Snack Your Way to Healthy Skin

It turns out that old saying, “beauty comes from within” is true in more ways than one. To get soft, glowing skin, it takes more than just slathering on creams and serums. Your skin health depends a lot on what’s inside of you, and the healthier it is, the nicer it looks.

According to a study published in the journal Dermato-Endocrinology, skin has been reported as an indicator of overall health and aging. The study found that nutrients are very closely linked to skin health and aging. Put simply, this is great news. It means you can snack your way to great skin, and who doesn’t love a good snack? Here are the nutrients you need, and the foods that will help you get them.

Vitamin C

Looks like your morning OJ is good for more than just your taste buds or curing a cold. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), vitamin C is essential to growth and tissue repair. It serves as a front line defender of free radicals, the pesky molecules that build up in our bodies and damage our cells over time. Since free radicals are a big cause of visible aging, combating them through antioxidants and nutrients can keep skin and cells healthy.

Luckily, it’s pretty easy to get vitamin C into your diet since it’s found in most fruits and vegetables. Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, watermelon, cantaloupe and citrus fruits are among the fruits that pack the most vitamin C. For vegetables, you can turn to broccoli, green and red peppers, spinach and other leafy greens, potatoes, and tomatoes.

While vitamin C is pretty much all-around good for you, the recommended daily intake is 90 and 75 milligrams for males and females over the age of 19, respectively. If you’re wondering what that looks like, the NIH notes that a half-cup of raw green pepper contains about 60 milligrams of vitamin C, while three-quarters of a cup of orange juice packs in about 93 milligrams. One medium-sized kiwi contains about 64 milligrams, making it a neat little skin-health bomb.

Vitamin E

While vitamin C is like that one friend that somehow seems to be good at everything, vitamin E is your pal who has one, very honed talent. Luckily for us, vitamin E’s talent is smashing free radicals.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, vitamin E’s main role in the body is a free radical fighting antioxidant. Since free radicals damage cells, and skin is made of cells, the more we can combat with antioxidants the healthier our face looks. In addition to keeping away the free radicals, vitamin E helps produce collagen, a key factor in maintaining soft, smooth skin according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Almonds are a great source of the vitamin E according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which means if you make your morning smoothie with some vitamin C rich strawberries and a dollop of almond butter, your skin is bound to glow. Other foods that are a good source of vitamin E include avocados, eggs, sunflower seeds, sweet potatoes and dark leafy greens.

Omega-3

This one is great news for pescetarians, or seafood lovers in general. The fatty acids found in fish are great for our skin, acting as a kind of inside out sunscreen.

A diet rich in omega-3 can help protect against skin cancer, according to the National Institutes of Health, and other damaging effects of the sun on our skin. In a study funded by the Association for International Cancer Research, scientists found that taking 4 grams of fish oil, or eating one and a half portions of oily fish per day, increased skin’s immunity to UV rays.

While eating your UV protection won’t suffice in totally protecting you from the sun, the study found that continuous boosts of omega-3 (specifically fish oil supplements) marginally helped. This is especially important because most people don’t regularly use sunscreen or don’t use it correctly.

Fish, plants and nut oils are particularly rich in omega-3, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center, which is why those who follow a Mediterranean diet typically get a good amount of the skin boosting nutrient. The American Heart Associations recommends eating fish twice a week, particularly fatty fish like catfish, halibut, salmon, striped sea bass and albacore tuna. If fish isn’t your thing, walnuts are also a perfectly good source of omega-3.

Zinc

When applied to skin’s surface, zinc is also known to protect against UV rays, but when you eat it, doctors say this nutrient may help fight acne.

According to the NIH, Zinc is known to improve acne. This could be because people with acne have lower levels of zinc in their bodies, according to the NIH, meaning zinc-rich foods can help bring that back up to balance. The Mayo Clinic notes, however, that more research is needed to determine whether zinc alone can cure acne or if other compounds are needed to help the acne improvements alone.

Even aside from acne, zinc helps maintain the integrity of skin, according to the National Institutes of Health, and promotes wound healing because of its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Taking zinc orally can also help with rosacea for the same reasons.

To up your intake, reach for the nearest burger. According to the NIH, a 3-ounce beef patty has 5.3 milligrams of zinc, which is 35 percent of the recommended daily value. The NIH recommends men over 19-years-old should consume 11 milligrams of zinc per day, while women over 19 should consumer 8 milligrams. Even better than a burger is a 3-ounce beef chuck roast, with 7 milligrams of zinc, but best are 3 ounces of oysters. Oysters weigh in with 74 milligrams of zinc per serving, or 493 percent of the daily value.

Water

Drinking water is pretty much good for every part of your body, including it’s largest organ. Since the skin contains 64 percent water, it makes sense that drinking it would help promote skin health.

Think about water and skin health in terms of alcohol. After a night of drinking, you might notice your skin doesn’t look quite right the next day. It might look dull or dry, lacking the general vibrancy that your face typically has. That’s because you’re dehydrated, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. Drinking plenty of water will get you back to your normal self (for both your skin and that headache). If you’re not getting enough water in general, the same thing can happen. Dehydration can affect how your skin looks, and definitely can affect how you feel.

There’s varying recommendations on how much water you should drink per day, from the old 8-glasses-a-day rule to more or less depending on where you live or your activity level. The bottom line is there’s no real bottom line, but research shows drinking way more than you need won’t necessarily improve your skin. As long as you’re staying hydrated, you’ve got a good chance at pretty skin.

More importantly, though, drinking water and getting all these other important nutrients improves your overall health. You know that “beauty comes from within” saying? Well, this is where it starts.

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