When people think of that health glow in their skin, they often think that it is a result of youth and or skin care. While these are factors that contribute to healthy, beautiful skin, the truth is that you are what you eat.
What you put into your body will come out in your skin: the better the input, the better the output. In other words, if you fill your body with unhealthy foods and other toxic substances, your skin will show it. With the proper diet, your skin can be as healthy looking and unblemished as your genetic makeup allows.
The most important part of your new healthy diet is to drink your water! 64 ounces of fluid (in the form of water and natural (unprocessed) juices) will remove toxins built up in your skin better than any other food or treatment. Treatments only affect the outer layers of the skin, but water cleanses the skin from the inside, so it affects all of the skins layers. This lack of toxins in the skin automatically makes it look much healthier.
Steam your vegetables and buy organic. Organic foods are important because you are not adding more toxins to your skin through the pesticides and man-made fertilizers which are contained within non organic foods. Organic foods are often more nutritious because of the rotating of crops, which replenishes the natural nutrients in the soil. By steaming your vegetables, you are also protecting the nutrient content of the foods you eat. Boiling your vegetables leeches the vitamin and minerals from the actual food and into the water. If you do boil any veggies, save the broth from it to make a soup.
Eat more raw organic fruits and vegetables. Obviously, not cooking these foods will keep from nutrient loss which comes with cooking. The only exception to this rule is carrots. You have always heard how these beauties are loaded with vitamin A but, did you know that this is encased in fibrous tissue which is very hard for your body to break down? By cooking carrots, you loosen these fibers and allow your body to use the vitamin A contained within them.
Other vegetables which are rich in vitamin A (essential for great skin) include: collard greens, broccoli, kale, spinach, sweet potatoes, turnip greens, winter squash and other vegetables which are dark green or orange in color.
Eat more fish. Not only is fish a great food to eat for a number of health conditions, but the oils in it are great for your skin. Your skin will be softer and brighter from adding twice daily consumption of fish to your diet.
Throw some almonds into your day. If you do not like almonds, try walnuts, cashews, shrimp, or brown rice. These are listed in the order of vitamin E content (almonds have considerable more vitamin E than brown rice does). Some natural oils are even better for vitamin E content; these are wheat germ oil and sunflower oil.
Balance the Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids in your diet. These oils should be balanced with each other in order to work best. Omega 3 is abundant in: flaxseed oil, fish oils, fish eggs, grains, green, leafy vegetables, human milk, organ meats (liver, brain, etc), organic egg yolks, pumpkin seeds, rapeseed oil, soya bean, walnut oil.
Because of the processing procedure which is used in many of the foods we eat today, our diets are full of Omega 6 fatty acids. By purchasing organically grown fruits and vegetables and organically and grass fed (where applicable) raised meat and dairy products, you will be able to seriously reduce this over-abundance of Omega 6 in your diet.
Your body cannot produce these oils. They come from the food you eat, so you must be aware of what you are consuming in order to create a nearly equal balance of these oils. To accomplish a balance of these essential oils in your diet, you can drastically reduce the amount of processed and non organic foods that you eat while you also add more of the foods rich in Omega 3.
By doing this, your body and your skin will bless you with better performance and appearance. Remember that there has to be a balance and that you can actually tip the scales and have on over-abundance of Omega 3 if your do not pay attention to what you are doing. |
