Foods for Healthy Skin: What to Eat for Optimal Skin Care
Individuals seeking flawless skin will first benefit from a brief understanding of what the skin is and how it relies on nutrition – just like the rest of the human body does. The skin serves as a protector for all things internal, but it is also the body's largest organ. Highly resilient, the skin needs antioxidant health to function efficiently and to enjoy reparation at the cellular level. No amount of external skin-care maintenance, including creams, serums and lotions, can help to create and maintain healthy skin as well as promoting total body health from the inside.
Top Foods for Healthy Skin
Foods that promote healthy skin include a variety of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables, as well as small amounts of high-quality animal proteins like salmon and mackerel. Fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts high in antioxidants are often marked by bright red and yellow, or rich, dark colors. For example, blackberries possess incredible antioxidant potency, as do dry-roasted peanuts, almonds, pistachios and walnuts.
Other foods to incorporate into your diet include:
- Sweet Peppers
- Bell Peppers
- Tomatoes
- Mangoes
- Acerola Cherries
- Oysters
- Leafy Greens
- Spinach
- Carrots
- Citrus fruits high in vitamin C like Grapefruits
- Avocadoes
- Mushrooms
Not surprisingly, the more healthy foods like the ones listed above you consume and the less junk food you intake, the better off your skin will be. Not only that, each of these foods is healthy and will contribute to better overall health.
Improving Skin Health Through Diet and Nutrition
Antioxidant-rich foods are necessary for cellular reparation. As cells become damaged by free radicals, the process of oxidation begins to develop within the body. In our simplest understanding, this equates to the process known as aging. When the body is offered high-quality fuel in the form of food and supplements, all organs, including the skin, will reap the benefits.
Learn more about what you can do to improve your skin care by reading the next article in our Skin Health 101 series, Skin Care Supplements.