Healthy skin is beautiful skin. Check out these eight “need-to-know” skin tips!
1. Get Your 8 Glasses of H20. Water is the essence of life and it really rings true when it comes to your body. Being hydrated keeps your body optimally healthy and your cells healthy and vibrant. And your skin will reflect how hydrated you are. When you get enough water, your skin will appear more plump and have a bit more “bounce!” So be sure to drink up those eight glasses of water daily!
2. Keep Your Liver Clean. If your liver is healthy, it will do an optimal job of detoxifying your body. Eat more liver-loving foods on a daily basis. Start your day with the juice of 1/4 a lemon in a pint glass of hot or cold water on waking to get your digestion started. Eat at least 2 of the following foods daily to improve detoxification: beets, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, bok choy, arugula or broccoli.
3. Go Nuts & More. Each day, be sure to include one or more servings of the following foods in your daily diet: raw or unsalted-unroasted nuts or seeds, ground flax seeds, olive oil, coconut oil. They are rich all sources of essential fatty acids, needed for optimal health as well as for keeping your skin in tip-top condition. Adequate amounts of essential fat in your diet helps feed skin cells, which, in turns, helps maintain skin elasticity.
4. Eat More Fish. Including local cold water fish in your diet, at least 2 to 3 times per week helps provide high quality protein and nutrients that help feed your skin. Adequate protein assists in maintaining collagen, a primary building block of beautiful skin. Fish is also a great source of skin-boosting nutrients. For example, wild-caught salmon contains astaxanthin, a carotenoid that will improve skin elasticity. When elasticity is improved, you’ll have fewer fine lines. *Eat swordfish, shark, king mackerel, halibut, sea bass or tuna steak no more than once ever two weeks as they contain high levels of mercury.
5. Fiber Your Life. Getting enough fiber in your daily diet helps keep your digestive track moving along. When you don’t get enough dietary fiber your skin may show signs of a toxic colon with blemishes and possibly a lacklustre appearance. Be sure to eat plenty of whole grains, lentils, beans, vegetables, and fruits. Try millet, quinoa, brown rice, wild rice, and buckwheat kasha and other grains you don’t normally eat. Mix it up! And include at least two raw vegetables daily and one piece of organic fruit.
6. Eat Avocados. This delectable green fruit (yes, it’s a fruit!) is rich in fatty acids, key to dewey-looking, healthy skin. Avocados are also a good source of of the B vitamin, biotin which protects against dry skin. Eating ½ of an Avocado per day may help prevent dry skin, brittle hair and nails. Mash up half of an Avocado, and mix with honey and apply to your face for ten minutes for a natural skin-softening face mask! 6. Tea Time. Green tea is rich in polyphenols, antioxidants that help maintain integrity of skin cells. Antioxidants in general, help slow down the aging process by their protective effect agains free radicals that can damage delicate cells, which in turn may cause wrinkles and fine lines. Drink four cups throughout the day.
7. Eggs-actly. Eggs are a rich and complete source of protein, which helps repair skin cells that may have been damaged by free radicals. They are also rich in biotin, which helps prevent dry skin. And they contain two antioxidants, lutein and zeaxanthin which, in one study on women, were found to have quadrupled protection against the UV damage that leads to lines, brown spots, and cancer. And their skin was found to be softer, firmer, and better hydrated. Be sure to eat organic eggs whenever possible.
8. Eat More Tomatoes. Tomatoes are rich in the powerful antioxidant Lycopene. In one study, volunteers who ate 5 tablespoons of tomato paste per day for three months had almost 25% more protection against sunburn. Also, their skin had more collagen. And according to German researchers, people who eat lycopene-rich diet also have fewer lines and wrinkles.
For more information on how to boost the health of your skin and the rest of your body, buy the audiobook, 52 Ways to a Healthy You.