Nutrition is important for health. An unhealthy diet can damage
your metabolism, cause weight gain and even affect organs such as your
heart and liver.
What you eat also affects the health of another organ — your skin.
As more is learned about how diet affects the body, it's becoming
increasingly clear that what you eat can significantly affect the health
and aging of your skin
This article takes a look at the best foods for keeping your skin healthy..
How Water Benefits Your Skin
Drinking water is one of the best things you can do to keep your skin in
shape. It keeps your skin moist -- and that makes fine lines and
wrinkles less noticeable. It also helps your cells take in nutrients and
get rid of toxins. And it helps with blood flow, keeping your skin
glowing. The common advice is to drink 8 glasses of water a day, but you
may not need exactly that many. The water in fruits, veggies, juice,
and milk counts toward your total.
Selenium for Your Skin
This mineral may help protect your skin from cells that gather free
radicals. Free radicals cause signs of aging like wrinkles and dry skin,
tissue damage, and probably some diseases. Selenium may also help
prevent skin cancer. You can get it from Brazil nuts, button mushrooms,
shrimp, lamb, and fish like snapper, cod, halibut, tuna, and salmon.
Cooked beef, light turkey, oysters, sardines, crab, and whole-wheat
pasta also have selenium.
Antioxidants for Healthy Cells
Antioxidants are important to slowing and preventing free-radical
damage. You can find them in all kinds of foods, especially colorful
fruits and vegetables like berries, tomatoes, apricots, beets, squash,
spinach, sweet potatoes, tangerines, peppers, and beans.
Fight Free Radicals with CoQ10
Your body makes a key antioxidant called Coenzyme Q10. But as you get
older, you make less of it. It's involved in making energy and helping
your cells work. You can find CoQ10 in fish like salmon and tuna,
poultry, organ meats like liver, and whole grains. If you use a skin
product that has CoQ10, it may help soften wrinkles and other signs of
aging.
Get Some Healthy Fats
Omega-3s and omega-6s are good fats that help make your skin's natural
oil barrier, keeping away dryness and blemishes. Essential fatty acids
like these help leave your skin smoother and younger-looking. You can
get them from olive and canola oils, flaxseeds, walnuts, and cold-water
fish like salmon, sardines, and mackerel.
Good Oils for Great Skin
Some oils have more than essential fatty acids. Good-quality ones like
extra-virgin olive oil and cold- or expeller-pressed oil are more simply
processed than many other kinds. They may have more nutrients that are
good for your skin. These oils may also help lube up your skin and keep
it looking and feeling healthy.
Antioxidant Powerhouse in a Cup
Green tea may be the closest thing to a magic potion that you can find
for your skin. It helps stop inflammation, helps slow DNA damage, and
can even help prevent the sun from burning your skin. You can find green
tea in lots of cosmetics, but why not go straight to the source: Drink
it!
Vitamin A for Skin Repair
Nobody wants dry, flaky skin. So grab an orange, carrot, or slice of
cantaloupe. They're loaded with vitamin A. You can also find it in leafy
greens, eggs, and low-fat dairy foods. When you use a skin product with
vitamin A, your wrinkles and brown spots may look better. Those
products, called retinoids, are common prescription treatments for acne
and other skin conditions.
Vitamin C: Power Over the Sun
The sun can be tough on your skin. Vitamin C can help protect you. It
also helps undo sun damage to collagen and elastin, which firm up your
skin. Get vitamin C from red bell peppers, citrus fruits, papayas,
kiwis, broccoli, greens, and brussels sprouts.
Vitamin E: Booster of Skin Health
Another antioxidant that may help save your skin from sun damage and
inflammation is vitamin E. Get it from vegetable oils, nuts, seeds,
olives, spinach, asparagus, and leafy greens.