Beauty Foods: Top Foods for Glowing Skin, Shiny Hair & Strong Nails
2014
You know that look when someone has a beauty that just seems to radiate from the inside out? They exude energy and vitality along with their clear complexion, bright smile and white eyes. Chances are they are eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables regularly, and especially lots of the top foods for glowing skin. Choose your favorites, and eat as wide a variety as possible. Check out this list of the best foods to give you that clear flawless skin and healthy strong hair and nails.
What makes a food exceptional for giving you that glowing look along with a clear complexion is the abundant enzymes and specific nutrients that it contains.
Eating for Beauty
A healthy inside leads to a healthy outside. Glowing health radiates out from within, so eating well is a crucial place to start. Consuming lots of leafy greens and a broad range of fruits and vegetables will go far to give you beautiful skin. If your body is low on nutrients it will rob the skin of nutrients to take care of any internal issues first. Alnd if the body gets out of balance this shows up in the skin.
Stress and illness can take its toll on the skin when the stomach’s flora gets out of whack and it can show up as acne, psoriasis, eczema or in dull lifeless skin. To help rectify this take a probiotic or eat foods with healthy bacterial culture. A healthy gut is responsible for a lot of the well-being of your body, including your skin.
Let’s look at some of top beauty foods and the main nutrients necessary for glowing skin.
Top Foods for Glowing Skin
General Rules
Go for: Healthy fats from natural plant sources, probiotics and lots of water
Avoid: alcohol, smoking, white sugar, white flour and highly processed foods. Avoid too much sugar or high glycemic carbs, as the resulting insulin spike can damage collagen and accelerate wrinkles. Alcohol and smoking can make wrinkles develop sooner and skin age faster.
Top beauty foods researched and shown to be best for glowing skin
Fruits great for the skin are: papaya, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, guava, kiwi, citrus: oranges, lemons, grapefruit
Vegetables great for the skin are: avocado, kale, spinach, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli, tomatoes
Nuts and seeds great for the skin are: Brazil nuts, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, pine nuts
Other foods great for glowing skin – dark chocolate, aloe vera, natural plant oils
Top nutrients for glowing skin are
Antioxidants such a lutein and betacarotene give a healthy even skin tone and are important for healthy skin development.
Vitamin E and C are both also powerful antioxidants that not only contribute to radiant skin but are necessary for a strong immune system. These nutrients also help heal blemishes, and produce collagen, essential for healthy capillaries gives a tighter skin tone.
Vitamin E has also been shown in studies to be a natural sun block agent that helps to protect skin cells from UV light as well as other damaging environmental factors.
Selenium works with vitamins C and E and not only makes more beautiful skin but helps to protect the skin from skin cancer, sun damage and age spots.
Zinc also helps to repair skin damage and keep skin supple. It assists with regulating the production of oil in the skin.
Flavonols, antioxidants found in dark chocolate and berries, also help to protect against sun damage and reduces roughness in the skin.
EFA’s (essential fatty acids), especially the Omega 3’s and 6’s help to keep skin supple and smooth. Omega 3’s assist the body to produce anti-inflammatory compounds which are great for the whole body, but especially for the skin and anyone with eczema or psoriasis.
More Tips for Glowing Skin
Drink up!
Drinking lots of water will contribute to having smoother and more supple skin. Being dehydrated dries out the skin and makes you look dry, tired and pasty.
Smile, Facial Exercises and Massage
It may feel silly to do facial exercises, but your face has muscles too and toned muscles always look better than flabby muscles. Smiling actually works many muscles in your face, so more reason to keep smiling!
Facial massages stimulate cells in the skin encouraging them to release collagen, which gives our skin more elasticity. A facial massage is included with many facials and is given for it’s skin enhancing benefits.
Keep it Cool
Avoid hot showers that can strip healthy oils from the surface of the skin and dry it out.
Get Sweaty
Sweating helps your skin to eliminate toxic chemicals that can get built up in the layer underneath. Working up a sweat from exercise gives extra benefits increasing circulation of blood flow throughout your body and your skin.
Back to Nature Skin Care
The best things to rub on your skin come from your local market or produce stand. For the softest skin ever try rubbing avocado, papaya or the inside gel from an aloe vera leaf all over your skin (just slice a thick piece in half and rub it on).
The more natural your skin products ar.e the better they will be for your skin, especially if you have sensitive skin. Products with color, fragrance, sudsing agents and especially antibacterial agents can be very drying and irritating to the skin. Avoid any products with Glycols or PEGS, which are very damaging chemicals.
Make your own natural luxuriant face cream at home!
Your turn
What are your favorite natural skin care tricks and tips? Do you have any favorite skin care strategy that you use for glowing skin? I’d love to hear from you.
Please leave a comment below to share!
To your softest, most beautiful and glowing skin ever,
Robin
