Your skin needs proper care and nourishment to look and feel healthy and avoid acne and premature aging. The cheapest and most effective way to have healthier and clear skin is by changing your diet to a beautiful skin diet. What is a beautiful skin diet?
If you eat nutritious food that is part of the beautiful skin diet, your skin will have a glowing and radiant look and helps to prevent pimples and acne from occuring. You too can have a beautiful skin if you eat healthy, fresh food and take the right supplements and vitamins. In addition, you should keep your skin hydrated by drinking enough water. You should take at least 10 to 12 glasses of water a day. This is to avoid dehydration that will affect your cellular metabolism and help to flush out the toxins in your body. Drinking enough water a day can make your skin clearer and healthier.
The following food are known to contain lots of antioxidants, vitamins, nutritions that give you a clear, acne free and healthy looking skin:
(1) Consume these healthy fats - Omega-3 fatty acids and Omega-6 fatty acids are essential fats that the body cannot produce. They must be consumed through diet. These essential fats are responsible for reducing skin inflammation and improving blood circulation, giving you a clear, glowing skin and helping you to prevent premature aging. Food that are rich in these healthy fats include salmon, sardines, mackerels, nuts (walnuts, almonds), seeds (pumpkins, sunflower), and flaxseed and olive oil.
(2) Eat fish 3 times a week. Since these fish can contain toxic metals, consumption of these fish should be limited to 3 times a week.
(3) Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables each day - colorful fruits and vegetables, garlic, and onions are essential for clear, healthy skin. The more colors, the more they contain antioxidants and vitamins. Carrots, tomatoes, romaine lettuces, spinachs, cantaloupes, berries, beets, cabbages, broccolis, and kales are excellent sources.
(4) Get Enough Fiber - Fibers aid the digestion process and helps to remove toxins from the body. Build-up of toxins are the main cause of acne and other skin problems. Food rich in fibers include oatmeals, whole grains, beans, lentils.
(5) Eat organic and fresh, unprocessed food as much as possible - Chemicals and pesticides cause build up of toxins in the body and strain the liver. Too much toxins will result in dull, acne skin. Therefore, it is better to eat food that is fresh and organic as much as possible.
Eat dark chocolate - Dark chocolate contains a potent antioxidant known as polyphenols that can fight inflammation.
The above food is vital to supply your body with potent antioxidants and vitamins, while reducing inflammation and toxins build-up. Certain food, however, can have opposite effects and are considered bad for the skin.
Below are the food that you should limit or avoid:
(1) Reduce intake of dairy products - Dairy food can cause inflammation and trigger skin conditions. You may replace with soy milk and yogurt.
(2) Reduce consumption of sugar and carbohydrates - Carbohydrates are food components that act as a source of energy. However, too much carbohydrate is not always beneficial to the body. When you eat too much food that is rich in carbohydrates, your pancreas has to increase its insulin production. This results in damaged cells and collagen, resulting in wrinkles formation and sagging of the skin. So limit your consumption of food such as white bread, rice and pasta, cakes, biscuits, and pastries.
(3) Minimize or avoid alcohol consumption - Alcohol can increase liver toxicity and can cause acne breakouts in some people.
(4) Avoid fried and fatty food.
Limit red meat - Red meat contains lots of saturated fats, which can cause inflammation.
Vitamins and Supplements for clear, healthy & glowing skin
Vitamins and minerals are essential and helpful in improving your skin's health and is a vital part of the acne free diet. If you do not consume enough vitamins from food, then you should take supplements. Good places to get high quality supplements and vitamins are LifeExtension.com and House of Nutrition Homepage.
(1) Let us start by discussing the importance of Vitamin A. This vitamin, more specifically beta-carotene, is very food for the eyes as well as for the skin. Vitamin A is important in repairing and protecting the skin tissues. A lack or even a small drop in the required amount of this vitamin will immediately be manifested by the body, especially by the skin itself. Flakiness and drying of the complexion is a good example the signs of vitamin A deficiency. To avoid these consequences, it is best to take foods that are filled with vitamin A, such as fruits and vegetables.
(2) The next vitamin on our list is Vitamin B for Vitamin B Complex. The most important "B" to remember in Vitamin B complex is Biotin. This nutrient is responsible for the formation of the nails, hair, and skin cells. Biotin is found in various types of food such as eggs, rice, oatmeal, and bananas. Even the human body creates its own biotin.
However, the fact that our body produces it doesn't mean that you should stop taking food and other supplements rich in Biotin and the entire vitamin B complex. A lack of this important nutrient may result in dermatitis or skin inflammation accompanied by itchiness and redness of the skin. Hair loss is also another symptom for vitamin B complex deficiency.
There are now available creams in the market which contain B vitamins. These creams help restore or bring radiance to the skin as it moisturizes skin cells and improve the entire body' s skin tone. Aside from biotin, Niacin is another B vitamin which helps bring back moisture to the skin in almost less than a week. They work by relieving dry and chaffed skin. It also serves as a skin lightener which can clear up blotchy skin.
(3) Vitamins C and E are also good for the skin. Individually, vitamin C helps protect the skin from skin cancer normally caused by very long and frequent exposures to the sun. Vitamin E, on the other hand, is responsible for the reduction of wrinkles and photo damage. A 400 mg dose of natural Vitamin E every day would help prevent this damage and enhance the skin's texture. Together, these two vitamins work in reducing DNA damages in the skin cells. This fact made researchers come to the conclusion that antioxidants help defend the body's skin cells from further DNA damage. The vitamins C and E also lessen damages brought about by free radicals, which are detrimental byproducts of pollution, smoke, and exposure to too much sunlight. These free radicals gorge down elastin and collagen fibers that are important to the structure of the skin.
(4) Omega 3 acids - If you do not consume enough fish, taking daily omega-3 acids supplements are recommended to fight inflammation and increase blood circulation.
(5) Alpha Lipoic Acid - This is a potent antioxidant that helps your body fight inflammation.
As you can see, you don't have to spend a fortune to have a healthy skin. Just follow the beautiful skin diet regimen which includes eating food and fruits rich in antioxidants and vitamins goes a long way to help you maintain a radiant, healthy, and clear skin.
