I am sure you have heard the saying, you are what you eat, though many people still do not realize that what they eat, can actually affect their skin as well as various other aspects of their life.
How A Poor Diet Can Cause Poor Skin
Our skin has gotten worse over the past few decades. In the past, people cooked more and made meals from scratch, whereas today convenience rules most of the time. This often means quick and easy ready meals laced full with additives and with hardly any nutritional content in them. Whilst it may seem easier and better to simply shove a ready meal into the microwave, many people do not realize exactly what it is doing to their health, and even if they do, they do not really seem to care.
Our tongue suffers quite a lot from not getting the right nutrients. The more junk food we eat which is laced with additives and false flavorings, the number our tongue becomes. You can tell if your taste buds have numbed because your tongue will have a slightly grey appearance to it. So what about what the junk food is doing to our skin on the outside?
A poor diet can leave the skin looking dull and undernourished. Many people follow low carbohydrate diets which can rob the body of anti oxidant rich produce. Antioxidants help to fight free radicals which cause premature ageing. Also, if you do not drink enough water, your body can become dry and hence the skin may develop a condition such as Eczema or even Psoriasis. So what should you be doing to keep your skin healthy?
How to Eat a Skin Healthy Diet
It is not too hard to stick to a diet which is healthy for your skin. With a few tips, you can easily keep your skin looking young and healthy for longer. A few things which may help include:
Eat Plenty of Fatty Acids
Fatty acids are extremely good for the skin and they can be found in oily fish as well as in flaxseed oil. Salmon and tuna are particularly good and in order to incorporate flaxseed oil into the diet, you should try adding two tablespoons of it per day onto foods such as potatoes.
Get The Right Vitamins Into The Body
Vitamin E is especially helpful in keeping the skin looking good. Nuts such as Almonds and Hazelnuts are great for keeping the skin looking healthy as they are extremely rich in vitamin E. Whole grains and soy based products are also good foods to eat.
Vitamin A is also good for the skin and foods such as sweet potatoes, spinach and carrots are all rich in beta carotene which is natures most easily assimilated source of Vitamin A. The beta carotene helps to fight off free radicals which cause anti ageing.
Drink Plenty of Water!
Water is almost a miracle cure for the skin. It really does help to clear the skin and flush out any toxins within the body. It is recommended that you drink around 8 glasses of water a day, though it all depends upon how active you are. If you are fairly active, you may need more than 8 glasses a day in order to keep your skin properly hydrated.
However, if you hardly do anything during the day, you may not need to drink as much as usual. The general rule is to look at the color of your urine when you go to the toilet. If it is a lighter color than champagne, you are getting enough fluid in you, if not then you need to be drinking more water!
Overall a healthy diet is essential if you want healthy skin. Obviously you will need to exercise, and get plenty of sleep too, but by having a healthy diet you are contributing to having healthy, glowing skin!
By: Louise Forrest