Diet for Healthy Skin: What and When Should You Eat to Look Stunning
"Diet for Healthy Skin". To have skin that glows with health and natural beauty you need to watch your diet very carefully. Make sure it contains a lot of antioxidants and essential nutrients. In the meantime, exclude sugary and processed foods, as they are major contributors to acne.
The times when you eat also matter, but even more so do the times when you abstain from food as some studies say that intermittent fasting prolongs life and slows down aging, wrinkle formation included.
What’s the Best Diet for Healthy Skin?
The best diet for skin health is a well-balanced healthy one. No single meal plan is superior as long as it provides your body with all essential vitamins and minerals, as well as a large serving of antioxidants.
Never forget that oxidation is the main enemy of your skin. It’s a major factor in speeding up collagen deterioration, which results in sagging and wrinkly skin. Therefore, antioxidants should always be on your menu.
When developing the best diet for healthy skin, you need to pay more attention to foods that you should exclude. Some products affect your skin badly, especially when consumed regularly.
The things your diet definitely doesn’t need are:
The foods in question are bread, cereal, sugar and sugary candy, pasta, various baked products (flour is the issue) and even rice. Some studies also show that sugary foods contribute to faster aging.
As there’s no way to reverse the aging process yet, the best diet for healthy skin should aim to prevent the damage. This means dropping sugar as fast as you can.
Excluding some ‘bad’ foods from your diet is important. However, if you want to preserve the natural beauty of your skin you should consider the ketogenic diet, also known as intermittent fasting.
Researchers from Harvard proved that intermittent fasting helps increase lifespan and slow down the aging process. This means reducing the appearance of wrinkles.
There are also more benefits to choosing a ketogenic diet meal plan. This diet improves gut health, which results in less acne and overall healthier looking skin.
But the best thing is that you don’t have to fast for days to enjoy the benefits of a ketogenic diet. Intermittent fasting plans are very flexible, so you can find one that fits you best. The easiest one for beginners is a plan that requires 10-12 hours of fasting every day. You’re most likely doing it now as you don’t eat while you sleep.
4 Must-Eat Foods to Include in a Diet for Healthy Skin
1. Dark chocolate
A healthy skin diet doesn’t mean you have to forego dessert. Chocolate is definitely allowed into this meal plan.
However, only if it’s dark and contains more raw cacao than sugar. In this case, the chocolate bar will be an excellent source of antioxidants.
A study published in Chemistry Central Journal states that cacao seeds contain more antioxidants than blueberries. Some of those are lost when the seeds are processed. That’s why it’s important to get bitter dark chocolate with few additives.
2. Bell peppers
Bell peppers are one of the rich sources of vitamin C, the element that boosts collagen production. Collagen is the element that makes your skin smooth because it ties tissues together.
It’s the reason why you don’t have wrinkles when young, but its production naturally decreases with age.
Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant that helps your body slow down the process of collagen destruction. Bell peppers are the best source of it for a healthy diet because an allergy to them is much rarer than allergy to citrus fruits.
They also are much easier to include in your meals as opposed to acai berries, the richest natural source of vitamin C.
Note that this element breaks down when heated, so cooked peppers or any other food rich in vitamin C isn’t as rich in it when cooked.
3. Salmon
Salmon and other types of fatty fish are not only essential elements of a diet for healthy skin. They are essential for a healthy diet in general.
It’s because fatty fish is the best natural source of omega 3 essential fatty acids, which have too many health benefits to list here. Eat your salmon grilled or baked to get maximum benefits and avoid seasoning it with anything fat, like mayo.
Vegan sources of omega 3 are flaxseeds and nuts. However, they have less of the important nutrient and also have rather a lot of omega 6.
Maintaining a healthy omega 3 to omega 6 balance is very important for havingglowing skin and a healthy body.
4. Green tea
Green tea is the best antioxidant drink you can find that also has multiple health benefits proven by science. Don’t forget that it’s also an excellent drink for weight loss and a much healthier substitute for sugary soda.
The beauty-enhancing effects of green tea are so potent, it’s a common ingredient in skincare products and is often included in homemade remedies.
Those are particularly effective for oily skin prone to acne and sensitive skin suffering from rashes and psoriasis. Antibacterial effect of green tea helps fight these specific problems.
