We focus so much on the products and external ways we can make ourselves look better and feel better about ourselves here, that I wanted to touch on a huge part of beauty that is often overlooked, and that is beauty starting from the inside. As the saying goes, “you are what you eat”, and this goes doubly so when it comes to what your skin looks like. If you don’t believe me, eat nothing from refined carbohydrates and sugary, fatty foods for a month and see how your skin looks. It will look like what you are eating, which is garbage.
Your skin is truly a “garbage in, garbage out” organ, meaning that what you put in your body will show itself physically manifested on the skin, and even things like stress, which changes your physiology as well, can make the skin look bad. So, because we can control our diet, and our diets effect every aspect of our life, not just our weight or the size clothes we wear, but it controls our mental health, our life span, the way we perceive ourselvs and unfortunately how we are perceived by others many times, and a whole lot more. Diet is too important to ignore, and I wanted to talk about good rules of thumb to follow for getting beautiful skin through the things you eat.
The first rule is to try to eat as many deeply colored fruits and berries as you can. Berries are, in my opinion, one of the best “super foods” you can eat today. My favorite thing to do to get my daily dose of berries in is to put a generous helping of mixed berries, which you can buy any time of year in the frozen foods section, in my morning low fat vanilla yogurt. I top it off with another skin glow infusing foods, which is raw, slivered almonds.
Almonds are a great food for your skin, as are other nuts with omega 3 fats in them, because they help to make the skin more resillient, and foods with omega 3′s tend to help the skin retain moisture and “bounce” that helps it look younger longer in your older age since the skin tends to lose that resilience as it ages. Another one of my favorite ways to get omega 3′s is to eat tuna or some other type of oily fish two to three times a week. Right now our favorite to make is a fish called Pangasias, which is delicious when sauteed in a bit of butter and dill, with lemon juice, pepper and salt.
Vegetables are another must of course, which is no surprise to you I’m sure since veggied are always praised as an excellent, fiber filled way to get low calories and maximum filling power. Broccoli is particularly good for the skin because it is rich in iron, antioxidants, and a variety of other nutrients, include sulfurs, which may aid in the health and structure resilience of the skin cells. Spinach, sauteed in a a little bit of olive oil and garlic is one of the ultimate skin-friendly side dishes, as it is super rich in vitamin and minerals, and you get the added benefit of omega 3 rich olive oil, which is great for the skin.
If you eat following a diet that includes a lot of these foods, not only will you most likely enjoy being your idea weight your whole life, but you will forever get compliments on your skin, and you’ll feel energetic and a lot more mentally sound at the same time, it’s such a win/win situation that it’s a no brainer.
