Eating Right For Your Skin

Having beautiful clear skin is something that most of us aspire to.  However, it can be easier said than done.  Despite expensive creams, cleansers and lotions, if you are not feeding your skin from the inside out than you can say goodbye to that natural glow.  Even when blessed with naturally clear skin, if you fail to feed it the nutrients it needs from the inside out, your skin will look sallow and grey. 
Learning how to feed your skin is just as important, if not more so, as learning what cleansers or moisturizers work right for you.  While not all of us may be blessed with porcelain skin, we can all begin taking a few steps in the right direction.  By giving our skin the foods and nutrients it needs we can dramatically improve the look and feel of our largest organ.

First off hydration, as most people know, is one of the most important things you can do for your skin.  Without adequate fluid intake, skin becomes dry, flaking and scaly.  Drinking eight or more glasses of good quality water a day can do wonders for a variety of common skin complains.  Proper hydration will make your skin look younger, feel smoother and be less prone to breakouts.  Water alone can remedy some pesky but chronic problems.  This simple yet vital drink can clear out your skin and your body.  So, simply put, stop skimping on the water.

Essential Fatty Acids.  EFAs are some of the best nutrients a person can feed their skin.  EFAs as found in salmon, hemp seed hearts, eggs, walnuts, and flaxseed oil, (among other things), are essential components of healthy looking skin.  Adding some of these foods to your diet can help add a glow to skin.  These foods help to moisturize dry skin and to render skin more smooth and supple.   
Antioxidant rich foods such as berries of all kinds are also a great way to improve the look and feel of skin.  Try adding some blueberries to a smoothie, or blackberries to some yogurt and see what a difference these can make.  Try also some strawberries or plums for a snack.  Choosing these foods rich in antioxidants ensures not only the cancer fighting effects associated with antioxidants, but some miraculously healthy looking skin.

Surprisingly, one of the best things you can do for you skin is to drink more tea, well at least the green tea variety.  Instead of dehydrating your body, drinking green tea can in fact help as an anti-inflammatory.  If you suffer from eczema, or other skin irritations which can give rise to inflammation this can be a great help.  Green tea is rich in antioxidants and works as a free radical fighter.  As an anti-inflammatory agent it will also keep certain bacteria’s away.  So if you need a little caffeine boost, but would rather steer clear of the coffee heart palpitations, get a green tea to go and experience the beneficial effects.  Not only will it give you a little boost, but it will help make your skin look younger.  Did I mention it is also a fat burning agent? 

Vitamin A.  Giving your skin adequate amounts of Vitamin A is a sure fire way to help with collagen formation.  Collagen is responsible for keeping skin looking youthful and, well plump in all the right ways.  Because it is generally not recommended to take supplemental vitamin A by itself, eating beta carotene rich foods such as carrots is a better way to go.  Eating Carrots will not only give you all the Vitamin A your body needs through conversion from beta carotene, but these will also provide your body with a good dose of Vitamin C.  Vitamin C is another powerful antioxidant.  Too much sun exposure can be aided by antioxidant rich foods that can help repair free radical damage caused by baking in the sun. 

Adding these foods to your diet alongside good quality water will help maintain youthful looking skin.  More than this though, these foods will nourish your skin from the inside out and help with dry, flaky, wrinkled and/or acne prone skin.