There are so many amazing benefits that can come from eating gelatin, including improvements in digestive, skin, and mental health. Plus, gelatin can be used to make a yummy, all-natural dessert that’s actually good for us.
So why aren’t we eating more of it?
Traditional diets are typically much 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, and vegetarians typically don’t eat many (or any!) animal products. This means that we’re eating a lot less gelatin than our ancestors, if any at all. The following five reasons will explain why nearly everyone – even vegetarians – should be eating gelatin on a regular basis!
Whether you eat meat or not, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting some gelatin in your diet. Here’s why! #healthyskin #paleodiet #optimalnutrition
1. Gelatin Balances out Your Meat Intake.
Muscle meats and eggs are high in methionine, an amino acid that raises homocysteine levels in the blood and increases our need for homocysteine-neutralizing nutrients like vitamins B6, B12, folate, and choline.
We don’t want high homocysteine in our blood because homocysteine is a significant risk factor for serious diseases like heart disease, stroke, mental illness, and fractures. (This might even explain why researchers sometimes find a correlation between high meat intake and various diseases.)
2. Gelatin Heals Your Gut.
Gelatin can also 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. Gelatin also absorbs water and helps keep fluid in the digestive tract, promoting good intestinal transit and healthy bowel movements.
Gelatin-rich soups and broths are also one of the key components of the GAPS diet, which has been designed to heal the gut and promote healthy digestion. And healthy intestinal cells prevent leaky gut, which is often at the root of many food intolerances, allergies, inflammatory conditions, and autoimmune diseases.
3. Gelatin Makes Your Skin Healthy and Beautiful.
Gelatin is a known promoter of skin health. 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.
4. Gelatin Protects Your Joints.
Body builders have been using gelatin for decades to help improve joint health and reduce inflammation. And research shows that athletes who took a hydrolyzed collagen supplement experienced less pain in their joints, which could help improve performance for athletes and competitive fitness buffs. 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 inflammation and pain in your joints, and build stronger bones.
Like what you’re reading? Get my free newsletter, recipes, eBooks, product recommendations, and more!
5. Gelatin Helps You Sleep.
Glycine from gelatin has been found to help with sleep. One study found that 3 grams of glycine given to subjects before bedtime produced measurable improvements in sleep quality. Many of my clients swear by gelatin as an effective sleep aid without bothersome side effects, in contrast to medications and even natural sleep aids like melatonin, which can sometimes cause grogginess.
Glycine is also an inhibitory neurotransmitter, which can decrease anxiety and promote mental calmness. This is because glycine antagonizes norepinephrine, a stress hormone which causes feelings of anxiety and panic. Gelatin can thus help keep you calm and sleeping through the night.
How to Eat More Gelatin
The traditional way to get gelatin is from skin, gelatinous meats, and bone broths. Those who eat a Paleo or ancestral diet can easily include these foods, but vegetarians and vegans will find these health benefits difficult to get from a largely plant-based diet. Gelatin is only found in animal foods that come from the body of the animal itself.
For vegetarians (and even omnivores!) I recommend getting a high-quality gelatin powder to add to food or to create yummy, healthy gelatinous desserts. Gelatin is somewhat more environmentally-friendly than lean meat because it uses parts of the animal that might not be used otherwise. And it’s much easier to digest than normal muscle meat, making it a good gateway food for vegetarians branching out into a more ancestral diet. (And in case you think vegetarians aren’t ever using any parts of the animal, think again.)
My favorite brand of gelatin is Great Lakes, which comes from grass-fed animals. It’s available in both hydrolyzed and whole form; each type has its own health benefits.
Hydrolyzed means the protein is broken into individual amino acids, making them easier to absorb. Use this type to improve skin and joint health or get better sleep. Hydrolyzed gelatin can be mixed into any type of liquid, including cold liquids, so it can be added to cold smoothies or juices easily. It also is great as a real food protein powder.
Whole protein gelatin is better for improving gut health. It helps carry fluid through the intestines, and can even coat the lining of the digestive tract as a soothing and protective layer. This is the type used to make gummies or jello snacks, and must be mixed into warm liquids.
Fish gelatin is available for those who prefer not to consume land animals.
Better supplementation. Fewer supplements.
Close the nutrient gap to feel and perform your best.
A daily stack of supplements designed to meet your most critical needs.
Note: Chris Kresser has not reviewed this post and is not responsible or liable for any errors in content. This is general nutrition information only and should not be used in the place of medical advice for the prevention or treatment of any diagnosed condition.
Well I was glad to find this info because I have IBS and I’m always looking for things that will help me. I’m not a vegetarian, so I can’t really comment on some of the other thoughts.
Hi Donna,
I wanted to reach out to you and tell you about Juice Plus. Juice Plus is a great whole food based “supplemen”. It’s essentially fruits and vegetables in a capsule. Studies have shown that they help with inflammation. My partner in the business had IBS for many years and since taking Juice Plus, she has been free of IBS for a very long time. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have and to help you move past and deal with your IBS. Check out my website at http://www.nashville.juiceplus.com or feel free to email me at [email protected]
The first comment on this thread raised my eyebrows. I don’t think the poster realises that human beings evolved eating meat and I will prove this fact in two words…. COMPLETE PROTEIN. Humans need complete protein for health and the ONLY place to get complete protein is from either animals and animal products OR a combination of grains, beans, peas and legumes (which vegetarians do) Human beings have only been eating the later foods since the introduction of agriculture some 4 to 10,000 years ago. Therefore for the previous millions of years of evolution our ancestors got their complete protein (and vitamin b12) from animals, NOWHERE ELSE. Therefore I would suggest that our guts are very well designed to handle meat and animal produce, and this is our natural diet. I was a vegetarian for five,years and switched to a paleo style,high animal,fat,meat, low carb diet eighteen years ago and have never felt better.
Mark,
How did you get wisdom about evolution?
So the human body is so complex that Specialist Doctors many times they can not explain reason for sicknesses. So our body is vastly complex. Our Genome if stretched to the Moon and back you multiply it 8,000 times. Your eye one million nerves and each nerve has 400,000 rods. That is the resolution of your eye, Evolution id random chance. How can a highly sophisticated body to be a result of a blind chance? What about animals, insects, birds, bacteria, plants etc.? (food for thoughts)
i do have a couple of things to point out here!!
1)why do vegeterians need something to help ‘balance their meat intake’? they dont eat meat!
2) heals the gut – plant based diets do not cause gut damage or inflammation this is caused by eating animal products what our guts are not evolved to digest! massive contradiction
3) makes skin beautiful? yes collagen is a large part of skin but our bodies, if fed right, is perfectly capable of producing collagen. trying to break down this highly fibrous tissue just to try and make it again just doesnt make sense.
4)protects joins – no it doesnt. this has been disproven and was only ever based on the fact that collagen is the basis for cartilage. again this is like saying people with heart problems should eat hearts. just doesnt actually make sense
5) helps you sleep better? dont know about that to be honest but i sleep much better knowing i have not ended a life!!
the whole article, why people who dont eat meat often for ethical reasons should eat meat is highly offensive to be honest and also just doesnt hold up to any basis of fact. utter rubbish
A wonderfully sensible reply!
Thanks for the vegan riposte!
Note, the latest research indicates humans truly have evolved as omnivores. Which is only to say being vegan means we can transcend our evolution just as we choose to wear clothing, ride bicycles and perform innumerable other actions after judicious consideration of our options.
yeah, I randomly came across this article looking at something about gelatin and could not believe how he wrote this article. I hope he did not actually write in the parts about vegetarians in a hope to influence vegetarians. The way it’s written is oddly offensive to anyone that made a choice to be vegetarian as he in no way takes into consideration the reasons one have for being vegetarian or vegan. I was a carnivore for 35 years, happily, but made a switch to vegetarian/vegan for ethical/moral reasons. Had nothing to do with health reasons and is more about doing as much good as possible. Although it’s nearly impossible to avoid a “purity” in vegan actions due to how many items are manufactured, that does not mean we should abandon our desire to be better to the planet and to animals. Yeah, I need to order a lot of tape for my company…and maybe there is some cow hooves used in the process for the adhesive, but i don’t have a better alternative at a price that allows me to still be competitive. You just have to make the best decisions available. But, I still believe that we are in a point in Human development where the use of animals can and should be cut down and eliminated where possible. I feel there is a moral imperative to take such action.
For all the “health concerns” our carnivore friends have for all the vegetarians out there…I have not experiences a glut of funerals for all the vegetarians wasting away due to malnutrition. Evan as a counter argument, there’s a multitude of potential problems presented with meat diets for each potential problem presented about a vegetarian diet. I’ve look at data and reports and doctors comments about a vegetarian diet soooo much (because of my kids health) that I’ve seen nothing that’s definitive related to a problem. And where there are some concerns that seem plausible, they are easily bypassed once you know about it and address it in the diet…still with no animals.
As a business owner, I fully support any other business that’s taken the steps to use no or lower animal products. I buy their products, even if the dollar cost is a bit more because the moral cost is lower and it puts more good out into the world.
As for arguments on diet health, it’s been no different than economical and statistical data, you can report on the same data and make an argument for whatever side of a discussion that you want. I used to do it for fun way back in college, arguing both sides of a legal, philosophical, historical topic using the same background data.
Anyway, back to what got me started, the author made what seems like an offensive article as far as what he pointed to vegetarian/vegans and I’m not sure if he knows, it was intentional, or if he has not even tried to view that part of the topic from outside of his own perspective. Whether I agree with someone or not, I can’t discuss something with them unless I at least understand their perspective. I don’t have to agree, but I need to understand it at least enough to interact effectively.
I agree that acting as if all Vegetarians would be okay with adding gelatin into their diet for health reasons is absurd due the the high quantity of people who are vegetarian for ethical reasons.
However, the idea that plant-based diets can’t possibly damage the gut or create inflammation is very untrue. It may be true for a completely healthy gut, but for the most part I don’t believe many people are walking around with one of those.
Starchy vegetables and any grain, gluten-free or not, will cause inflammation and damage to a compromised gut. Undigested foods will trigger the immune system, congest the lymphatic system and cause inflammatory stress on the body. Not to mention they will feed pathogenic bacteria and opportunistic yeast, creating a whole host of other issues.
Heal the gut, then pick your diet. Do I believe animal products are the only way to do so? No, but they sure as hell make it a quicker and more efficient process.
Everyone is free to eat how they’d like and not be judged, but be informed!
Wow “vegan for health” you are completely wrong about number 2. Humans are incapable of digesting or breaking down MOST plant materials! Plant material is broken down by bacteria living in the gut. The bi products of bacterial breakdown are then absorb or excreted by the digestive tract. This is one of the reasons you become gassy after eating vegetables as one of the bi products of bacterial (not human) digestion of plant material is gas. We lack biological capability (such as enzymes) for breakdown of a lot of plant material.
If you are not convinced take a piece of lettuce and hold it in your mouth for five minutes. After five minutes it will still be intact. If you take eggs or chicken and hold it in your mouth for five minutes it will be broken down by enzymes in your saliva. The human body contains the biological means for break down of most animal material as evolution has moved our digestive tract towards animal material digestion. If humans were meant to be plant eaters or there was no advantage to eating animal material there would have been no evolutionary selection for or towards lineages of animals who eat both or only meat, however there have been entire lineages of animals and changes in animal biology for animal material digestion and consumption.
How rude. As a vegetarian I am offended by you telling us what we should eat!
We gave up meat and the “benefits” of meat, fully knowing what we might miss out on.
We find our nutrition from more, eco friendly, cruelty free, natural products and don’t need YOUR help doing so!
Curious if these self righteous V’s realize that a greater biomass of living creatures die in the production of vegetables & fruit than in most meat production. Mass harvesting vegetables & fruits results in the destruction of natural habitat as well as the countless small mammals, insects etc that call theses fields their home – they get chewed up in the mass harvest process by the giant machinery. Check yourself if you V’s think that you are holier than thou.
“?”, That’s nice you feel better about your choice to negatively impact your health through your binary thinking. If, however, you actually decided to consider a more nuanced view of the world, you may find that you will be healthier for it.
I could point out that your “eco friendly, cruelty-free, natural products” actually don’t exist and even if they did you would literally have no impact on any of the issues you hold so dear, but I suspect you have an emotional attachment to your choices and won’t listen to reason.
I think these 5 reasons are the way to get gelatin when you have some issues with meat products, and gelatin can cover most of your health parameters. Gelatin can be found in most food products, generally, gelatin is used in the food industry to give products a better form, more stability, improved texture, better mouth feeling or a more appetizing appearance. So we spouse to use it while it can be found in Cream cheese, chocolate milk, yogurt, icings, cream fillings, frozen desserts.
Glycine is present in seaweed and spirulina; likewise proline can be found in bamboo shoots, soy protein isolate, and cabbage.
I’m a vegan who often reads anti-vegan propaganda to sieve out the meaningful portions of the article. The author surely means well by what s/he has written about the benefits of gelatin. And I very much want to be optimally healthy! 🙂 With a little research you can find an ethical source of anything worthwhile, such as these substances present in gelatin but also present in plants.
Ethical source? What is your concept of Ethics? plants are not living? plants deserves more life than animals? don’t be silly please.
If you’re saying that plants and animals are on an equal plane as far as living things go, I think it is you that is being silly. Try this experiment: cut into a carrot with a knife. then, cut into a kitten (better to just imagine this one). which action do you think would bring you more moral pain? which would bring the thing being cut more pain? the kitten, with a fully developed nervous system? or the carrot, without one?
this argument that “plants are living things too” applied by meat eaters seeking to equate the consumption of plants to the taking of animal life is just stupid, and this is coming from a person who eats a lot of meat. you could very well argue that proper animal production can be ethical, or that crop production harms animals, but to suggest that animal and plant consciousness are similar when it comes to their slaughter is laughable
Right, because all meat eaters are kitten-killing monsters… please. I believe in eating a HEALTHY and HUMANE diet and mine includes meat products from humanely-raised and slaughtered animals who have been sustainably raised for food. Very few of these animals would exist on this continent if they were not harvested for food. I love cows and heritage pigs and domestic ducks and am happy to have them in my ecosystem. More, my health is more important to me than arbitrary ethics. I know crazy people who won’t eat honey because they think it is exploiting bees and yet drive around in cars with combustion engines. Nothing but hypocrisy. I am very conscientious about the farms I source my meat and dairy from – paying a premium for pasture-raised organically-fed animals – and am just as ethical as those who choose to abstain.
I am a vegetarian and I have no problem with this article. I am not a vegetarian because I find it repulsive to eat something that once was part of a living animal. That is simply childish. I am a vegetarian because the meat industry is barbaric, and if I don’t have to take the life of an animal to sustain my own, I will not do so. Gelatin is a small side product of the animal. If you do not eat gelatin, they will not stop killing the animal. The gelatin will either end up in your stomach or it will end up in the ground. If you don’t want to utilize those precious resources, that’s your decision, but don’t go telling others what they should and shouldn’t do
But that’s what the author does right in the title: she tells vegetarians they SHOULD get gelatin. do you not see the contradiction of telling the commenters not to tell people what to eat, while ignoring the author doing the very same thing?
Hudson wrote, “…do you not see the contradiction of telling the commenters not to tell people what to eat, while ignoring the author doing the very same thing?”
Yeah well no. I have listened to countless vegetarians pontificating on the “holier life” that vegetarianism is while they shove products in my face at natural and health stores. You think that with all of that pulpit pounding they would get an infection from the splinters.
Folks should think twice about turning ANY lifestyle into a cult-like existence. We may be stamping out racism, misogyny, ethnic hatreds, but we are replacing those with “lifestyle” hatreds and really, it’s pointless.
Talking smack AT someone only makes them shut down and not listen. They say “uh-huh” but they’re looking over your shoulder to try to find a way to get free of you. Consulting their intelligence instead of dictating is a better way to go, and that means without the backhanded insults included.
Throwing your weight around one way or another only proves you’re a bully.
If you ARE the better human, prove it.
I agree largely with Allan, people are never going to stop killing cattle for burgers nor pigs for bacon or chicken for wings. It is in our nature to hunt and kill or at least crave meat. And if your going to get all animal rights, look closely at the animals being used for food, pigs have a tendency to be aggressive and very lazy. They provide manuer for your plants and bacon for our bellies. Suck it up.
I agree that it’s totally impractical to advocate for everyone to give up meat. But your comment misses the point: the issue here is more how the animals are treated while they’re alive than at the time of slaughter. Current factory farming practices essentially amount to needlessly torturing animals for their entire lives. There is no defense for such animal torture. Personally I think the animal welfare movement should be rebranded from “against killing animals” to “against animal torture”. Since some people (perhaps the majority of people) will always eat meat no matter how much advocacy is done for vegetarianism, a real solution would be to abolish factory farming and have real inspections with real consequences to ensure that animals are treated ethically.
If you have doubts about just how badly animals at factory farms (including the so-called “certified humane” farms) are treated, watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU4PJCuslD0
The main problem is that people are not aware of how bad it is. If someone IS aware of how bad it is and still thinks it’s OK to treat animals in this way, IMO they’re a heartless individual.
Please speak for yourself. It is definitely not in my nature to “to hunt and kill or at least crave meat.” The thought of eating the flesh of an animal repulses me.
But your body is optimized to consume animal sources of nutrients, not plants. Your emotions don’t impact that fact.
I don’t think your comment was written by a vegetarian. Vegetarians who don’t eat meat for ethical reasons would not be all for eating gelatin. That doesn’t make any sense. It sounds as though you’re a meat eater posting as a vegetarian. Vegetarians would not post such a comment. What a bunch of BS!
Curious if these self righteous V’s realize that a greater biomass of living creatures die in the production of vegetables & fruit than in most meat production. Mass harvesting vegetables & fruits results in the destruction of natural habitat as well as the countless small mammals, insects etc that call theses fields their home – they get chewed up in the mass harvest process by the giant machinery. Check yourself if you V’s think that you are holier than thou.
I agree. It never occurs to vegetarians that the MASSIVE vegetable, grain, nut and fruit pickers/harvesters (machines) are running over and chopping up many small field mice, opossum, rabbits, moles, chipmunks, etc.
Point is, no one’s hands are free of the blood.
“It never occurs to vegetarians” oh I’m glad you know what occurs to us and what doesn’t! Thanks for reading my mind for me, I am now wide awake thanks to your witty remark.
Except producing meat means feeding plants to animals, which means producing more plants than what would be needed if we directly ate those plants (when I say “more” I mean about 16 times more). So if harvesting plants means killing animals, meat-eaters kill a lot more than vegetarians.
You seem to have an internet access so why don’t you quit telepathy and start searching actual information?
Based on the high number of ignorant and ridiculous answers people left after reading this article I now suspect reading comprehension and the meaning of words is a real issue for too many people. Learn now and learn it well: vegetarianism is not the same as veganism.
For your information, all of you who insist vegetarians must not eat gelatin, read the following which is reliable info from reliable sources (cancer.org and Encyclopaedia Britannica): Vegetarianism is the practice of eating a diet consisting mainly or entirely of food that comes from plant sources such as grains, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. Vegetarian diets vary widely. Some people use no animal products at all, while others who describe themselves as vegetarian may eat dairy products, eggs, or even fish. Vegetarianism: Other common name(s): vegan, ovo-vegetarian, lactovegetarian, lacto-ovo-vegetarian, fruitarian. (People who eat mainly plant-based foods but include small amounts of certain meats sometimes call themselves semi-vegetarian, partial vegetarian, pesci-vegetarian, pesco-vegetarian, pescetarian, flexitarian, and other names). Vegetarianism is the theory or practice of living solely upon vegetables, fruits, grains, and nuts—with or without the addition of milk products and eggs—generally for ethical, ascetic, environmental, or nutritional reasons.
So, before you feel the rush of contradiction, get informed and don’t make a fool of yourself by trying to contradict a fact. Citing Wikipedia or any other well known unreliable source or obscure websites in order to support your point of view will also make it worse. You better swallow the bitter truth: you don’t know what vegetarianism is but you try to outsmart those who do.
Going by the Encyclopedia Brittanica definition (which I consider to be more accurate than others for defining the historical usage of words), we see that certain vegetarians eat milk and eggs. no other animals products are mentioned, and certainly not ones that are the byproduct of slaughter. no one is trying to muddy the definition of the word. if anything they’re trying to clarify it.
This is a sick article. If you are truly a vegetarian or vegan you would NEVER consider eating gelatin, which is boiled animal skin and bones. NEVER! There are so many ways to stay healthy by just eating vegetables. IMO, it is unconscionable to ingest animals and a misinsformed, most likely NON VEGETARIAN or VEGAN author has published this article with no direct experience with the veggie or vegan lifestyles. If she was a vegetarian or vegan, it would NEVER cross her mind to ingest this disgusting substance. And let me also mention, that gelatin is found in many vitamin supplements, so if you are a new vegetarian or vegan, please check your bottles to make sure you are ingesting a plant-based capsule. Just information I have learned along the way. Best wishes to all veggies and vegans.
Curious if these self righteous V’s realize that a greater biomass of living creatures die in the production of vegetables & fruit than in most meat production. Mass harvesting vegetables & fruits results in the destruction of natural habitat as well as the countless small mammals, insects etc that call theses fields their home – they get chewed up in the mass harvest process by the giant machinery. Check yourself if you V’s think that you are holier than thou.
I really wish everyone will stop making “general rules” for what a vegan or vegetarian is supposed to consume. People eat for their own health and/or ethic reasons. Everyones bodies are also different and no “guideline” makes a damned difference to someones individual needs. There are no rules in ones PERSONAL diet choices, so stop this close minded activist crap.
I eat mostly vegan, but sorry, my health comes first. I go out of my way to do everything right for my health, but I developed issues still. So if eating animal collagen in my smoothies will help me absorb more B12… Ill add it a bit. If I need to eat gizzard/liver/bone broths on occassion (and especially in the winter) to help myself out absorb more non-heme iron, then I will.
Im all for animal rights, but I like my health too. I dont do anything for one reason. The first reason I became a vegetarian was to avoid unsanitary conditions, hormones, GMOs, antibiotics and be more healthy in general. Second reasons are environmental and political. Third is animal rights. So please dont preach about what vegetarians consume and why.
This article only aims to inform people about health benefitd, not trample on the beliefs of anyone who is morally glued to one idea of what they need to eat and why.
Nope, you’re wrong. It’s not “close-minded activist crap”, it’s the definition of the word– vegetarianism eschews meats and byproducts of animal death. the author’s title (let’s simplify it: Why Vegetarians Should Eat Gelatin) implies that one can eat gelatin and still be vegetarian. one cannot. You are right that a person can choose to put into their own body whatever they wishe, and I agree with you that a strict no-animal-products policy may be detrimental to health. However, you’ll notice you said your diet was “mostly vegan” and not that you ARE vegan. for you to say that you are vegan would be incorrect. Likewise, a vegetarian will not eat gelatin, period, and arguing to a vegetarian that they should eat gelatin, or meat, or bone broth, while still being a vegetarian, as the title implies, is stupid. one cannot be a vegetarian when one eats meat any more one can be a Kosher-observant Jew or a Halal-following Muslim while eating pork. the title is illogical.
again, no one is “preach[ing] about what vegetarians consume and why”, we are simply using established English-language definitions of words to point out logical errors in the article. For you, animal rights may be a tertiary reason for vegetarianism, but for many vegetarians they are a primary reason. It seems you are the close-minded one for seeking to define vegetarianism based solely on your personal experience, as well as change the established definitions of words so they will more closely fit with your worldview.
Ugh. That’s why I never say I’m vegetarian. I HATE that word, and I hate when people wear it like a badge.
I agree, I was a vegan at one time, i now look back and see how vegans and vegetarians act, which i did at one time. All we do was criticize everyone as if WE where so perfect. Does anyone know how vegetarianism started and why? Is your ate vegan or vegetarian, what is your history?
Curious if these self righteous V’s realize that a greater biomass of living creatures die in the production of vegetables & fruit than in most meat production. Mass harvesting vegetables & fruits results in the destruction of natural habitat as well as the countless small mammals, insects etc that call theses fields their home – they get chewed up in the mass harvest process by the giant machinery. Check yourself if you V’s think that you are holier than thou.
You don’t need to keep posting the same thing over and over, I have been a vegetarian since I was five, and I do not think I am “holier” than anyone else.
This article isn’t about vegans or vegetarians. If you people weren’t always so B12 deficient you would realize that and stop posting your crazy rants here.
I agree with you. Why vegans and vegetarians always pretend to be superior creatures. Wake up! This is just different point of view.
For going back to the importance of gelatin/collagen, there is also gelatin produced from algae. So if you do not want to consume animal products just use this one to cure joint and skin problems.
No, there is no gelatin produced by algae. You are confusing similar physical properties with being the same thing. Nutritionally, it is not equal.
That’s what I was thinking. The whole vegan thing for me is not to hurt animals.
Applauds.
Too many people are making “lifestyle” into cultiic religions (without the spine to declare it a religion) whereby anyone not “in” is dirt.
Terribly juvenile mindset by those STILL craving to belong.
If eating this way or that enables you to live in a healthy, active, productive manner – good.
The fault is NOT in the lifestyle or eating, it’s in the corporate mind that cares not about what it destroys in it’s pursuit of the almighty dollar, euro, whatever.
Go after the corporate mindset and not the average Joe on the street and you’ll eventually get more traction. Keep attacking everyday people and you’ll keep spinning your wheels senselessly while giving the appearance of being a fanatic.
Yes indeed…. All points well received. Whether meat or no meat, plants or no plants…. “ALL” things come from the dust. : )
I found it to be an interesting article but my question is what animal parts are being use to create gelatin and why? with gains being made in the labs on everything else, why use animal left overs if what is needed can be created in the Lab?
As far as I know its from Bone
Bones, eyes, cartilage, sinew…
This is oxymoronic and insulting to those of us who choose vegetarianism to avoid putting dead animals in our bodies.
Agreed 10000000%!!!
This article is truly bizarre. Regardless of her experience working with vegetarians, the author clearly does NOT understand vegetarianism one bit. If this is anything other than apparent, then neither in fact do you.
The title is not meant to taken literally as a command for vegetarians & vegans to eat gelatin. It meant just as farcical hyperbole to highlight the importance of taking this nutrient on a regular basis.
This article isn’t about vegan or vegetarians, so either lighten up or take a hike.
It’s difficult for them to lighten up since they’ve chosen the unfortunate mindset that is normally found in cult followers.
And that is; ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK!
They really do believe they are doing something good by coming after the article author and do not understand that they make themselves appear crazed and brainwashed.
I’ve seen more attacks from meat-eaters than vegetarians in these comments 🙂
Hi Laura,
You said that gelatin could potentially help you build stronger bones. There’s no maybe about it. Gelatin is vital to create collagen. Collagen, in turn, forms the bone latticework upon which the body deposits bone minerals calcium phosphate and magnesium especially. This latticework also provides lateral strength for the bones. Without adequate gelatin in the diet, you can have dense but brittle bones that snap like a twig at the first significant sideways impact.
Gelatin is not vital to create collagen. It helps, because gelatin is literally just collagen with some impurities, but the “building blocks” of collagen do NOT need to come from gelatin. They can be obtained from the same sources required to build any other protein-based structure in the body.
No, but it’s an ideal nutritional source to efficiently build collagen. The point of the article is that by consuming gelatin you can help optimize your health.
Do you understand the concept of vegetarianism?
Laura spent four years and 1200 hours in clinical rotation before she set foot in the outside world. She’s had a wide range of clients, so yes, she understands vegetarianism.
What Laura’s not saying, however, is what co-factors gelatin requires to make joint tissue: glucosamine sulfate, chondroitin, and hyaluronic acid. You get the first two from food only in bone broth, and the hyaluronic acid from a wide variety of other foods. Sure, you can take glucosamine sulfate and chondroitin, but how healthy can a diet be if it needs supplements to augment the food at every turn?
The big question is what are you, as a committed vegetarian, doing on comment thread oriented towards meat eaters?
Actually, I eat what could mostly be described as a Paleo diet, and my first thought was exactly what Rachael articulated– why the title? If the author is truly suggesting that vegetarians eat gelatin, then she really does not understand vegetarianism. If she is trying to “get a rise” or instill some shock value, it would be just as stupid (and almost as disrespectful) if I wrote an article called “Why Jews Should Eat More Pork” or “8 Reasons Seventh Day Adventists Need to Eat Shellfish.” In my article, as in this one, I would be ignoring the underlying value system in favour of an argument that I believed to be valid– but to the vegetarian, or Jew, or SDA, it is disrespectful. If she is merely trying to raise awareness about the benefits of gelatin, why not title it “Why We All Should Eat More Gelatin”?
As far as your comment about what she’s doing in a meat-oriented thread, well, aren’t we free to read what we want and comment on it when the author makes a logical error? Your comment smacks of the sort of exclusionism and holier-than-thou attitude that a lot of the Paleo crowd exhibit.
I’ll concede that the title is linguistically illogical. That you ultimately base your criticism in a value system, though, indirectly validates Laura’s main point. If your values cause self-harm by denying yourself vital nutrition, then your way of eating needs re-thinking.
The idea that vegetarianism denies one of vital nutrition has been scientifically disproven and is one that many of us have moved beyond.
It’s a simply marketing ploy used by many different types of media.
Got the reaction it wanted, didn’t it? LOL
I”m with you that statement above, “Are you a vegetarian that uses gelatin?” is illogical. All gelatin is animal based there are not other sources except animals. Vegetarians do not consume animal products. If one consumes gelatin they are therefore not Vegetarians.
I agree with you with respect to gelatin, but it is not accurate to say that “vegetarians do not consume animal products” – that’s only true of vegans. There are many kinds of vegetarians and many of them eat eggs and/or dairy. There are also people who eat fish but still call themselves vegetarian (pesco-vegetarians), so it’s a bit murky. But yes, the title of this post doesn’t make much sense.
There’s no doubt that gelatin has many health benefits. I’ve been taking gelatin as a supplement for years. It’s really helped with joint pain. I’ve noticed that there’s a bunch of hype over Great Lakes gelatin, but I switched to the Custom Collagen brand because it is more affordable and much better quality. It too is from grass fed beef and it is kosher. I spoke with the ladies there last week and they will also be coming out with a fish version very soon. Something to consider…
Gelatin is not vegetarian. Therefore if a vegetarian begins consuming gelatin they will not longer be a vegetarian. So basically your article is telling vegetarians to stop being vegetarians because you feel there are benefits to consuming gelatin. Ridiculous. I’ve been a vegetarian for 20 years and never consume gelatin… Nor will I give up vegetarianism in order to do so.
Why are you even here? If I were a vegetarian I would’nt be reading about gelatin and trying to convert ,”unbelievers”. Please add to the conversation by asking a relevant question, share something of benefit regarding the article or go elsewhere. This isn’t a religious forum as far as i’m aware, though I’m beginning to have my doubts….
Thank you for a thoughtful and very helpful article Laura!
Bravo! Thank you for your thoughts that occurred earlier than mine.
I am so tired of people of a certain “think” trying to convert others to their “think”.
Cults do this all the time. Veg’s need to rethink their strategies.
big mistake lol Didn’t you read your bones won’t be as flexible and strong.
You are absolutely correct if one follows logic the author is apparently, at least by the manor of her speech, telling Vegetarians to as you say, “stop being Vegetarians”. Anything illogical just does not compute with me – I’m Paleo by the way.
Vegans and Vegetarians are perfectly aware of the health benefits of meat and gelatin. I think people forget when they’re talking down to (not saying that this article is, but many people do) and patronize vegans and vegetarians that more often than not they’re speaking to someone who was once a meat eater and who are usually more informed of other diets hence becoming vegan and vego in the first place. The idea is that I WANT to be a vegetarian and that if it means I have to try harder to be healthy then so be it because to me it’s worth it and it’s no one else’s business to be judgemental of that. I know the intentions of this article were good, but please think before you write and don’t be superior when people’s personal beliefs are involved. I understand however that some people are vegan and vegetarian not for ethics but for the health BENEFITS of both diets which is where this article might come in handy but just be wary of your audience in future because at the end of the day it’s their choice what they believe in and no ethicly inclined vegan or vegetarian is going to think boiled bone broth is better than eating meat straight off the bone. We do what we do in perfect knowledge of what we’re missing out on. Again, I thank you for your intention, but in future just remember that you’re only the millionth person a day telling us we don’t get enough of this or that or that we’re naive hippies. It’s good reading an article from someone who is actually informed though! Most people making comments about my diet sit around in maccas all day and then turn around and tell me I’m the unhealthy one! ha!
Ethics?! Tell me how ethical it is to support Big Agra, which destroys entire ecosystems for profit and poisons the planet with toxic chemicals. Or are the fungi and invertebrates at the base of the system of life beneath a vegetarian’s consideration because they’re not sentient?
You know what’s not scalable? Organic agriculture. On a planet of over 7 billion people that’s quickly building to 10 billion, there’s not enough arable land to feed everyone with premium produce and grains, assuming the latter produced health to begin with.
Take your self-righteousness and peddle it elsewhere.
Um… you know that most agra crops support the meat & dairy industries, right?
So……
Thanks for this interesting article. Before I consider buying Great Lakes gelatin products on your recommendation, I was wondering:
Did Great Lakes pay you to write this?
Do you receive a commission for sales that you generate for them?
Have you bought shares in their company?
Do you know them personally?
Many thanks for your help.
I receive about a 6-7% commission from products bought on Amazon, but I only recommend products that I myself use. Great Lakes did not ask me to write this post, and I have no affiliation with the company itself.
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/collagen-an-implausible-supplement-for-joint-pain/
It is not proved most of those claims about gelatin, Anyway it is certainly a source of some amino acids in greater amounts.
Sometimes, it’s enlightening to read the comments after a blog post. I suggest you start with the one by a commenter with the screen name of JPZ.