As you may have noticed, I started a 7 part series, 7 Steps to Great Skin quite a while ago. Suddenly, life got busy, and I never got around to finishing it. Step 3 was always planned to be “You are what you eat”. So you can imagine how happy I was when Daisy Raybould, of Revitalize Your Health offered to write this article for me, since it fits so well into my series. Thank you, Daisy!
Siobhan
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5 Foods To Help You Achieve Beautiful Skin
Everyone wants beautiful skin; some women spend hundreds of dollars for expensive creams and lotions that promise to make their skin soft, smooth, and silky. Taking care of your skin is important; but no matter what you put on the outside, if you aren’t getting the nutrients your body needs to produce strong, healthy skin you’re wasting your time and money. The loveliest skin comes from your dinner plate, not out of a bottle; and the best thing you can do to look younger and have smoother, clearer skin is to eat a balanced diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables.
Here are 5 of the best foods for healthy, beautiful skin:
Seafood – Seafood, especially oysters and fatty fish like salmon contain Omega-3 fatty acids, which are necessary components of cell membranes. They also reduce inflammation and dryness, as well as keeping your arteries clear and enhancing circulation. Good circulation is essential for healthy skin. It also provides a good source of zinc, which is needed for new cell production and sloughing off dead skin. A build-up of dead skin cells will make your skin look dull, rough, and lifeless; and can encourage acne blemishes.
Peppers and Citrus – Bell peppers, hot peppers, and citrus fruits like oranges and acerola cherries are high in the Vitamin C you need for tight, smooth skin. Vitamin C is needed for collagen production, which keeps your skin elastic and prevents sagging. Vitamin C is also anti-inflammatory and its antioxidant properties fight the free radicals that can cause premature aging.
Nuts – Nuts provide Vitamin E, an antioxidant that fights free radical damage, and is especially effective against the free radicals caused by exposure to sunlight. It also helps the skin to maintain its moisture levels, making your skin look younger and smoother.
Red and Green Veggies – Dark green veggies like spinach and other dark, leafy greens provide Vitamin A. Another antioxidant, Vitamin A can also reduce acne blemishes, and has been used in anti-acne medications like Retin-A for years. Red-orange vegetables like sweet potatoes and carrots provide beta-carotene, which the body can convert to Vitamin A if needed; and cooked tomatoes provide lycopene, an antioxidant which supports collagen production.
Whole Grains – Whole, unprocessed grains reduce the chances of “insulin spikes” that can be a result of eating high-glycemic processed grains, which can also reduce the chances of acne. Buckwheat is an excellent source of rutin, an antioxidant that helps fight skin damaging inflammation; and wheat germ is a good source of biotin (plus, biotin is one of the best vitamins for hair), a B vitamin that helps the cells metabolize fats. Low levels of biotin can lead to dry, scaly skin.
Author bio:
Daisy Raybould has a passion for solving health problems the way nature intended. She, along with a number of fellow natural health enthusiasts, share their tips, secrets and recipes designed to help you obtain perfect health, and achieve radiant beauty using the power of nature’s wonders at RevitaliseYourHealth.com.
Its an option on how to look your skin great and beautiful, eating healthy foods and have a healthy living can really help nourishing the skin. I would definitely eat fruits and vegetables because a lot of nutrients and benefits acquire on it. Drinking a lot of water can really help you through achieving great skin.
Our skin reflects what we eat , It is also called as a “Mirror to your diet”. So we should take care of what we eat and at what time we should eat because eating small meals 4-5 times a day is better option than eating too much 2 times a day.
Hi, Jenny,
I completely agree with you – our skin DEFINITELY reflects our diet. And how much sleep we get. How much stress we’re under. How much water we drink… For me, green smoothies are the trick to great skin – way more leafy greens than I’d get in my diet otherwise.
It may be green and leafy, but spinach—a renowned muscle builder—is also the ultimate man food. The heart-health equivalent of a first-ballot Hall of Famer, spinach is replete with the essential minerals potassium and magnesium, and it’s one of the top sources of lutein, an antioxidant that may help prevent clogged arteries. Plus its vitamins and nutrients can bolster bone-mineral density, attack prostate cancer cells, reduce the risk of skin tumors, fight colon cancer, and, last but not least, increase blood flow to the penis. “Popeye was on to something,” says Susan Bowerman, assistant director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California at Los Angeles.
Cool! I’ll have to tell me husband about that ‘increased blood flow’ thing 🙂
The avocado is known for its numerous properties that benefit the skin. It contains many healthy fats that plump up the skin and smooth away the dryness. Avocados have the highest content of vitamin E when compared with other fruits, which is a powerful antioxidant that helps strengthen the white blood cells.
AND avocados are so amazingly yummy! My husband has been making fantastic salads lately, and the creaminess of the avocado goes a long way towards making a salad feel like a meal.
Vitamin A as an antioxidant helps convert beta-carotene efficiently, which reduces the risk of blindness in diabetics. Vitamin B 12 is effective in the treatment of diabetic neuropathy. High dose supplements of vitamin C have been shown to prevent sorbitol accumulation and glycosylation of proteins, both of which are important factors in the development of diabetic complications such as cataracts. Studies have shown that a low vitamin-E concentration was associated with a 3.9 times greater risk of developing diabetes. Vitamin E reduces oxidative stress, thus improving membrane physical characteristics and related activities in glucose transport. This antioxidant promotes healing of diabetes-related lesions. Magnesium helps in the metabolism of glycogen, Mg works closely with vitamin B 6 to help the metabolic process with in the cell. Moringa all these nutrient and helps the diabetic patient to control their blood glucose level.
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