5 Foods You Must Eat To Get Glowing Skin Naturally

Beauty comes from the inside. The old adage is true now more than ever. Today I'm talking about superfoods for healthy skin.

There are vitamins and minerals found in all food types that are needed to build radiant skin. It's an inside job. Protein, fats and carbs are all needed together in order to build different parts of your skin.

Our skin health declines for two reasons

- Aging: affects our skin the same way it affects our organs.
- Environment: external factors like sun exposure (UV radiation), smoking, pollution, poor nutrition and sleep issues.

Prevention is the best strategy for protecting our skin from environmental factors. Remove all stress, eat well, exercise. Basically live like a monk and have great skin.This lifestyle may not be completely realistic for you and I. We have lives to lead, after all. What you can control is the food you eat. Let’s get into a few of the most researched superfoods for healthy skin.

# Guava

One serving of guavas offer 628% of your RDA for Vitamin C. That is over 4 times more than oranges!Vitamin C is needed for collagen production in your skin. Collagen is the building block for all our connective tissues, including skin.

When combined with Vitamin E, Vitamin C also protects us from sun burns (Ex: UVB radiation). Guavas also have 21% of your daily vitamin A, which is important for maintaining healthy skin membranes. They also have lycopene, which in pink guava is also shown to protect the skin against UV rays.

# Fatty fish

Omega-3s should be a staple for anyone wanting healthy skin. The anti-inflammatory properties of omega-3s are crucial to building and maintaining the fats in our skin tissue.Not just good for the fats in our skin, omega-3s hydrate the deep layers in our skin, lowering the likelihood of skin dryness and breakdown.

Omega-3s also reduce the effects of sun damage . Lastly, they’re used to help treat inflammatory conditions like acne and psoriasis.Fatty fish like salmon, sardines and anchovies are your best sources for omega-3, but you can also take a fish oil supplement.

Be careful about the quality of your fish oil supplement. Check your sourcing, store them in the fridge and regularly check that it has not gone rancid. You can do this by breaking open the softgel and smelling / tasting the oil. It should not smell stale and rancid. If it does then throw it out.

# Sunflower Seeds

Sunflower seeds are full of Vitamin E. What’s the deal with Vitamin E you ask?It’s a naturally occurring potent antioxidant and one of the more highly researched vitamins. Vitamin E has the ability to help prevent and reverse the dangers of free radical damage. Vitamin E’s high antioxidant status is shown to protect us against solar UV radiation.

It also reduced sunburn reactions and chronic UVB damaged skin cells. UVB is what gives us sun burns. At the cellular level, Vitamin E protected against DNA damage associated with skin cancer. Lastly, Vitamin E is important to the fats that line our skin cells. Here it helps against collagen cross linking: a hallmark of aging in your skin.

# Liver or Cod Liver Oil

Chances are you don’t know a ton about Vitamin A. Vitamin A is important to all aspects of skin health and function. Our bodies don’t make it, so we have to get it from our food.Vitamin A plays an important role in skin cell and tissue growth. Especially in the deep layers of your skin: the dermis.

You need Vitamin A to develop the underlying tissues that keep skin healthy and firm. It does this by preventing the breakdown of collagen in your skin.Vitamin A rich foods make your skin more resilient to the sun’s harmful UV damage. It is also a possible anti-aging treatment. Vitamin A is difficult to get in food sources. Thus the need to experiment with liver or cod liver oil.

# Spinach

Popeye was onto something! Spinach and other dark leafy greens help keep your skin supple and radiant. Why you ask? Beta carotene and prebiotics. Beta carotene is in the carotenoid family. These are natural colours found in some foods like carrots, purple yams, red cabbage, etc.Foods high in beta carotene, like spinach also provide nutritional protection against skin damage from sunlight.

It’s time dependent, meaning you should eat lots of these foods in the spring and summer in order to get the protective effect against sunburn. Our skin naturally has beta carotene in it. What’s cool is that you can increase the levels of skin beta carotene by eating lots of it. We’re not positive but this may be responsible for the protective effects against sun damage.