Are you unhappy with your skin? Does it seem like you’ve tried every imaginable beauty product out there to help with wrinkles, dry skin, redness, and other common skin problems? Maybe you’re thinking about the problem all wrong.
Maybe the source of your skin problems is coming from the food you eat, rather than the products you’re using.
Maintaining a healthy body starts with what we put into it. The foods we eat can have both negative and positive impacts on how we look, feel, and act; and that includes our skin.
If you’re looking for ways to improve your skin and bring back that glowing, youthful look you desire, then the first step is to take a look at your diet.
Eating healthy will not only help your skin, but it will also help other areas of your body. Healthy foods packed with vitamins, antioxidants, and proteins can help things like hair, nails, digestion, energy and more.
To really feel good about your body, it all starts with what you put into it.
Let’s take a look at some delicious foods you can work into your diet (if you’re not already) that will help promote healthy skin as well as make you feel better in general.
Great Foods To Help Improve Your Skin
Water
One of, if not the, most important things you can put into your body is water. Consuming enough water on a daily basis helps with all aspects of our bodies including digestions, circulation and absorption. But what about our skin?
Skin is the largest organ in our bodies, and is also made up of cells, which require water in order to thrive. So by drinking enough water each day, we can be sure that our skin cells are fully hydrated and can work to their full potential. This can help with dry, flaky skin, and even help reduce wrinkles.
Citrus Fruit – Lemons, Oranges, Grapefruits
Just like water, citrus fruits can provide a great way to keep your body, and skin cells, hydrated throughout the day. Loaded with potassium, in addition to other antioxidants, citrus fruits like lemons, oranges and grapefruits, can help keep you well hydrated, providing potassium, an electrolyte, that the body needs in order to properly maintain function.
Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of beta carotene which is an antioxidant that has been shown to act as a natural sunscreen for your skin.
By protecting your skin from the sun you are helping to keep your skin healthy. Prolonged sun exposure can cause skin cell death, which can lead to flaky and dry skin, as well as wrinkles. Eating sweet potatoes can help you naturally protect your skin from the sun, thus reducing the negative effects that the sun can have.
Salmon
Fatty fish, like salmon, are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, potassium, and vitamin E, all of which are essential for maintaining healthy skin.
Omega-3 fatty acids reduce inflammation which can cause acne and redness, as well as help hydrate the skin to prevent flakiness and dryness.
Vitamin E is an antioxidant that can also help protect your skin against inflammation and damage. While zinc helps with the production of new cells in your body.
Potassium is an electrolyte that helps keep your body and cells hydrated, which is extremely important for your skin cells.
Eating salmon, and other fatty fish, is a great way to ensure that your body is getting nutrients and vitamins that it needs to maintain healthy skin.
Dark Chocolate
Rich in antioxidants, Dark Chocolate is a delicious, and great way to help improve the look and feel of your skin. The antioxidants found in dark chocolate can help hydrate your skin which will make it feel thicker and less rough and scaly. There have also been studies that have found that eating dark chocolate every day could help your skin be less sensitive to sunburn, which in turn can help the longevity of the skin.
While not nearly as sweet as some of its sugary counterparts, dark chocolate offers up a variety of health benefits that will help your skin looking amazing.
Avocados
We’ve all heard that avocados are full of “healthy fat”, but how can it help with your skin?
Lutein, a carotenoid that helps promote skin elasticity, helps keep your skin moisturized and “springy”, and can keep your skin looking youthful.
Avocados are also full of vitamins C and E which can help protect the cells from damage.
Did you also know that you can use avocados topically to help keep your skin soft and supple. The oils found in avocados are great when applied directly to the skin as a facemask. They can help prevent aging lines and wrinkles, while also helping to moisturize the skin.
So whether you’re eating them, or applying them directly on to your skin, avocados are a great way to help your skin maintain that healthy, youthful look we all desire.
Watermelon
If you’re not a fan of drinking 8 cups of water per day, then watermelon might be the next best thing.
As its name suggests, watermelon is made up of mostly water. Two cups of cubed watermelon equal a full cup of water. So if you’re not into getting your water intake through drinking it, why not try to eat it instead. Not to mention watermelon is also a great source of beta-carotene and vitamin C, which are both antioxidants that can help skin cells stay healthy.
Worst Foods For Skin
While the foods above can help keep your skin healthy and youthful, there are also foods that could have the opposite effects.
Greasy foods can cause clogged pours in your face, which can cause inflammation, redness and acne. In fact, dairy has actually been shown to cause acne as well. So if you’re suffering from redness on your face, or acne breakouts, you may want to consider cutting back on these types of foods.
Alcohol acts as a diuretic which can lead to dehydration. While most people feel the effects of this in the form of a hangover, dehydration means that the cells in your body aren’t receiving enough water, and that includes skin cells. Alcohol also contains sugar, and when your blood sugar levels increase it can cause premature aging from the depletion of collagen.
Processed meats, like bacon or pepperoni, can also cause a breakdown in collagen which can increase signs of aging. Not to mention all of the sodium found in these types of foods can lead to an increase in water retention, which can cause puffiness in your face.
What you put in your body is the first step in ensuring that your skin maintains that healthy, youthful glow about it, but if you just can’t seem to get the skin you want, even after a change of diet, at the AYA Medical Spa, we can help!
Our licensed estheticians can help provide non-surgical options to help get rid of those pesky wrinkles, sun damage, and more. Contact us today to setup an appointment to see how we can help your skin!
