Include These Foods in Your Diet for a Healthier Skin
When it comes to looking after your skin, what you put into your body is just as important as the way you treat your skin - and the products you use.
Different foods and drinks contain nutrients that help keep your skin looking and feeling healthy, so a balanced diet is an important part of skincare.
It is always vital to drink plenty of water to help hydrate your skin. At the same time, some specific foods are very effective at helping to fight acne, keeping your skin looking fresh and avoiding dryness.
Here are some foods that are good for your skin!
Fatty fish, such as salmon and mackerel, are rich in omega-3 fatty acids with their benefits including helping skin stay hydrated, protecting skin from too much sun and reducing inflammation.
Omega-3 fatty acids also help preserve collagen in your skin. Collagen is responsible for the elasticity of the skin and prevents it from sagging. As we age, our body naturally starts producing less collagen, which is why skin starts to become thinner, less elastic and drier - leading to wrinkles.
Increasing the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in your diet by eating cold-water, fatty fish from sustainable sources helps maintain the skin’s youthful appearance for longer. Such fish includes salmon, tuna, trout, sardines, mackerel, anchovies and herring.
Brazil nuts are a good source of selenium. This helps to promote the skin's natural glow while protecting the skin cells against any damage by too much sun, ensuring it looks and feels healthy.
Brazil nuts are also rich in antioxidants and vitamin E to support the skin's health. Antioxidants help combat free radicals, which can damage collagen, while vitamin E helps maintain the cellular integrity of the skin so it stays hydrated.
Tomatoes are full of antioxidants, particularly vitamin C, quercetin and lycopene- a powerful carotenoid responsible for the red colour of ripe tomatoes. Lycopene also protects the skin from too much sun while decreasing the skin’s sensitivity to sunburn. Lycopene can improve the texture of your skin too.
Raw tomatoes are good but you might not know that cooking tomatoes actually increases the amount of antioxidants that the body can absorb from the tomatoes.
Sweet potatoes are high in beta-carotene which is a provitamin A, meaning that the body can convert it into vitamin A - helping with UV protection, as well as dry skin, wrinkles and cell degeneration. In addition, a high intake of beta-carotene has also been found to add a warm orange colour to those with lighter skin tones.
While beta-carotene can be found in a lot of fruits and vegetables, including oranges, spinach and carrots, As well as beta-carotene, sweet potatoes also contain fewer carbohydrates than standard potatoes, making them a healthy alternative for the starchy portion of your meal.
Avocados are high in healthy fats helping to keep the skin supple, hydrated and elastic - reducing those signs of aging.
They are also rich in vitamin E to protect your skin from oxidative damage - which is caused by eating high-fat, high-sugar or highly processed foods, as well as smoking and drinking alcohol.
In addition, vitamin E is most effective when it is combined with vitamin C - also important for the skin to help with collagen production. The good news is that avocados are also a good source of vitamin C.
Dark chocolate that contains at least seventy percent cocoa is high in antioxidants, which have been found to improve the thickness of the skin and its hydration. Dark chocolate can also help improve blood flow to your skin so it can get more nutrients and look healthier.
Bell peppers especially red or yellow ones are a great source of beta-carotene, which is converted by your body into vitamin A. It does not matter whether they are eaten cooked or raw.
Red and yellow bell peppers are also a good source of vitamin C, which helps with the creation of collagen in the skin. Eating plenty of vitamin C-rich foods is said to lead to a smoother, more hydrated skin.
Green tea is also high in antioxidants (especially when drunk without milk), helping to protect your skin against UV damage from the sun. It also improves your skin’s elasticity and moisture retention, as well as reducing skin thinning.
SOURCES:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/12-foods-for-healthy-skin
https://dermalex.co.uk/best-foods-for-your-skin/
Written by Jane Chitty
Jane writes for Healing Natural Oils, a producer and retailer of high-quality, all-natural treatments for a variety of conditions as well as a range of beauty products. Apart from writing about those various conditions, she also covers general health, environmental and other subjects of interest. She has lived in Kenya as well as Cape Town, South Africa and spent time in San Diego, USA. She now lives in Somerset, England with regular visits from her far-flung children and grandchildren. She is a keen gardener and enjoys growing fresh fruit and vegetables with her husband on their joint allotment. As a result, there is something available to use in the kitchen virtually all year round. Her regular posts can be found on our blog.
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