8 Vital Nutrients for Glowing Skin
Real health and glowing skin can’t be found in topical products, the solution goes much deeper.
Many times, we are lead to believe that we can purchase or use topical products that will give us the elusive, healthy glow – which is nothing more than a clever marketing scheme and a complete myth. While topical care is a part of healthy aging and skincare, it is what we consume on the inside that makes the greatest impact on the appearance of our skin.
Take, for example, a person who smokes cigarettes or excessively consumes alcohol. They won’t be able to achieve a healthy-girl glow with a retinol cream that reverses the internal damage done by those harmful lifestyle choices. Our hair, skin, and nails are not necessary for survival and they will be the first thing to deteriorate when the body has other housekeeping functions to perform. In fact, ailments of the skin are often the first indicators of imbalance and underlying deficiencies in the body. So eat up for beauty!
Why is nutrition so important to achieve healthy, glowing skin?
When we are strong and nourished internally, the nutrients can radiate outwards and create a glowing complexion that you can’t buy in a skin cream. Micronutrients include vitamins and minerals from the diet or supplements that are the building blocks for your cells to carry out biological and protective functions.
These are some of the most powerful micronutrients and their most bio-available, potent sources to include in a diet that enriches your skin, hair, and nails.
B-Vitamins
The Vitamin B family (including riboflavin, niacin, biotin, and B12) are super important when it comes to turning food into energy, creating new blood cells, and maintaining healthy skin cells as well as other body tissues. B12 vitamin is only found in animal sources unless it is coming from a fortified food. So if you follow a plant-based diet, it may be a good idea to take a Vitamin B complex supplement.
Vitamin C
It is necessary for the growth and repair of the body’s skin, tendons, ligaments, and blood vessels. Vitamin C plays a vital role in collagen synthesis.
As we age and approach our 30’s, our production of collagen plummets and we start to see the onset of wrinkles. Collagen is also crucial for processes inside the body. It is always going to be more effective to ingest lots of Vitamin C versus trying to use a topical product to get healthy skin.
Essential Fatty Acids
Diets rich in essential fatty acids have been shown to reduce inflammation, which can help to reduce the severity of acne. Including omega-rich foods in the diet has also been proven to increase skin hydration. Best sources of healthy fatty acids in the diet are flaxseed, avocados, walnuts, and chia seeds – just to name a few!
Carotenoids
Carotenoids can get broken down into Vitamin A in the body, which protects the skin from sun damage. They have also been proven to reduce the risk of developing skin cancer. Carotenoids have to be consumed in the diet and are found in high amounts in yams, kale, spinach, bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, and mangoes.
Sulforaphane
Often found in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. For a more concentrated dose, try fresh broccoli sprouts that can contain up to 10 to 100 times more sulforaphane than regular broccoli. It is also a powerful antioxidant, which leads us to the next category.
Antioxidants
Eating an antioxidant rich diet does so much more than aid healthy skin, that is just one of the side effects. Antioxidants fight free radicals in the body. When excessive free radicals are present, it leads to oxidative stress in the body and alters our DNA making us more susceptible to disease.
Try to include as many antioxidant-rich foods in your diet every day by eating wild blueberries, raspberries, Goji berries, leafy greens, kidney beans, pinto beans, cherries, artichokes, and apples! Anytime you are consuming whole, plant foods you are going to get lots of antioxidants. Eating fruit keeps your skin pretty!
Minerals
Minerals such as selenium, iron, zinc, copper are crucial for the external benefits of healthy skin and hair.
Minerals are super important building blocks in the body and getting them from the standard American diet is nearly impossible. One of the best ways to get minerals and beneficial phytonutrients in your diet is to start drinking mineral-rich herbal infusions. Minerals are rock-like substances and are easily extracted with heat and time. To do this, fill half of a mason jar with your herbs of choice and cover with boiling water. Let the mix infuse overnight, strain, and enjoy! A few of the best herbs for this are Oatsraw, Nettle, and Red Clover. Nettles have long been known for their hair strengthening and beautifying properties.
Sea Moss is another great nutrient to supplement with.
Always make sure that you are consuming organic sea moss. Make the gel at home and add it to beverages and smoothies or find it in capsule form.
Make it easy to include beautifying nutrients in your daily diet:
Try making a beauty smoothie in the mornings as a go-to breakfast and to cross some of these nutrients off your daily list.
Additional Healthy Skin Practices
Avoid Smoking
Smokers are more prone to developing certain types of skin cancer. Smokers will lose elasticity in the skin of the face and the breasts more rapidly than non-smokers. Toxins in smoke from cigarettes can contain up to 4,000 different chemicals which can lead to a lack of blood, slower wound healing, and aggravated skin conditions such as psoriasis. It may be a vain reason, but any reason to kick the habit is a good one!
Avoid Processed Foods
We become the food we eat, on a cellular level. Processed foods are lacking nutrients to feed our cells and contain many toxic substances and additives that can be harmful to health.
Stay Hydrated
One of the easiest ways to support your a healthy glow is making sure you drink plenty of water! Drinking half of your body weight in ounces and eating water-rich foods like cucumbers, watermelons, cantaloupe, and strawberries are also a great way to get extra hydration.
Sweat
Urea and uric acid in sweat can help soothe dry skin and treat conditions like eczema and dermatitis. Whether you are getting sweaty in the sauna or from a good work out you will see skin benefits from increased circulation. When the sweat comes from exercising, you get the added benefits of boosting serotonin and balancing out the stress hormone cortisol – which is a major contributing factor to recurring breakouts.
So much of what we see related to skincare is buy topical products. Anyone who claims that their product can fix topical issues without addressing possible deficiencies and imbalances in the body, is selling snake oil. Skincare is meant to aid the body in health, repair, and hydration. Not do the heavy lifting. The real game changer is diet, exercise, and sleep!