Want Healthier Skin? Include These Key Nutrients in Your Diet

Do you feel like your skin has taken a turn for the worse? Blemishes, dullness, wrinkles, sunspots and other visible signs of aging can quickly take over if you don’t pay attention to proper skin care. And even if you use the best products on the market, you can still end up with lackluster skin if you don’t pay attention to your diet. What should you be eating to achieve healthy, glowing skin? Continue reading for a few helpful and healthy tips.

Antioxidants

Antioxidants help your skin by neutralizing damaging free radicals. These rogue, unstable molecules attack your skin, causing damage to cellular structures and potentially leading to abnormal cell formation. Over time, as free radicals continue to attack your skin, visible signs of aging such as sunspots, acne, wrinkles, and fine lines begin to develop. Because your body is constantly exposed to free radicals from the sun’s UV rays, pollution, smoke, stress and poor eating habits it’s important to constantly replenish antioxidant stores through your diet. To get enough of these protective nutrients in your diet, you’ll need to consume whole, natural, antioxidant-rich foods throughout the day. Vitamin C, vitamin E, retinol, vitamin B3, curcumin and flavonoids are a small handful of the nutrients you should include in your diet. Aim for several daily servings of fruits and vegetables like: • Red bell peppers • Beets • Oranges • Dark, leafy greens • Sweet potatoes. If you struggle to eat enough antioxidants, hemp oil is a good source of antioxidants, while also providing other important benefits.

Essential Fatty Acids

Essential fatty acids are a critical component of healthy cellular membranes, making them a necessity in a good skincare diet. EFAs help your skin retain moisture and structure, while also promoting healthy cell turnover and continual cell regeneration. While you may already get plenty of fat in your diet, it’s probably not the type of fat you need. The Western diet is notoriously high in inflammatory Omega-6 fats and woefully low in Omega-3, Omega-7, and Omega-9 fats. To see the most improvement in your skin, try to reduce Omega-6 in your diet in favor of other EFAs. For superior skin health, add several daily servings of foods like fatty fish, avocados, nuts and seeds to your diet. As well, sea buckthorn berries have the highest concentration of Omega-7 fatty acid, more than doubling the content of that in macadamia nuts. Try adding sea buckthorn oil to smoothies or consume the concentrated juice for an EFA boost.

Collagen

Collagen is the most abundant protein in human skin and is responsible for giving the skin its structure and elasticity. As you age, your body’s collagen production naturally decreases, leading to the development of fine lines and wrinkles. You can combat these visible signs of aging by including more collagen-rich food sources in your daily diet. Try to add a few servings per day of foods like gelatin, bone broth, egg whites, muscle meats, and shellfish. Alternatively, you can add two daily servings of a collagen supplement powder in a smoothie or dissolve it in your morning coffee or tea. 

Taking care of your skin starts with what you put in your mouth. Because your skin literally forms itself from the nutrients you put in your body, it’s critical that you include adequate amounts of them in your daily diet. As Brilliant points out, the important thing is to make sure that you are getting the nutrients to support your total health. Aim for a whole, natural, unprocessed foods rich in vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats and don’t forget to drink plenty of water.

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