Whether you blame your skin tribulations on aging, bad genetics, stress, or poor self-care, don’t forget to consider that you are what you eat. What we put on top of our skin can only go so deep and do so much. The real skin correctors and flawless fixes come from what we put inside of our body. After all, our skin is just another organ and our organs use the food we eat as fuel to function properly. Eat the right foods and your skin will not only function properly from the inside, but will look radiant and clear from the outside.
If you’ve been using product after product with no major difference, or just seek out a glow that will rival supermodels, get out your blender and add these beautifying add-ins.
To Clear Acne:
- Adding greens like spinach, cucumbers, celery, and parsley will revitalize your skin with antioxidants that promote cell renewal, which detoxes your skin from the inside out.
- Flax seeds fight against irritation, redness, and inflammation in the skin.
- Using refrigerated green tea as a base is a great alternative to pore-clogging dairy milk. Green tea contains EGCG, which has been proven to treat and prevent acne.
- Powdered maca helps balance out hormones to reduce PMS symptoms, aka this might just be the secret to warding off your period breakouts.
Recipe to Try
Green Smoothie by Minimalist Baker
Source: Minimalist Baker
To Prevent Aging:
- Carrots have high levels of betacarotene, which acts as an antioxidant to cell damage and slows down the aging of cells. It can also help protect your skin against the sun, which, as we all know from our mothers’ sunscreen lectures, can cause premature wrinkles.
- Bananas contain Vitamins A, B, and E, which all have great anti-aging properties.
- Pomegranate seeds (can be bought frozen for convenience) reduce signs of aging caused by sun exposure.
- Bee pollen battles free-radicals that cause signs of aging like wrinkles and under-eye circles.
Recipe to Try
Pollen Power Smoothie by Chef de Home
Source: Chef de Home
To Rejuvenate Dull Skin:
- Chia seeds and walnuts are loaded with Omega-3s, which increase hydration in your skin even better than water can. Omega-3 fatty acids are also responsible for the health of our skin cell membranes, so they’re a crucial dullness fighter.
- Kale is rich in Vitamin K, which helps to decrease puffiness, like under-eye bags. The mild sulfur content in Kale also reduces redness and smoothes out skin texture.
- Blueberries have the highest antioxidant capacity of all fruits. These antioxidants fight damage and dullness by detoxing your skin. In other words, get your blueberry fix after extra-fun weekends to prevent the dreaded, dull, hangover skin.
- Healthy fats, as found in coconut oil and avocados, are crucial for building strong, radiant, and soft skin.
Recipe to Try
Blueberry Coconut Chia Smoothie by All Day I Dream About Food
Source: All Day I Dream About Food
All-Around Super Ingredient for Skin Fixes:
Collagen is arguably the most impressive ingredient for flawless skin. Our bodies naturally produce it, but collagen-production slows as we age, causing wrinkles and dullness. Collagen also is what repairs and strengthens the skin, helping to clear blemishes and breakouts in skin of all ages. The amino acids found in collagen improve elasticity, tone, and texture of skin, making it the all-around perfect nutrient for healthy, radiant, blemish- and wrinkle-free skin.
Add it to your smoothies by using foods like carrots or strawberries that assist the natural collagen production in your body, or by adding ingestible collagen in powder form.
Recipe to Try
