When it comes to caring for your skin, it can be seriously challenging to stick to a vegan lifestyle. So many skincare products contain animal derivatives or have been tested on animals. How can you balance looking and feeling great with caring for the creatures on our shared planet?
You are probably already aware that collagen is one of the first things that people talk about when they start discussing beauty and skincare, but collagen is unfortunately often found in the bones of animals. It is also present in connective tissues. Moreover, it’s not present in any plants.Â
There are things you can do that may be able to increase your collagen production without having to compromise your ethics and contribute to animal cruelty.
What Is Collagen?
Collagen is a substance that is usually found in connective tissues and bones, and it is almost always derived from animals. That’s bad news for individuals who are interested in making their skin, nails, and hair look great because collagen is key to these features. Vegans struggle to get enough collagen, either through diet or supplements because there’s no plant-based collagen source.
However, that doesn’t leave you completely stuck, because there are things you might be able to do to boost collagen.
Even though collagen is only made from animal products, there are plant-based products that theoretically enable your body to produce its own collagen.Â
Here are a few of these products:
- The Beauty Chef Collagen Boost
- Sunwarrior Vegan Collagen
- Garden of Life Vegan Collagen
- Plant Fusion Vegan Collagen
We’re going to check out all of these products, and also briefly look at some foods you can consume that might improve your collagen levels.
Option 1) The Beauty Chef Collagen Booster
Packed with probiotics, The Beauty Chef Collagen Boost is a liquid that you can add to your drinks or simply swallow. This is perfect for people who struggle with powders and capsules, and it makes it much easier to be vigilant about taking the product regularly. This is one of the biggest keys to making sure it is effective.
It contains things like papaya, plum, pomegranate, and acai berries, and it’s full of vitamin C, which is known for improving skin health. It also contains zinc, which benefits your hair, nails, and skin.
Option 2) Sunwarrior Collagen Powder
With a range of flavors, including chocolate, coffee, churro, vanilla, peppermint bark, salted caramel, and plain, this will appeal to a lot of vegans who struggle with the taste of supplements.
It can be added to smoothies and shakes, and it’s also keto-friendly, sugar-free, soy-free, and gluten-free.
It contains mushroom peptides, vitamin C, biotin, and spirulina.
Option 3) Garden Of Life Vegan Collagen Builder
This option comes in tablet form, which some people prefer and some people dislike.
It is packed with vegetables and contains 2,500 mg of biotin, along with extracts from rooibos tea, green tea, pomegranate, and more.
It also has vitamin A and vitamin C in it.
The tablets are also USDA-certified organic, and non-GMO. With a long list of over 30 vegetables, including things like blueberries, celery, asparagus, tomatoes, beets, garlic, Brussels sprouts, raspberries, cauliflower, basil, and lemon, you know you’re getting something healthy.
The product also contains silica from bamboo, which the makers claim will boost your body’s ability to produce collagen.
Option 4) PlantFusion Vegan Collagen Powder
Another powdered product, PlantFusion does only come in three flavors (chocolate, vanilla, plain), but it is still an excellent way to increase the amount of collagen your body builds.
It contains things like quinoa, pea protein isolate, silica, saberries, and guar gum. It also has white tea extract in it, and this contains ceramides, which may improve your skin barrier and reduce dryness.
What Foods Will Boost Your Collagen Levels?
If none of the aforementioned options appeal to you, it’s worth checking out some of the foods that you can eat that potentially enable collagen production.
There are plenty of options, so you don’t need to limit yourself.
You might want to try eating things like pumpkin seeds, mushrooms, berries, almonds, papaya fruit, and kale, among others.
You can also try green tea, which is claimed to make your skin look younger and more nourished.
Conclusion
As you can see, collagen is challenging for many vegans, because it is only derived from animals, or at least for the moment.
If you wish to increase your collagen production (as a vegan), an option is to either consume supplements with ingredients that ‘might’ enhance collagen production or eat foods that might theoretically do the same.
