A glowing skin is a sign of inner health. Irrespective of your age, you can have a good skin tone if you lead a lifestyle that allows for an inner harmony – through a balanced mental state and healthy diet. When you eat foods that allow for an easy digestion, and excretion, while enriching the body with essential vitamins, minerals and macro-nutrients, you are eating a healthy diet.
When you are mature in your outlook, and are rooted in your inner wisdom, you allow for a stress-free mind which results in a balanced mental state. The combination of a healthy diet and balanced mental state creates a harmony in your physical body which is reflected externally as glowing skin, bright eyes and charismatic aura.
In this article, we limit our discussion to one half of the pre-requisite for a healthy skin, which is a “healthy diet”, by giving insights on what you should eat in order to maintain a healthy skin.
Foods for a healthy skin
Your body is a virtual chemical factory and it requires certain foods, raw materials, which it assimilates to acquire building blocks to maintain the structure and equilibrium of your organs – your skin being the biggest “organ” of the body.
Let’s take a look at the essential nutrients required for a healthy skin and the foods that provide you with it. You can plan out a diet for maintaining healthy skin based on the foods recommended below.
Foods rich in Vitamin C
It’s found that anti-oxidants present in vitamin C are essential to protect your skin against free radicals and damage from external pollution.
Natural Sources: Some foods that are rich in Vitamin C are Oranges, Kiwi fruit, Water melon, Grapes, Lemons, Plums and Strawberries. It’s a great idea to start off your mornings with a big bowl of these fruits, or have a juice made from them.
Foods rich in Selenium
This mineral is found to be the “catalyst” that activates certain anti-oxidant enzymes in the body that protects skin against sun damage and discoloration. It also helps in building up white blood cells when fight against internal infections and inflammations, and thus can potentially reduce outbreaks of acne.
Natural Sources: If you observe symptoms of skin discoloration, it could well indicate a deficiency of selenium in your diet. You can get selenium naturally through foods like Tuna, Brazil nuts, Sardines, Salmon, Turkey, Mutton Liver, Shrimp, Oats, Barley, Chicken Eggs and Sunflower seeds.
Foods Rich in Vitamin E
Most topical creams that help control skin wrinkles and sun damage (protection against ultra violet rays) have the presence of Vitamin E in them – taking Vitamin E through foods is more beneficial than topical application alone.
This vitamin also helps in improving skin tone, skin moisturization and reducing skin inflammation. Vitamin E is a strong anti-oxidant that helps fight against free radicals generated in the skin through external pollution and bad diet.
Natural Sources: Foods that are rich in Vitamin E are Almonds, Blueberries, Spinach, Papaya, Olive oil, Tomatoes, Broccoli, Sunflower seeds and Bell peppers (red).
Foods rich in Omega-3 fatty acids
The membrane of your skin cells are made from fatty acids. Eating foods rich in Omega-3 (which are essential fatty acids) ensures an excellent skin health through protection against early-age skin wrinkles, improving skin firmness, reducing outbreaks of skin inflammations like acne and protection against skin dryness.
Natural Sources: Oily fish, like Salmon, Sardines & Tuna, are the best source of omega-3 fatty acids; you can also take fish oil supplements made from cod liver oil. Other foods sources rich in omega-3 are Walnuts, Flax Seeds, Soybeans, Tofu, Scallops and Shrimp.
Foods rich in Vitamin A
This vitamin is essential for fighting against early-age wrinkles, improving your skin tone/coloration and reducing skin inflammations. The “Beta-carotene” present in Vitamin A is essential for maintain a smooth and younger looking skin.
Natural Sources: Some foods that are excellent sources of vitamin A are Carrots, Kale, Sweet Potato, Red Bell Peppers, Mutton Liver, Spinach, Asparagus, Cabbage, Plums, Oranges, Prunes, Milk and Papaya.
Food rich in Vitamin B family
Vitamin B is an umbrella term to cover all the B vitamins like Vitamin B1 (thiamin), Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3 (niacin), Vitamin B6 and Vitamin B12. B vitamins are essential for a good skin health and are found in topical creams for preventing skin wrinkles, skin dryness and improving skin tone. B vitamins like niacin contain anti-inflammatory properties to potentially reduce out breaks of acne or skin eczema.
Natural Sources: Food sources that are rich in B vitamins are Tuna, Mutton Liver, Beef, Banana, Chicken, Salmon, Lentils, Corn, Green Peas, Black beans, Whole Cereals and Sunflower seeds.
Foods rich in dietary fiber
In order to maintain a healthy body it’s important to have a healthy excretory system which allows for efficient discarding of wastes, thus reducing the toxin levels and stress on your body. This indirectly helps improve your skin health. People who suffer from issues like constipation or improper bowel movement are seen to acquire skin problems like acne, skin discoloration, skin dryness and a lack of skin-glow. Eating foods rich in dietary fiber ensures efficient excretion of wastes resulting in a healthy body and skin.
Natural Sources: Foods that are rich in dietary fiber are Soybeans, Lentils, Barley, Black Beans, Kidney Beans, Oats & other whole cereals, beets, sweet potato, cauliflower, eggplant, strawberries and cucumbers.
You can use the information above to plan out a diet for healthy skin, which indirectly also allows for a healthier body as a whole, because what’s good for the skin is good for the body per se. Apart from eating foods, that promote healthy skin, make sure you drink at least 8 glasses of water per day to improve your body’s ability to flush out toxins from the cells. Also make sure that you reduce the intake of foods made from refined sugar or hydrogenated fats, since they adversely affect skin health.