I firmly believe in a beauty regiment from the inside out. Add these foods into your regular diet along with clean organic skincare. You will have younger looking skin and improve your overall health!
10 Foods for Happy & Healthy Skin
Red vegetables such as peppers, beets and tomatoes have something in common: a powerful antioxidant known as lycopene. Lycopene is crucial for protecting the skin from the damaging elements and supports natural collagen production.
Incorporating nuts and seeds into your diet provides more than one benefit for your skin. To help support natural collagen production within your body, you need protein. In particular, lysine and proline are important amino acids in collagen. Egg whites and lean meats are good sources of protein, but nuts also give the body lysine - a great option for those who don’t consume animal products. Seeds and nuts are an excellent source of vitamin E, another great antioxidant that will protect against free radicals.
Garlic is known for its wealth of health benefits. It makes a difference in your skin due to its sulfur content. Sulfur has been referred to as the “beauty mineral” because it plays an important role in collagen production, which promotes healthier, younger-looking skin. Sulfur also helps to promote the production of new skin cells and support the removal of toxins to maintain a youthful glow.
Dark green leafy vegetables such as broccoli, spinach and kale are known for their skin-supporting properties. These leafy greens contain vitamin C, one of the most important vitamins for your skin. Vitamin C does a number of things to promote youthful skin. It helps to stabilize the enzymes responsible for breaking down collagen while providing antioxidant protection against free radicals that also weaken collagen.
Along with dark leafy greens, adding citrus fruit to your diet can further boost your vitamin C levels. This important vitamin provides amazing antioxidant benefits and supports collagen production by working with lysine and proline, the amino acids mentioned earlier. Vitamin C helps them convert to collagen. Include limes, lemons and grapefruits in your diet to keep skin healthy and smooth.
If you haven’t heard by now, carrots and other orange veggies are rich in vitamin A. Vitamin A is popular within the beauty industry for its effects on protecting and repairing collagen. If you can help prevent its breakdown in the first place, there’s less ground to cover when trying to produce more. Sweet potatoes are another great option for orange veggies.
Recent research has led experts to believe that tea may help promote healthy collagen production. Green, bladderwrack and pomegranate are all great options for skin-boosting teas, but white tea in particular offers the strongest benefits. A recent Kingston University study found that white tea delivers superior protection against enzymes that destroy collage and elastin. This protection comes primarily from its phenolic acid content, a polyphenol important for maintaining healthy tissues. And of course, tea is loaded with antioxidants.
Collagen and elastin are part of the skin’s underlying structure. Naturally, healthy cells have a stronger structure. To support healthy cells, eat fish as a regular part of your diet. he high omega-3 fatty acid content in fish supports the fatty membranes around skin cells that are responsible for keeping them safe. Therefore, omega-3 fatty acids support levels of collagen and elastin as part of stronger skin cells. Fresh tuna and wild salmon are great sources of this fatty acid.
This one is about what NOT to eat. You’ve heard countless times to curb your sugar intake, but if you have younger-looking skin in mind, here’s why. Refined sugar speeds up the aging process when it forms advanced glycation end products – a molecule that can break down collagen and elastin. Avoid any kind of sugary desserts, cookies, cakes – all of it!
Time to get out your grocery list!