Want better skin naturally? Good skin starts within! Nourishment and a good diet are critical to skin health. Micro Nutrients like lutein, beta carotene, and vitamin C help nourish our skin.
Science Time: Our Skin Is An Organ
Our skin is a vital organ (and the largest one!)! It covers the outside of our body creating a protective barrier against the environment. Our skin protects us from the sun, pathogens. germs, light and injuries. The skin is made up of contains 3 layers: the epidermis (the outermost layer), the dermis (the layer right underneath the epidermis), and the hypodermis ( a fatty layer).
Our skin is in constant repair and it regenerates itself every 27 days! Thus it’s pretty important to keep proper skin care (hint: nutrition is super important!). Unfortunately due to free radicals, pollution and chemicals in our environment, our skin is always under attack! There are certain critical things we can do to ward off the attack including eating a healthy diet void of processed foods, drinking more water and exercise!
What Your Skin Says About Your Health
Bad skin is often a symptom of a poor diet, stress, inflammation and lack of exercise amongst other things like poor sleep. The good news with a few changes (like diet and exercise) you can significantly boost skin health!
Better Skin Naturally: Here Are 3 Easy Ways To Improve Your Skin Health:
- Eat more anti-inflammatory foods: Acne, psoriasis, and rosacea are all triggered by inflammation. One of the best ways to battle these skin conditions is to reduce hypo allergenic foods (like wheat and dairy) and add in anti inflammatory, healing foods (like bone broth, omega 3s, and my fave pineapple!)
- Hydrate! Our skin is the largest organ in our body and is comprised of protein, fat and water. Make sure to drink 2.5 litres of water per day and use a natural moisturizers void of perfumes and harsh chemicals that dehydrate our skin.
- Exercise: Our skin helps regulate temperature and helps us remove toxins from our body through sweating. Hit the gym and sweat it out! Exercise will also help better your sleep (which is another cause of bad skin!)
Want better skin? Include more of these micronutrients!
- Lutein: Known as the “eye vitamin”, this antioxidant helps protect our skin and eyes. It is found in bright, colourful foods like carrots, sweet potatoes and kale. It also acts as an anti inflammatory!
- Beta Carotene: Also found in colourful foods like sweet potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes! Beta carotene gets converted into Vitamin A (which is an essential vitamin!) This antioxidant helps out skin better protect itself from sunlight and our environment.
- Vitamin C: A powerful antioxidant that helps produce collagen!
- Monounsaturated fats: are natural moisturizers that also act as anti inflammatories. (as found in olive oil and avocados)
- Phytochemicals: are powerful micronutrients found in plant (going vegan anyone?)
- Antioxidants: as found in blueberries, black currants, red wine and my fave dark chocolate!
- Selenium: as found in Brazilian nuts and tomatoes. Helps fight against cancer and cell damage.
- Vitamin E: as found in nuts and seeds. Vitamin E supports cell growth and repair!
Sources of Beta Carotene (copyright healthy-by-vitamin.blogspot.ca) - Zinc: Another big one for skin, zinc helps repair skin damage and is a critical micronutrient for the sebaceous glands in our skin. Zinc is found in fish, poultry, nuts and seeds.
- Omega 3s: Acts as an anti inflammatory and can fight acne and psoriasis. Omega 3 rich foods include free run eggs, avocados, rapeseed oil and olive oil. You could also opt to supplement with an Omega 3 supplement.
Better Skin Naturally: My 20 Must Have Foods!
The right foods can be very soothing and healing for our skin. I recommend reducing the amount of processed and refined foods and replace them with healthy, whole foods. Here is a list of 20 foods to include in your diet. Many of these foods are antioxidant rich and act as inflammatories. Take this GROCERY LIST with you to the store and shop!
- Green tea
- Dark chocolate (my fave!)
- Chia Seeds
- Water
- Fish
- Tomatoes
- Carrots
- Kiwi
- Eggplant
- Free Run Eggs
- Coffee Extract
- Oats
- Collard Greens
- Orange peel
- Spinach
- Papaya
- Sweet Potatoes
- Blueberries
- Strawberries
- Almonds
2 thoughts on “Better Skin Naturally: A Quick Guide To Good Skin”
Hello, thank You for sharing 🙂 But I always thought that olive oil/olives and avocados are monounsaturated fats…? Am I wrong?
Hey there Jola! Thank you for your kind remarks. You are indeed correct!…that entire line meant to be read “Monounsaturated fats” not poly! (mind you both olive oil and avocados do contain some polyunsaturated fats) but its the monos that help with inflammation =) we have fixed the error! thank you!