Nutrition

How To Improve Your Skin With Healthy Eating

You can improve your skin with healthy eating.

Improving your skin requires a nutritious diet, plenty of water, fresh air, exercise, sleep and minimum stress.

Poor health habits, too many fats and sugars, too many stimulants like coffee, are bad for your skin: so is smoking and excessive alcohol.

Weight fluctuations should be avoided as well because, after sun, they are the prime causes of wrinkles. When you gain weight your skin has to stretch and this puts strain on elastic fibers of the inner layers.

When you lose weight your skin does not always spring back to its original shape, particularly if the loss has been quick and drastic.

Fat pads are extremely important to the skin’s appearance: they lie directly beneath the skin and separate it from the deeper muscle and bone. Their function is to cushion and support your skin, to supply the sebaceous glands and to act as a vehicle for the oil-soluble skin vitamins A, D and E. Loss of almost all fatty tissue through extreme dieting or disease can alter the appearance and quality of your skin very quickly.

To improve your skin with healthy eating a wholesome diet is essential. It is important to get enough proteins, vitamins and minerals; lean meat, fish, poultry, eggs, fresh vegetables and fruits; avocado, cucumber and cabbage are particularly recommended.

Vitamin A is the skin’s most needed vitamin, but it is widely available in everyday foods and excess can be detrimental. Eating a nutritionally balanced diet high in fresh, unprocessed foods should be enough to improve your skin.

A supplement of C and E can do no harm. It is generally accepted that vitamins A, D, E and K can be absorbed through the skin.

Hormones play a tremendous part in the condition of the skin. The hormonal balance is responsible for the coarsening of pores at puberty: the sex hormones stimulate the sebaceous glands: these enlarge and so do the ducts and the pores. Over-stimulation can lead to acne. The hormones involved are oestrogen and progesterone, the female ones that make the skin finer, less oily, less porous, and androgen the male hormone that makes the skin course, oily and porous.

We have a mixture of all but in varying proportions. Large doses of oestrogen can provide a smoother, better skin, but are not advisable in adolescence or during child-bearing years.

When I grew up there were no fast food outlets, microwave dinners or processed foods.  We enjoyed a healthy diet of fresh natural food, fresh fruit, salads and vegetables and I have always kept to this healthy eating habit.

If you change your diet to natural food you will improve your skin with healthy eating, your appearance will also change and natural collagen production will improve, this in turn will fill in any hollows under the eyes and around your cheeks. This doesn’t just affect your face; it affects every inch of the skin covering your body.

Healthy eating and sticking to a healthy diet has major benefits. When you eat natural food the whole surface of your body will improve; your skin will become soft and smooth yet firm and supple to touch.  Visible pores will diminish; dull skin will take on a more porcelain-like complexion. Eyes will become clear and bright with a bluish tinge to the whites and your whole face will radiate good health.

A healthy diet of natural food will give your body all the vitamins and nutrients it needs to repair cells and regenerate. Eating natural food little and often prevents you from getting too hungry and making the wrong choices. Replace salads with fresh vegetables for a healthy diet in the colder winter months, when cooked they should still be slightly crunchy. Over cooking vegetables will destroy their vitamin content.

I have added some healthy recipes using vegetables and salads for you to try.  These are not weight loss recipes but ideas using natural food and adding variety to your overall diet.

You can improve your skin with healthy eating even more if you invest in a food steamer. Healthy eating is not just about choosing the right food to eat but also how you cook it. Steaming food in a food steamer is one of the healthiest, most nutritious methods of healthy eating.