Beauty bloggers and gut health experts agree: We all need more collagen! Collagen plays a critical role in helping our bones, joints, hair, and connective tissues stay strong and healthy. It’s the most abundant protein in the human body - you can think of it as the glue that keeps everything together. Supplementing with collagen - at all ages - is a natural way to promote gut health, boost immunity, and keep our hair, skin, and nails strong and healthy.
Today, I’m sharing a ridiculously fun way to get more collagen into your diet—with these fruity, all-natural, sugar-free collagen gummies, flavored with Everly powdered drink mix! Everly is a delicious way to help you drink more water. It uses 100% real ingredients like stevia leaf and red radish to create colorful, fruity flavors that your whole family will love - with 0g sugar! In addition to drinking it in my water, I love adding Everly to recipes as a way to add a burst of flavor.
This sugar-free collagen gummy recipe combines the gut-healing power of collagen with the hydrating, fruity goodness of Everly. All you have to do to promote a healthier, more balanced body is eat a handful of these gummies every day! Don’t mind if I do.
Why We All Need More Collagen
Almost all of us could benefit from a collagen supplement. Here’s why: The most obvious reason is that our body’s natural collagen production declines as we get older. This is why our hair, skin, and nails lose their luster and strength over time. Supplementing with collagen can improve the look and health of our hair, skin, and nails, helping us look and feel our best.
The second reason is a product of our modern lifestyles: We actually used to consume a lot more collagen in our diets than we do now. In an effort to use every part of the animals they were eating, our grandparents’ generation ate a lot of collagen in the form of home-cooked soups, stews, gravies, and broths. Since our generation tends to cook less, we have far less access to the collagen naturally occurring in the animal-based foods we eat.
The third reason to supplement with collagen is also due to lifestyle: Taking collagen regularly can help counteract the damage to our gut caused by processed foods, sugar, excessive caffeine, smoking, stress, etc. Having an imbalance in your gut can cause all sorts of problems, from anxiety and mood swings to heightened food sensitivities and weakened immunity.
How to Get More Collagen Into Your Diet
There are three ways to get more collagen into your diet. One way is to add collagen peptide powder into virtually any liquid you consume - smoothies, juices, soups, etc. This powder dissolves in hot and cold liquids. You can also cook meals from scratch using ingredients high in collagen - such as bone-in chicken thighs, and soups made from knuckle and marrow bones - to draw out the naturally occurring collagen.
Or, you can eat (keto-friendly) candy. With three simple ingredients and a fun gummy bear mold, you can make these magical, sugar-free gummies and eat them by the handful.
Note on ingredients: This recipe calls for gelatin powder, which is made of collagen that has been heated. Gelatin forms a gel when combined with warm liquid, while collagen does not. I’d recommend keeping both gelatin and collagen on hand, as they serve different purposes.
Check out this post for more variations of keto-friendly gummies like sour gummy worms, energy bites or CBD gummies!
Note on tools: Although it adds a fun touch, a gummy bear mold is not essential to making this recipe. Pour your gummy mixture into a flat, square or rectangular container and cut into cubes for easy, basic gummies without the fuss.
Everly Collagen Gummies
INGREDIENTS
3.5 tbsp Great Lakes or Vital Proteins Gelatin
1 tbsp Everly drink mix (flavor of choice)
1 cup hot water
INSTRUCTIONS
Combine collagen and Everly in a bowl or a large glass measuring cup (such as Pyrex). While whisking or stirring rapidly, add the hot water and stir until dissolved. Pour into silicone molds (or see note above) and refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours.
Let us know what you think of these sugar-free collagen gummies!
Recipe by Maja Majewski for Everly