Beauty comes from within!
We all know what healthy looks like...
It’s a fresh-faced look, with unblemished skin, glossy hair and strong nails, good teeth, bright eyes and loads of energy also help! Yet the skin, hair and nails are all dead, so how can you help make them look full of life through things such as diet? The answer is to feed the base cells from which the skin, hair and nails grow, so that after a few weeks the results become evident. Beauty really does come from within and this is true of any age. It is not only youth that epitomises beauty. Lines tell a story that is etched on a face even better if they are smile lines rather than frown lines!Fresh-faced Skin
To keep the skin elastic is it important to avoid oxidation damage. The most common causes of oxidation are sun damage, smoking and high sugar diets, so it is obviously best to avoid these. Oxidation resulting in ‘cross-linking’ of proteins which toughens up skin, making it leathery and increasing wrinkles. Protection is increased by having lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet to provide the necessary antioxidants, five portions daily is the minimum recommendation and this amount will also provide enough Vitamin C for building collagen in skin. When choosing an antioxidant formula choose one that incorporates Selenium and Vitamins A, C & E. This is because these elements have synergistic roles and work best together.It is also important to keep skin hydrated. This can be done by drinking two litres of water a day and avoiding excess caffeine and alcohol intake, both of which are dehydrating. It is no surprise that we suffer from dry skin conditions, including eczema, when dehydrated. Water also helps maintain a healthy body by helping remove toxins from the body. Toxins are Skin Health continued... removed from the body through four of our major organs – the gut, kidneys, lungs and the skin. The skin being one the largest of these organs is able to remove the most toxins through sweating and removing dead skin cells.
Signs of dehydration include constipation, dry skin, and dark coloured urine; all of these symptoms also show that toxins are not efficiently being removed from the body. By drinking enough water you are encouraging the body to work at maximum toxin removal from all of the organs in the body, maintaining a healthy body and healthy skin.
“Good quality protein, and again Essential Fatty Acids, are important for hair and nail health.”
A healthy skin structure is totally dependant on Essential Fatty Acids, Omega-3 and Omega-6, which are incorporated in cell membranes making them flexible. Increasing intakes of fresh nuts, seeds, flax oil and oily fish, and reducing intakes of fatty meat, fatty dairy, fast and convenience foods will help to redress the balance. Skin conditions such as acne, psoriasis and eczema are helped by healthy fats in the diet. read more
