When you have skin irritations like breakouts or rashes, you may have tried various ointments or beauty treatments. But how to keep healthy skin and what if the root cause is actually your nutrition?
Natural beauty starts from within, and therefore, it's not only important what you put on your skin, but also what you put into your body.
How To Keep Healthy Skin: Building a Foundation for Healthier Skin
There are definitely minerals and vitamins you can consume to improve your skin, but before we get to those, we have to establish how to keep healthy skin and how to build a good foundation for healthy, glowing skin.
- Water: Drink a lot of water. Water not only helps the body to flush out toxins, but it also helps to hydrate the skin from the inside out, giving you a fresh look.
- Protein & Omega 3 Fatty Acids: Protein is the main building block of healthy skin, hair and nails. Therefore, getting high-quality protein (either from plant-based or animal sources) along with omega-3 fatty acids is crucial to help to protect and repair your skin.
- Stress Less & Sleep More: Stress only affects your mental state, it also affects your skin and can even aggravate certain skin conditions and rashes. Try to minimise stress and make sure you’re getting at least seven hours of sleep per night.
- A Healthy Microbiome: We’ve known for a few years that there is a strong gut-skin relationship, meaning if your gut isn’t healthy neither is your skin! You can enhance gut health by incorporating gut-friendly and fermented foods into your diet and restricting processed foods and sugars.
- Exercise: Movement not only helps to improve the metabolism, but it also helps increase circulation, blood flow and oxygen to skin cells.
5 Nutrients for Healthier Skin
If you have the basics covered, then we can look into vitamins and minerals your skin needs to perform at its best.
Antioxidants
Spending too much time in the sun, poor nutrition, and environmental factors are just a few causes of free radicals (aka “oxidants”) in our bodies. These oxidants are “destroyers” and can increase the signs of ageing. But antioxidants can help! The more antioxidants you have in your body, the less harm the oxidants are able to cause. Antioxidants are literally slowing down the ageing process, so load up on antioxidant-rich superfoods like olive oil, kiwi, berries and green tea.
Additionally, you can supplement with antioxidant-rich superfoods like Pegaga. Pegaga is rich in amino and fatty acids, beta carotene and phytonutrients, all great nutrients for calming inflammation, improving skin repair and enhancing collagen production.
Vitamin A/Beta Carotene
These nutrients can be found in vegetables like tomatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes and also animal products such as meat, eggs and dairy. Vitamin A and beta carotene are your “skin protectors.” They not only protect you against UV damage and infection but also stimulate the production of new skin cells.
Vitamin C
Found in citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruit, broccoli and bell peppers, Vitamin C helps to produce collagen, which maintains the elasticity of the skin and makes it appear more youthful.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E helps in protecting you against the sun while also ensuring your cells stay nicely hydrated and your skin moisturized. This is one of the most potent antioxidants and can be found in nuts, avocado and healthy oils like olive oil.
Selenium
This antioxidant-rich nutrient helps to protect against skin inflammation and pigmentation. Selenium also supports our immune system and fights infections.
Keep in mind, you don’t need to run out and order all of the vitamins and minerals above to see results! Following a wholesome, nutritious diet full of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein and healthy fats will help you get all of the vitamins and nutrients your body needs. If you’re concerned you’re not getting enough of a certain nutrient, consult with your doctor.
References:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4428712/
- https://www.canyonranch.com/blog/beauty/the-skin-benefits-of-selenium/
This article has been republished with permission from PurelyB