Want glowing skin? The secret to glowing skin isn’t the latest product on the market, it’s eating right. The foods you eat play an integral role in the way your skin looks and feels, which means you can still have healthy-looking skin even if you can’t afford expensive products or regular facials.
Whether you want to keep off premature signs of aging like wrinkles, get rid of acne, improve your complexion, or promote smooth and glowing skin, the best place to begin is in your diet. Start by adding a food for glowing skin or two!
The food you eat plays a vital role in promoting poor or healthy glowing skin.
Also check out Foods For Stress Relief, Foods For Heart Health, and Foods That Will Burn Belly Fat.
While processed foods and sugar can increase skin-related conditions, whole natural foods may help boost skin health and promote glow.
But not all whole foods can effectively support the health of your skin. There are foods with specific nutrients such as vitamin A, C, D, E, and omega-3 fatty acids that are particularly essential for healthy and glowing skin.
Food for Glowing Skin
1. Tomatoes
When you think of foods that promote healthy skin, tomatoes probably aren’t the first thing that comes to mind. But just because it’s so common to eat tomatoes on pizza and pasta doesn’t mean they aren’t super good for your skin. In fact, there are a number of reasons why and how tomatoes can help your skin.
Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, a phytochemical antioxidant that gives the tomato its red color. This compound has also been shown to promote collagen production, protect against UV rays, and fight free radicles that may cause premature signs of aging, like wrinkles and fine lines.
Studies have shown that people who consume more lycopene have healthier-looking skin. That’s why we encourage you to work tomatoes into your diet!
Tomatoes can also deep clean your pores. Pores clog over time, causing a variety of skin concerns. One great way to encourage proper pore cleansing is to consume at least one tomato-based meal per day. The Lycopene in tomatoes has also been shown to strengthen capillaries and cleanse pores by breaking down excess sebum in pores. Lycopene also kills bacteria found in acne-causing pimples, which is why it’s known as a natural antibiotic for your skin.
Increasing your dietary lycopene intake will increase your levels of protection and help promote healthy and smooth skin.
One way to increase tomatoes’ lycopene benefits is to cook them in sauce or paste.
In one study, participants who consumed 5 tablespoons of tomato paste daily experienced 33 percent more protection from sunburn than a control group.
2. Oranges
Citrus fruits like oranges are known to provide loads of nutrition and health benefits, including vitamin C and potassium. But did you know that eating oranges can benefit your skin?
Common ways oranges can boost your health include:
Boosts collagen production
High vitamin C in oranges makes it crucial for maintaining collagen levels. As we age, our body produces less collagen, resulting in wrinkles and sagging skin. By including oranges in your diet and using orange-infused creams on your face you can actually keep wrinkles at bay. Drink orange juice or eat an orange three times a week to ensure optimal health and fight off aging.
Reduces dark spots
Vitamin C is an antioxidant, which means it neutralizes free radicals that cause discoloration and damage to your skin cells. When you’re deficient in vitamin C, your body absorbs more UV rays than normal when exposed to sunlight, causing hyperpigmentation.
Makes skin smoother and more taut
Vitamin C helps encourage skin cell turnover—which leads to smoother and more taut-looking skin. It can also make your complexion appear brighter, younger, and healthier.
Speeds healing time after wounds
The high collagen production associated with vitamin C has been shown to speed up healing time after wounds. Also, citrus is good for restoring normal skin color after a wound heals.
3. Carrots
Carrots aren’t just good for your eyes; they can also promote healthy skin thanks to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds, including beta-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin, vitamin C, lycopene, and alpha-carotene. These antioxidants work to neutralize free radicals in the body and help protect against sun damage and other damage from external sources. This process protects collagen proteins in the skin from degeneration, which would otherwise cause wrinkles and sagging skin.
In addition, the vitamin A in carrots also helps promote collagen production, which maintains healthy and firm skin. Vitamin A also prevents the development of cancer cells.
4. Blueberries
Blueberries have long been known as one of the healthiest fruits on the planet, and now it seems that they can improve the health of your skin as well! While this sweet berry might seem like an unlikely candidate to help you achieve glowing skin, blueberries in fact offer a range of nutrients and vitamins that support both your general well-being and your skin’s appearance. From promoting healthier hair growth to treating sensitive skin to preventing signs of aging, blueberries can be powerful allies in taking care of your whole body. Here are just some of the many benefits of blueberries for your skin…
Blueberries have anti-inflammatory properties
They contain high levels of anthocyanins, which are natural antioxidants that neutralize harmful free radicals. It’s these anti-inflammatory properties that make blueberries beneficial to your skin, and can help protect it from cell damage.
Vitamins C and E protect against UV damage
These two vitamins play an important role in your body’s immune system, but they also help prevent free radical damage caused by UV radiation. They also help slow down aging by neutralizing free radicals.
Glucosamine slows collagen breakdown
Glucosamine is a type of polyphenol found in blueberries. It plays a vital role in keeping your skin smooth and elastic. As you age, collagen breaks down and wrinkles start to appear, but with blueberries, you can easily restore your collagen production and slow down the process of aging, thus maintaining your skin supple and wrinkle-free for longer!
Additionally, since your body absorbs glucosamine through your intestines, you don’t have to worry about irritating your skin with an external cream or ointment.
They are also rich in anthocyanins, a powerful antioxidant and the compound that gives blueberries their deep color. Anthocyanins can help fight free radicles that may cause skin cell damage.
5. Avocados
Avocado is a nutritious fruit full of healthy fats, antioxidants, and other nutrients essential for optimum health and glowing skin. Check out: Are Avocados Good For You?
It’s rich in vitamin E, which protects the body against free radicals that may cause skin damage, and vitamin C, which is essential for collagen production. Collagen is the most abundant protein found throughout the body, including the skin, bones, tendons, teeth, and connective tissues.
Collagen plays an essential role in strengthening the skin, promoting hydration, and maintaining its elasticity.
Avocados also contain zeaxanthin and lutein, another set of antioxidants protecting the skin against harmful UV rays.
In one study, zeaxanthin and lutein enriched diets were shown to protect against UVB-induced skin inflammation compared to those with low intake.
In a different study, individuals with mild to moderate dry skin improved their skin tone after supplementation of 2 mg of zeaxanthin and 10 mg lutein.
Lutein and zeaxanthin may also protect the skin against UVB-induced tumors and premature aging.
See some of My Best Avocado Recipes.
6. Sweet potato
There are many reasons to be excited about the nutritional benefits of sweet potatoes, including their high content of vitamins C, E, and B6 and the antioxidant beta-carotene. Research shows that eating more sweet potatoes can have a positive effect on your skin’s health as well, making it appear more vibrant and youthful-looking.
Vitamin C is an antioxidant that helps protect skin cells from free radicals. The problem is many Americans are deficient in Vitamin C because they don’t eat enough fruit and vegetables, one of its major sources. Fortunately, sweet potatoes are rich in Vitamin C—one sweet potato has 134% of your daily requirements.
They also have a high content of beta-carotene, which converts into Vitamin A in your body. Studies show that those with higher levels of Vitamin A have less wrinkling and dryness on their faces than those with lower levels. Sweet potatoes contain over twice as much beta-carotene as carrots!
Other forms of carotenoids in sweet potatoes include alpha-carotene and beta-cryptoxanthin, all of which promote healthy skin. White potatoes contain only small amounts of these carotenoids (and most of them are in potato skins), but sweet potatoes contain high levels. A 2006 study found that these carotenoids significantly increased antioxidant capacity in human skin cells.
Sweet potatoes also help you get enough B vitamins: B vitamins are essential for energy production and healthy cell growth. Your skin needs energy just like every other part of your body, so if you aren’t getting enough B vitamins through food, it can lead to dull-looking skin. That being said, there aren’t many foods that are good sources of B vitamins and sweet potatoes happen to be one of them!
Finally, sweet potatoes contain a good amount of vitamin E, another powerful antioxidant essential for maintaining healthy and glowing skin.
7. Walnuts
Walnuts are incredible when it comes to promoting the health of your skin. They are rich in omega 3 fatty acids, which help strengthen the skin membrane and lock in moisture, thus promoting plump and glowing skin.
Also, walnuts contain other skin-promoting nutrients such as zinc, vitamin E, and selenium, which are necessary to fight inflammation, prevent bacteria and promote wound healing.
8. Broccoli
Broccoli is rich in skin-enhancing nutrients such as vitamin A, vitamin C, and zinc, which may promote healthy and glowing skin in various ways, including promoting skin rejuvenation and repair.
It is also rich in glucoraphanin, a compound that gets converted into sulforaphane in the body. Sulforaphane is responsible for repairing skin damage and maintaining healthy skin.
This means regular broccoli consumption can speed up your cell renewal, giving you a natural glow and a beautiful complexion.
Broccoli may also offer UV protection benefits, prevent premature aging, protect from skin cancer, and increase your skin’s immune function.
The high vitamin A levels may also protect against sun damage, as well as protect your skin cell membrane. See more about the Health Benefits Of Broccoli.
The various nutrients in broccoli may also help improve the skin’s immune system, thus protecting you from various skin conditions. In addition, It’s also rich in lutein, an essential antioxidant that protects the skin against cell damage that may cause dry skin and even wrinkles.
9. Red grapes
Red grapes are rich in resveratrol, a compound responsible for their various health benefits, including slowing the production of free radicles that damage the skin and cause premature aging.
In addition to vitamin A and C, red grapes are also rich in vitamin B6 and minerals including calcium, iron, potassium, folate, phosphorus, magnesium, folate, and selenium, which are essential for proper skin cell function. This can, in turn, promote clear, smooth, and young-looking skin.
Red grapes are also rich in lutein and zeaxanthin antioxidants that help fight free radicals.
10. Cucumbers
Apart from cucumbers’ cooling effect when topically applied to the skin, they are high in vitamins C, vitamin K, and antioxidants, all of which are essential for healthy and glowing skin. See: Cucumber Nutrition
Recipes for glowing skin:
Final thoughts on the best food for glowing skin:
What you eat plays a vital role in promoting a healthy and glowing skin.
Foods high in antioxidants, vitamins A, C, D, E, and omega-3 fatty acids are essential when making the right food choices to promote your glow.
Some best choices include tomatoes, oranges, broccoli, avocado, red grapes, walnuts, sunflower seeds, blueberries, and sweet potatoes.
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Great article
thank you so much i really love
These looks yummy