As we age day by day, so does our skin. It will slowly start to lose its elasticity and starts getting dull. We cannot stop ourselves from ageing but perhaps we can slow it down by trying to keep it healthy.
Learning from our previous readings, the right skincare routine and protecting it from UV rays are important. And there are many other skincare products or makeups that you can use to have your skin looks healthy and glowy, but the best method is not only the numerous items you put on your skin, it is from what you eat. Consuming the right type of food with the right nutrients can help do the job, this helps you achieve beauty and healthy wellbeing at the same time. As people always say, you are what you eat.
Ensure your diet is full of nutrients, it should have good fats and vitamins, while bad fats, sugar and alcohol should be avoided. Below are 10 food items that can make your skin glow, time to add them to your shopping cart the next time you walk into the groceries store.
1/ Avocados
This should not be new to you. Avocados are packed with vitamin K, C, E, A, and B. In addition, what makes avocados so beneficial is that it contains healthy fats such as polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat. Polyunsaturated fatty acids guard the skin from UV ray damage while monounsaturated fatty acids keep the surface of the skin moist. Moreover, it is also good for our hearts and can help prevent breast cancer.
Although it is very beneficial, it is actually high in calories. Therefore, consuming ¼ of a regular size avocado a day is more than enough. Get one and have it with your salad or your breakfast toast.
2/ Cauliflower
It Is not new to here that vegetables are healthy for you and good for your skin, but we often think of green vegetables when it is mentioned. Actually, cauliflower is also a best option that can help enhance skin properties.
Cauliflower contains dietary fibres that can help eliminate toxins, pollutants, impurities, and any other unwanted waste from our system. Vitamin C in cauliflower protects our skin from harmful UV rays. Its nutrients like vitamins and minerals nourish our skin, by improving skin health and making it soft. Eliminating unwanted substances and protecting the skin from radical changes can help bring a natural glow to the skin.
Cauliflower does not have a strong taste and can be made in different variations such as cauliflower cheese or cauliflower fried rice. The different variations available will make your cauliflower meal extra interesting.
3/ Red Bell Peppers
Red bell peppers or to a lesser degree yellow bell peppers can give you the boost of antioxidants which can help fight off radicals that comes from the pollutants in the air that leads to ageing and to a worse extent cancer.
Red and Yellow bell peppers contain beta carotene and Vitamin C. Beta Carotene acts as a natural sunblock that can prevent the damage caused by UV rays, in turn helping prevent wrinkles. Moreover, our body will convert beta carotene into Vitamin A which is an anti-ageing skincare element. It can help kick away the wrinkles and stimulate collagen and elastin. In addition, Vitamin C is also a vital element to produce collagen. Although bell peppers can act as a natural sunblock, it is still essential that we protect our skin from the sun through the use of sunscreens as it is still not enough to protect it completely.
Related Readings: Is sunscreen causing vitamin D deficiency?, No more Sunburn! Best Sunscreens for Reef Safe
4/ Papaya
Papaya is such a popular ingredient in skin care and hair products, and there is a good reason for that. Papaya is rich in Vitamin A, C, E, and K. The antioxidants help neutralize the excessive radicals that can cause skin damage and wrinkles, it can also reduce the sign of ageing. It can also fight off fungal infections and kills intestinal worms. This can help prevent acne. Moreover, it brings in a lot of good benefits for the body such as improving digestion, fighting inflammation and normalising irregular periods.
As a side note, papaya can be applied to the skin directly to help treat acne and many other skin disorders. What a value for the price, you can use every bit of the papaya to gain the optimal benefit.
5/ Dark Chocolate
If you have been following our blogs, then this not new to you. Dark chocolate gives you a lot of benefits. Of course, as long as you are not stuffing yourself bars after bars of dark chocolate. The antioxidants in cocoa can protect skin from oxidative stress that could lead to skin ageing. Moreover, the bioactive compound can protect against skin damage, improve blood flow to the skin and increase skin density and hydration.
Go grab a bar now, take it a little treat after a long day at work and do not feel guilty cause you are doing it to help make your skin glow.
To know more about what other benefits dark chocolate gives you, read here.
The listed 5 items are just some examples of food that gives you glowy skin, there are many more out there, like citrus fruits that help keep your skin hydrated, yoghurt that helps with digestion thus keeping skin breakouts and dryness away and green tea that helps detox the body and prevent your skin from harmful free radicals. Having a healthy diet not only is good for your health and weight control but certainly, benefits externally as well. Our skin as the biggest organ certainly needs its nourishment from nutritious food as well. Although this saying is extremely old school, it is very true, “beauty is from the within.” There is no point throwing off thousands of pounds yearly on skincare products if you do not look after your inner health. Start today, by ensuring you have the right diet and a healthy lifestyle on the road to achieving internal and external beauty.
