that causes feelings of anxiety and panic. Gelatin can be an effective way to help keep you calm and sleeping through the night.
Gelatin balances out your meat intake.
Those eating lots of animal protein we need adequate glycine to balance out the methionine from meat, and you’ll get that from gelatin.
If you are going to use a powdered form a good quality brand that is readily available is Nutra Organics. You should be able to get this or something similar at a good health food store. I also stock it in my clinic.
