Feed Your Skin With Skin-Friendly Foods

How things you eat can affect your skin

It’s true what they say; “you are what you eat.” What goes into your body is used to constitute everything, from hair, to teeth, and yes, even skin. To keep your skin at its best, here are a few foods and drinks that can help.

Apricots

Apricots are rife with vitamin A, which our bodies convert into the compound retinol, which promotes new cell growth. Cells grown with help from retinol tend to have smoother cellular barriers, which in turn makes your skin more youthful and less wrinkled.

Brazil Nuts

Brazil nuts contain selenium, a mineral that boosts your skin cells’ resistance to getting sunburned. Not only will this keep your skin looking better, but it can also help prevent skin cancer.

Crab

Crab is rich in zinc. Zinc is a great aid for combating pimples. By reducing inflammation when your pores collect oil and bacteria, zinc minimizes the damage and makes pimples less visible.

Green Tea

Green tea is loaded with antioxidants. For your skin, that means improved elasticity. A recent study showed that women who drank a daily dose of green tea extract saw a four percent increase in skin elasticity.

Salmon

Salmon is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which is a healthy kind of fat that your body can use to hydrate dry patches of skin, and may also boost your body’s production of collagen and elastin.

Sunflower Oil

Cooking with sunflower oil is a sure-fire way to help maintain well-moisturized skin. Sunflower oil contains linoleic acid, which helps cells form softer outer layers.

Of course, if you don’t particularly like the taste of any of these foods, most of the ingredients can be found in various beauty treatments; just look out for the chemicals listed in this article. Also, the benefits of these foods are largely preventative or for maintenance of your skin. For more serious issues, or for a more drastic difference in appearance, contact your doctor, dermatologist, and/or plastic surgeon.