How to Choose Foods That Help Maintain Your Beauty

Radiant skin, shiny hair, healthy skin and beautiful appearance suggests health and self-nurture, and gives you a sense of confidence when stepping out. And the beauty and skin care market doesn't hesitate to play on our insecurities in the looks department, selling its wide range of products with a promise of eternal beauty. Yet, nothing makes you as beautiful on the outside as feeding your inside with a healthy diet.
Being the largest organ of your body, your skin deserves to be nourished with the right nutrients to sustain optimal health. An increasing number of studies have shown the benefits of eating certain foods to enhance a healthy looking skin and overall well being. And the best of all this? Looking good need not cost a fortune, tastes great, doesn't require painstaking effort or involve too much time!


StepsThings You'll NeedTips and Warnings

1: Rehydrate your skin and body and preserve your health with green tea. Even caffeinated green tea hydrates you, which helps keep your skin hydrated too. It is loaded with antioxidants (catechins), and these naturally protect your skin from the sun's damage (but you should still take appropriate protective sun precautions as well) and the antioxidants are a basic bodily defense against free radicals that age your skin and body. Active ingredients that stimulate the metabolism can also be found in green tea; a good metabolism will in turn burn away the excess fats, helping to keep you slim and trim. And green tea can help preserve your mind and slow its aging process, which in turn can help you to feel more beautiful because you're not struggling to remember things or fretting about dementia.Many different forms of green tea are available in the markets and a great selection of different types is available for you to choose from, included flavored and seasonal green teas.


2: Slow down the aging process with vitamin E. Vitamin E is an important anti-aging antioxidant and can help slow down skin aging. It can be found in foods such as pumpkin seeds, dry roasted almonds, other nuts and seeds, and small amounts of quality vegetable oils.


3: Keep in top form with omega-3. Omega-3-fatty acids help to keep your face smooth with their anti-inflammatory properties and your hair shiny and in good condition. Omega-3 can be found in a range of foods such as: cold-water fish (tuna, salmon, mackerel, trout, herring, sardines), flaxseeds, and walnuts.
Reduce inflammation and redness of the skin. Salmon and its oil contains skin beautifying omega-3-acids that hydrate and help to reduce the redness and inflammation of the skin. Salmon also contains selenium, which helps various skin problems and overall skin health.
As well as omega-3 fatty acids, other essential fatty acids should be included in your diet to strengthen your nails and skin and to reduce inflammation around the nails. Such fatty acids can be found in evening primrose oil, borage oil, flaxseed oil, and fish oil.


4: Enjoy omega-6 as another source of skin replenishment. Have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich—just make sure the bread is whole wheat and the jelly is added sparingly. Peanut butter is a rich source of omega-6 fatty acids, which come in a close second to omega-3s when it comes to protecting skin from aging. Avocados are good source of omega-6, too.


5: Rejuvenate your skin cells and keep your body in top form with tomatoes. Tomatoes are full of a red pigment known as lycopene, which appears to act as an antioxidant. This antioxidant helps to neutralize free radicals before they can cause damage and this can benefit good skin health; it can also protect the skin from ultra-violet (UV) stress. Tomatoes also contain fiber and vitamin A, which can assist the development of skin cells, while a vitamin A deficiency can lead to dry skin.Tomatoes are also full of fiber, which also helps keep your body in great shape. Cooked tomatoes can provide access to more nutrients than having them raw but either way, cooked or raw, these fruits will do you a world of good.


6: Strive for skin that is more elastic. Oranges contain vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that mops up free radicals, such as those caused by overexposure to the sun, or those coming from the carbon monoxide released by moving vehicles etc. Free radical damage leads to premature aging of the skin and vitamin C is a great way to give your skin and body a boost. As well as oranges, other citrus fruits are a great source of vitamin C or vegetables such as bell peppers.
Choose bioflavonoid-rich food for the stimulation of collagen production.Collagen helps the skin look younger and plumper, and keeps your gums tough for good teeth health. As well as oranges, foods high in bioflavonoids include broccoli, cantaloupe, and black tea.


7: Stay hydrated and keep your skin smooth. Drink lots of water and regulate consumption of dehydrating beverages that contain caffeine and alcohol. Aim to drink half your body weight of water in ounces every day.
Alcohol may seem innocuous enough when you're looking to unwind but its effects on your skin are anything but. Alcohol dries out skin, and leaves it irritated and sallow-toned. It reduces the sparkle from your eyes, leaving them duller and with too much alcohol consumption over time, the white areas of your eyes can appear yellow and tired.


8: Reduce your sugar consumption. Also known as "white death", sugar isn't really what our bodies have in mind when it comes to good nutrition. Sugar plays an unfortunate role in causing skin to sag and wrinkle; it does this by attaching itself to the collagen and elastin in the skin, causing it to become brittle and to break.Another beauty slam from sugar is the creation of dark, under-eye circles.
Want a beautiful smile? Avoid eating too much sugar! Keep your pearly whites in perfect shape by keeping sugar to a minimum; sugar encourages the cavity-causing bacteria to hang around your teeth and drill away causing decay. And be very careful of juice; it is just a very concentrated source of sugar and some juices have even been shown to cause more damage than colaHowever, drinking or rinsing with black tea is good for your teeth, as the polyphenols in black tea seem to reduce plaque build-up.
Balanced blood sugar keeps you healthy and looking great.

9: Reduce skin inflammation with cucumbers. Cucumbers are often used as the base in both commercial and home-prepared beauty products such as face masks, gels, and toners. Cucumbers have soothing and cooling properties as well, and their high water content provides a great source of hydration for skin that leaves skin looking softer and plumped.Papaya can also reduce skin inflammation, as well as slough off dead tissue, and improve scar formation, when applied to the skin; it also has a gentle exfoliating effect when added to skin beauty products.


10: Reduce your sources of stress with good nutrition. A stressed lifestyle can impact how you look, causing you to appear rundown, tired, and unrefreshed. As well as tackling sources of stress and getting adequate sleep, you can increase your stress resistance by increasing your vitamin C intakecutting out junk food, sugary treats, and fatty fast food; instead, eat a nutritious diet.


11: Boost your immune system. Foods like fresh fruit and half cooked vegetables (steamed, etc.) boosts your immune system. In turn, this creates a healthy body and aids overall healing. Foods high in vitamin C are essential to help the immune system grow stronger.Blueberries, goji berries, and other berries are also loaded with vitamin C and immune-boosting antioxidants that stimulate collagen production that keeps skin smooth and supple.
Be sure to get adequate vitamin K and zinc. These nutrients help your skin to repair itself,and zinc is known for its ability to prevent acne and improve the immune system. Oysters are one high source of zinc.
Eat a rainbow-hued diet. No dietary supplement or nutrient alone can provide you with beautifying benefits. To get the benefits in their entirety, you need to consume a rainbow-hued diet that picks up on the many fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, and other healthy foods in a variety of ways.The benefits are a variety of great tastes, an interesting diet, and a beautiful you.