Welcome to our series on natural and healthy skincare! Throughout this series, we’ll be sharing our top tips for achieving healthy, glowing skin using safe, natural methods.
On the last post in this series, I talked about how facial masks can make your skin feel fresh and beautiful. This post will talk about how nutrition helps your skin stay beautiful.
Ready to start your journey to beautiful skin?
Achieving healthy, glowing skin requires more than just topical treatments. In fact, maintaining a balanced, nutritious diet is essential for keeping our skin healthy and radiant. In this article, we’ll explore the role of healthy nutrition in skincare and how it can help you achieve your best skin yet.
The Role of Antioxidants:
Certain vitamins and minerals, such as vitamins C and E, zinc, and selenium, act as antioxidants in the body. These compounds help to neutralise free radicals, which can cause cell damage and lead to oxidative stress.1 By incorporating more antioxidant-rich foods into your diet, you can help protect your skin from environmental stressors and prevent premature ageing. 2
The Effects of Environmental Factors:
Our skin can be affected by a variety of environmental factors, including UV light, pollution, smoking, sleep loss, and poor nutrition. These factors can increase the number of free radicals in our bodies, leading to oxidative stress and damage to our skin cells and tissues.
Prevention Strategies:
To prevent oxidative stress and promote healthy skin, it’s essential to maintain a low-stress, healthy lifestyle and incorporate plenty of antioxidant-rich foods into your diet. By eating a balanced, nutritious diet that includes a variety of fruits and vegetables, you can help your skin look and feel its best.
Maintaining healthy nutrition is a critical component of achieving and maintaining beautiful, glowing skin. By understanding the role of antioxidants in skincare and adopting a healthy, antioxidant-rich diet, you can help protect your skin from environmental stressors and prevent premature ageing. 3
Remember, healthy skin starts from the inside out!
Incorporating Antioxidants into Your Diet Through Smoothies for Healthier Skin and Self-Healing
Smoothies can be a great way to incorporate more antioxidants into your daily diet, promoting healthier skin and aiding in self-healing. As an essential component of skincare nutrition, antioxidants combat free radical damage and provide protective benefits to your skin. Here are some easy and essential tips to help you get started with incorporating more antioxidants into your diet through smoothies.
Smoothies are full of vitamins, minerals and other healthy compounds that can help our skin.
To learn more about the different nutrients in any fruit or veg, do a quick search of “nutritional value of …” and you can find out the nutrition data of each fruit or vegetable.
Consuming foods rich in antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, is crucial for maintaining good health. Plants are an excellent source of phytochemicals, many of which have antioxidant properties. One easy and delicious way to incorporate a variety of antioxidants into your diet is by making smoothies from nutritious ingredients.
If you’re looking to create a smoothie that’s rich in antioxidants, try incorporating these ingredients:
Greens: Add leafy greens like spinach or kale, which are rich in carotenoids and chlorophyll.
Chia seeds or flaxseed: These are excellent sources of ALA, a plant-based source of omega-3 fatty acids.
Nuts and seeds: Almonds, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds are a source of healthy fats and minerals. Add about a handful to your smoothie.
Vitamin C-rich fruits: Berries and kiwi are great options here.
Creamy texture: Add a banana, mango, or avocado to give your smoothie a creamy texture.
Fluids: Use water, coconut water, plant-based milk (such as almond, soy, coconut, oats, or hazelnut), or yogurt as the fluid base for your smoothie.
Oats: Add a tablespoon of oats for a good source of dietary fiber and texture.
By incorporating these ingredients into your smoothies, you can easily boost your intake of antioxidants and other essential nutrients.
Add any fruit or vegetable to your smoothie. It’s delicious! Drinking a fresh homemade smoothie as part of breakfast can be an easy way to add more nutrients into your diet— and it can even help make you look healthier!
Sources
- Lobo V, Patil A, Phatak A, Chandra N. Free radicals, antioxidants and functional foods: Impact on human health. Pharmacogn Rev. 2010;4(8):118-126. doi:10.4103/0973-7847.70902
- “Understanding antioxidants – Harvard Health.” 10 Jan. 2019, https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-antioxidants.
- Schagen SK, Zampeli VA, Makrantonaki E, Zouboulis CC. Discovering the link between nutrition and skin aging. Dermatoendocrinol. 2012;4(3):298-307. doi:10.4161/derm.22876
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