Healthy Skin Foods & Tips

When healthy skin is concerned, a healthy body is the first step. If you’re looking for fabulously glowing and vibrant looking skin, make sure you’re eating the right foods to maintain an all around healthy body.  Since ‘you are what you eat’ it is important to eat accordingly! The foods we take in help fuel us internally, but they eventually contribute to our outer physical appearance through fat distribution and skin health. With this in mind, the healthier the foods you consume, the better your skin will look.  Here’s the scoop on healthy skin foods and how they work.

1. Low-Fat Dairy Products

One the most important vitamins for skin health is vitamin A.  In fact, experts say that the health of our skin cells is dependent on dietary vitamin A. One of the best sources for this skin-boosting vitamin is low-fat dairy products such as cottage cheese and Greek Yogurt, which are also high in protein, the building blocks of keratin in hair.  Nutrition expert Liz Lipski, PhD, CCN on WebMD, says “it’s doubly important to eat A-rich dairy foods if you have either diabetes or a thyroid condition.”

2. Fiber

Anything that helps keep digestion normal, including live bacteria cultures such as bifida-bacterial and other probiotics or enzymes, will be reflected in healthy-looking skin.  Fiber helps to reduce the rate of absorption of fat to our blood stream, keeping us less bloated cleaner internally.  Women aged nineteen to fifty years old should aim for 25 grams of fiber daily. Women over 50 should try an consume closer to 20 grams of fiber each day. Some healthy sources of fiber can be found in whole wheat products, fruits such as blue berries, strawberries or apples, as well as beans and flax seed.

3. Anti-Oxidants

If you haven’t heard of ‘Anti-Oxidants’ you’ve probably been living under a rock for the last ten years.  Anti-oxidants work to reduce body inflammation and cellular stress by scavenging ‘free-radicals’ or the caustic byproducts of cellular respiration or metabolism.  When you help protect the cells from damage and disintegration, you also guard against premature aging; one of the most noticeable effects of aging is decreased skin elasticity resulting in wrinkles.  A few healthy food sources high in anti-oxidant action are: Green Tea, plums, blueberries and black berries. Aside from the reduced stress on your bodies cells, healthy cells will retain water better, keeping your skin moisturized and look younger looking.

4. Essential fatty acids

Dietary fat is responsible for maintaining healthy cell membranes, or the outer layer that defines a cells’ shape.  This outer membrane not only acts as a barrier to harmful agents but acts as an internal highway for nutrient passage into and waste products out of our cells.  The healthier each individual skin cell or building block is, the healthier our skin appears.   Try incorporating healthy mono and poly-unsaturated fats from plant oils from sources like almonds, walnuts, olive oil, and flax seed or healthy omega-3 fats from fish.

5. Healthy Oils

Eating good-quality oils helps keep skin lubricated and keeps it looking and feeling healthier overall. The healthiest fat in terms of heart health is omega 3, which must be in balance for good health as well as nice skin.  EPA and DHA are the two sources of Omega-3s that our bodies use most efficiently.  Try avoiding ALA if possible, simply because our bodies can only use about one-tenth of one percent of the Omega-3 contained in the plant form of Omega-3.   Another good source of healthy oils is from Avocados.