A Wellness Journey with Edible Health – Collagen is the most abundant protein in our body, it is responsible for healthy joints and skin elasticity and is the major component of connective tissues that make up several body parts, including tendons, ligaments, skin, and muscles.
It is found in our bones, muscles, and blood, comprising three-quarters of our skin and a third of the protein in your body. As we age, our existing collagen breaks down, and it gets harder for our body to produce more. Therefore, when it comes to collagen, we could do with a little extra help!
There are several foods you can eat to increase your collagen intake, for example, pork skin and bone broth. However, due to our lifestyles in recent years, collagen supplements have become popular.
Women Talking talks to Corrina Cope & Simon Goddard founders of Edible Health. Founded in 2016, Edible Health aims to empower people with their health by offering the highest quality, pure, hydrolysed collagen powder supplements, and collagen skincare on the market.
What inspired you to start the business?
“If I’m honest, we didn’t start the business. The business started us! We had no plans to get into collagen, no plans to sell on Amazon, and no plans to build a team or growing an international brand.
“They say the Universe works in mysterious ways, well it was clearly making mysterious plans for us long before Edible Health came into fruition because the gentleman, we partnered with came into my life around 10 years before EH.
“Back in 2006, I was doing a lot of property management and had built up a little portfolio of rental properties. One of my tenants at the time rented from me for a couple of years or so. Strangely, even after he’d left my property, he would still randomly keep in touch. I never really understood why, but it was always nice to hear from him and, as he ventured on his own amazing entrepreneurial journey, I would often say to him “we should go into business together”.
“Then one day in 2016, not long after I had started my own health research on collagen for personal reasons, I got one of his usual, out-of-the-blue calls, with a business proposition for us both.
“The rest, as they say, is history!”
Have you always been interested in Health?
“Pretty much, although again, the Universe paved this path for me long before I became aware of it. The seeds were sown when I was 7 and my Nan, who we lived with, died suddenly from a heart attack. This totally devastated me, and it wasn’t until my later years that I realised that moment locked in a subconscious awareness of health and a connection to dying young.
“At 18, I was bullied at a friend’s engagement party and that was the catalyst that ignited this wondrous journey that I have been on ever since. The bully in question made a spiteful comment about my belly, suggesting I was pregnant, and she mocked me in front of everyone (I have a slightly curved spine, so my belly sticks out). The psychological impact this had on me led to an eating disorder fuelled by food obsession and body issues, and so that’s when my journey really began.
“And the journey continues, but it now includes my partner Simon, who I met almost 10 years ago and who I co-founded EH with. Simon is a lifelong sufferer of migraines and, after watching him suffer in ways a person should never have to, I swore I wouldn’t stop looking for answers until I could stop his pain. We are not quite there but we are getting close.”
How has your life changed since starting the business?
“The biggest and best changes to my life are the changes that other people have experienced because of EH – be that our customers or our EH family. I know it’s a spiritual cliché but helping others is the best thing you can ever do in life. Nothing is more rewarding and fulfilling. Whether it’s helping someone with their health or creating a working culture where everyone feels free, valued, supported, trusted, and empowered.”
Has it been an interesting journey working so closely together?
“Everything about our entire journey together has been interesting – even before EH. Simon and I have shed blood, sweat and tears together and debated, laughed, and cried our way through the last 5 years with EH – but it’s always been like that. We work well together if he remembers who’s boss and that I’m always right!!!!
“Joking aside, we just seem to keep going from strength to strength. We have both learned so much from each other – he is the yin to my yang and vice versa.”
Being such an important component in our bodies, Women Talking takes a deeper insight into the positive health benefits of taking collagen.
Healthy Skin
Collagen plays a role in strengthening skin, plus may benefit elasticity and hydration. As you age, your body produces less collagen, leading to dry skin and the formation of wrinkles.
Supplements containing collagen may help slow the aging of your skin by reducing wrinkles and dryness it aids eczema, rosacea and psoriasis leaving you with radiant skin.
Relieves Joint Pain
Collagen helps maintain the integrity of your cartilage, which is the rubber-like tissue that protects your joints.
As the amount of collagen in your body decreases as you get older, therefore, your risk of developing degenerative joint disorders such as osteoarthritis increases. Collagen supplements help to reduce stiffness and any inflammation.
Bone Loss
Your bones are made mostly of collagen, which gives them structure and helps keep them strong. Just as the collagen in your body deteriorates as you age, so does bone mass. This may lead to conditions like osteoporosis, which is characterized by low bone density and linked to a higher risk of bone fractures.
Muscle Mass
Between 1–10% of muscle tissue is composed of collagen. This protein is necessary to keep your muscles strong and functioning properly. Edible Health contains creatine, which is a natural compound which may help increase muscle mass and therefore improve endurance and athletic performance.
Healthy Heart
Collagen provides structure to your arteries, which are the blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to the rest of your body. Without enough collagen, arteries may become weak and fragile.
This may lead to atherosclerosis, a disease characterised by the narrowing of the arteries.
Aids Sleep
Glycine is the most prevalent amino acid in marine collagen and is known to have impressive sleep enhancing benefits, which in turn aid’s cognitive function.
Other Health Benefits
Edible health collagen supplements have other health benefits these include preventing nail brittleness, stimulating hair and nail growth, promoting a healthy, balanced gut, improving mood, and reducing symptoms of anxiety and stimulated metabolism which could lead to weight loss.
Poppy Watt