How Nutrition Can Help Clear Your Skin
Everyone longs for healthy skin that is radiant, clear, and beautiful. So many of us spend loads of our hard-earned paychecks on skincare products with hopes of achieving the skin of our dreams. Of course, a consistent and high-quality ingredient skincare regimen plays a huge role in having “good skin”, but the nutrients that we put in our body are just as important.
Just as the food we put in our bodies impacts the way we look and feel, it impacts the way our skin looks and feels as well. If we put empty calories in our body; meaning foods that have little to no nutritional value, we are not providing our bodies with anything beneficial to allow our biological systems to work optimally, and this diminishes our health as well as the health of our skin. We must focus on choosing ingredients that feed our skin the nutrition it craves to achieve the look we want. After all, healthy skin is also beautiful skin!
As a National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach, a Certified Esthetician with a degree in Wellness Services, and several years of experience in both holistic health and skincare methods, I want to share with you the most important and effective tips in fueling your beauty using your everyday dietary choices.
Foods to Avoid Inflammation
Inflammation is a huge assassin of healthy-looking skin. This means you want to avoid as many inflammatory foods as possible. In general, this means avoiding the following 6 foods…
Sugar
Alcohol
Dairy
Gluten
Processed foods (foods containing trans-fat, saturated fat, and refined carbohydrates)
Potentially caffeine
Keep in mind that everyone is different, caffeine is something that you may or may not need to eliminate. For some, caffeine is anti-inflammatory but in others, it can cause inflammation. It is also a diuretic meaning it causes water loss and dehydration thus making your skin appear dull. Drink those lattes at your own risk, but better to use a non-dairy and non-soy substitute like almond, oat, or coconut milk.
All these foods should be avoided for different reasons, for example, dairy contains iodine, which in excess causes the pores to be inflamed and can cause breakouts. However, the result for all of these foods is the same, and that is inflammation in the body as well as in the skin.
This doesn’t mean you can never have pizza or go out for a margarita again, that is just crazy talk! Personally, I am a believer in moderation. I like to stick to the 80/20 rule, meaning 80% of your diet should be healthy foods that nourish your body and the other 20% can be the foods that quote on quote “nourish your soul”.
Foods that Nourish the Skin
Now that we have identified some foods that deserve the boot, I want to counter that with some positivity! Nourishing our bodies should make us feel excited and proud. Up first, you guessed it, drinking plenty of water! I am aware that drinking water is probably mentioned in every health-related blog ever written, but I promise it is for good reason. When it comes to drinking water, our skin is the very last place that the water is allocated to. This means if we want our skin to get any benefit of the water we drink, we must drink our daily recommended amount if not more. A general rule of thumb is to drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water per day.
Another less obvious tip is to incorporate healthy fats into your daily meals. You particularly want to focus on omega 3 fatty acids as they are best for regulating inflammation, reducing dryness and redness in the skin and have been shown in recent studies to help protect against sun damage. Some ideal choices would be avocado, salmon, walnuts, and hemp/chia seeds to name a few.
Lastly, eat all the veggies you can! Many people wonder if they need to be taking a multivitamin, I like to think of my diet as my multivitamin and both veggies and fruits are the easiest way to get in nourishing ingredients! When it comes to your skin the key components you want to be getting in are vitamins A, C and E. Think colorful foods; leafy greens like spinach and kale, bright fruits and veggies like bell peppers, carrots, mangos, and sweet potatoes for vitamin A. Leafy greens, berries and citrus fruits for vitamin C. Sunflower seeds, almonds, spinach and asparagus for Vitamin E. Both vitamins C and E are powerful antioxidants and vitamin A is essential in having healthy skin, hair, nails and more.
This information is meant to empower you in prioritizing your health and beauty. We at Pomp want to ensure you not only have guidance in choosing the best skincare for your skin but that you also have the knowledge that you need to support your skin health on every level possible. Here’s to beauty from within!
