While it is a general practice to nourish the skin with oils, creams and moisturizers, it helps a lot to safeguard the health of your skin with healthy eating. Healthy, radiant skin starts from within. Scientific evidence shows that what you eat significantly affects the health and ageing of your skin.

Let’s consider the following six best foods for beautiful skin.

1. Vegetables

Vegetables are rich sources of minerals and vitamins which are beneficial for health. Certain vegetables are of immense benefit to the health of the skin. They include dark green vegetables such as spinach, kale, broccoli, string beans and other coloured vegetables such as carrot, bell peppers are rich sources of vitamin A. Vitamin A is an antioxidant that promotes skin cell rejuvenation. It contributes to reducing the scars from bruises, stretch marks, and pimples. Yellow and green peppers are rich in antioxidants called carotenoids that help to decrease your skin’s sensitivity to the sun and reduce the appearance of fine lines around the eyes. Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which is also a powerful antioxidant that protects the skin from ultraviolet damage.

How many portions of vegetables do you need: Nutrition experts recommend including 2 to 3 servings of vegetables every day. An example of a serving of vegetables is 1 cup of chopped carrot, 1 cup of cooked spinach, ½ cup of cooked string beans. As much as possible, have plenty of vegetables every day. Also, you can replace unhealthy snacks with vegetables. See how.

2. Fruits

Fruits such as oranges, kiwi, tangerines, pineapples, grapefruit, lime, lemon, etc. are rich sources of vitamin C. People who eat foods rich in vitamin C have less dry skin than those who don’t. Many fruits including red grapes, strawberries, cherries, pears, guava, oranges, mango, watermelon, pawpaw are rich in antioxidants which help to shield your skin from free radicals which cause damage to cells.

How much of fruits do you need: One or 2 medium-size oranges, or one and a half cup of diced watermelon, mango or pineapple is considered adequate.

3. Fatty fish

Fatty fish, such as sardines, mackerel, salmon and herring, are superb foods for healthy skin. They’re rich sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which are vital for maintaining skin health. Omega-3 fatty acids help to keep skin thick, supple, and moisturized. It helps to reduce inflammation and makes your skin less sensitive to the harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. When the skin is deficient in this essential fatty acid, the skin becomes dry and flaky. Fatty fish also provides vitamin E; important antioxidants that help to protect your skin against damage from free radicals and inflammation. The high-quality protein provided by fatty fish helps in maintaining the strength and integrity of your skin. Additionally, fatty fish provides zinc; a mineral of importance for reducing inflammation, production of new skin cells and maintenance of the skin health. If you are deficient in zinc, you could experience skin inflammation and delay in wound healing.

4. Beans as one of the best foods for beautiful skin

Beans provide a rich amount of fibre, proteins, magnesium, iron, and vitamins that offer many health benefits. The nutrients in beans help to neutralise the damaging effect of free radicals and compounds thereby protecting your skin and damaging signs. Amino acids from the proteins are used in maintaining and producing new tissues, such as bone, muscle, hair and the skin. Soybeans contain isoflavones, which have been shown to improve collagen, skin elasticity, and reduce skin dryness, as well as protect the skin from UV damage.

Varieties of beans include lima beans, red beans, kidney beans, black-eyed beans, sugar beans, soybeans, white beans, brown beans, black beans etc.

How much of beans should you eat?

Nutrition experts recommend that beans should be eaten regularly. This means including beans dish in your menu about 2 to 3 times a week.

5. Nuts

Nuts are rich in vitamins and minerals such as copper, zinc, vitamin A, C and E. Your skin will benefit a lot from the anti-oxidant properties of vitamins A, C and E. Therefore nuts help to contribute to a glowing, smoother looking skin. Examples of healthy nuts are peanuts, almonds, walnuts, and cashew nuts. Walnuts are an exceptionally good source of essential fats, zinc, vitamin E, selenium and protein; all of which help your skin to stay healthy.

How much of nuts should you eat?

Because nuts contain a high amount of fats and therefore high calorie, it is advisable to eat them in moderation. About 10 grams of nuts per day is adequate; these correspond to 15 halves of walnuts, 12 almonds, 10 cashew nuts, 3 tablespoons of peanuts and 9 pecans. The calories provided by these portions are less than 200.

6. Dark chocolate

Dark chocolate is a product of cocoa and it is rich in minerals, such as iron, magnesium, and zinc. The cocoa in dark chocolate contains antioxidants called flavonoids, which provide loads of health benefits. The antioxidant works on your skin to make it thicker, more hydrated and well-nourished. It helps the skin to be less rough and scaly and less sensitive to UV. It enables your skin to have a better blood flow thereby enhancing a problem-free complexion.

Additionally, dark chocolate is an excellent skin-detoxifier. It clears off dead skin cells while allowing the new, soft, fresh skin to shine through.

Although dark chocolate contains beneficial antioxidants and minerals, it is usually high in sugar and fat. The fat in chocolate of cocoa is in the form of cocoa butter; a saturated and unhealthy fat.

Therefore, you should limit the consumption of dark chocolate to a modest amount to avoid unwanted calories through fats, and sugars. You don’t want to undermine your efforts in accessing the best foods for beautiful skin.

What amount of dark chocolate should you eat?

While there is no specific expert recommendation for dark chocolate that a person should eat, approximately 20-30g is suggested. Amounts higher than this suggested quantity may result in you consuming too many calories than you need. Dark chocolate with higher percentages of cocoa solids usually has less sugar but more fat. More cocoa also means more flavanols, therefore choose dark chocolate that includes at least 70 per cent of cocoa solids. Alternatively, you can use cocoa powder in beverages. You will derive the same benefits for cocoa powder as you will from dark chocolate. However, ensure that your choice of cocoa powder is from a credible source.

In addition to the food tips discussed above, drink plenty of water every day. Drinking enough water will:

• Improve your skin tone as your body will have enough water to flush out toxins thereby giving you a healthy skin
• Prevent your skin from aging prematurely
• Help your skin to heal faster and easily from wounds
• Help to prevent acne by providing a good balance between the oil and water content on your skin and especially preventing excess oil secretion on your face
• Help your skin to be firm
• Maintain the pH Balance of your skin.

Follow experts’ recommendation for the amount of water you need to drink everyday as well as the strategy to effectively achieve this.

Summary

What you eat can significantly affect your skin health. Make sure you’re getting enough essential nutrients to protect your skin. Choosing some of the best foods for beautiful skin discussed here are great ways to keep your skin healthy, strong, and attractive.

The post Six best foods for beautiful skin appeared first on Beulah Wide Family Nutrition.

Good nutrition and activity are the key strategies for healthy weight loss. This is not referring to crash diets or simply starving yourself or working out at the gym. The strategies have to do with eating healthy and making sure your portions match the number of calories you need daily. It is believed that if you can create a 500-calorie deficiency every day between exercise and nutrition, you can lose up to a pound (0.45kg) a week.
Dr Debbie addresses nutrition issues for daily living and well-being “7 simplest ways to healthy eating”

Your calorie intake

Those calories should not be subtracted off of your recommended daily amount. It should be taken from the number of calories you eat daily right now. For example: If you were an adult male eating 3,500 calories per day you can drop 250 calories from your diet and increase your energy consumption from exercise by 250 calories. If you can do this every day, you will create a 3,500-calorie deficiency over the entire week – and that is the equivalent of one fat pound (0.45kg).

To lose weight you need to find a 500-calorie deficiency every day. Do it through exercise and reducing what you eat.
Minimum calorie intakes as one of the strategies for healthy weight loss

Women should not consume less than 1,200 calories per day or 1,000 less than your maintenance value (how many calories you need to keep your weight steady). A dietitian or nutrition expert can help you to calculate your maintenance value. Men should not consume less than 1,800 calories per day or 1,000 less than your maintenance value.

If you try a crash diet, where you are only consuming 1,000 calories per day and working out, or getting exercise, sure, you will lose weight. But, it isn’t going to stay off for long. When you don’t give your body enough fuel, it starts to consume the muscles in your body, whereas the muscles are an important part of being able to metabolize your foods.

Eating too little is not consistent with the strategies for healthy weight loss. You will lose weight but it may not be sustainable in the long run. You risk burning muscle of your crash diet by not eating anything. Your body will consume your muscle tissue, actually making it more difficult to keep the weight off down the road. Eating much less slows your metabolism. You aren’t eating enough food to keep your metabolism running on sufficient energy.

Tracking your calories

It might take a bit of effort, but each food has a written caloric value on the packaging. If you take the time to notice what is on the package you will be able to monitor what your calorie intake is. Then you will see that you actually take in far more than the calorie you need per day. When you can do this, you will be able to keep track of what you are eating and whether you are meeting your target intake levels or overshooting it.

If you want to be serious about losing weight, then you need to take the matter into your own hands. Don’t just grab a portion of lasagna, burger or a bowl of rice with steak and start chowing down. Calculate how many calories are in a reasonable serving and go from there. Remember there are probably high-fat salad, dinner rolls, and probably another vegetable on your menu list. You are going to have to monitor each of those to come up with a good caloric value from your meal. You wonder if this is not a task on its own. The step by step practical guide to weight loss by Dr Debbie is now out.
Most meals will have you in between 300 and 800 calories. This is a good target area. If you can calculate where you fit in there with each particular meal, you will be able to get a better idea of your plan for losing weight.

The types of food we eat

Aside from the actual caloric intake of a person, the type of food we are eating plays a large role in how we can lose weight. First of all, 100 grams of broccoli has far less fat and calories than 100 grams of doughnuts.

Some foods are high in fat, high in calories, processed, natural and more. Each one of these is going to affect your ability to lose weight. It doesn’t mean that you can’t eat a lot of these things, and you have to give up your favourite foods, you just need to be aware of how much of it you are eating. Details are described in the book “Natural weight loss revealed” which is offered you free. GET IT HERE

Why shed unwanted weight – Health concerns

You have no doubt heard the numerous health-related problems that come from being overweight. Even being 20 lbs (9kg) overweight can start to cause hidden health problems. Instead of that lower back pain being from yesterday’s squash game, it’s because your body isn’t used to carrying an extra 20 lbs (9kg) on the front end. Imagine right now if you were to strap a 20-pound (9kg) weight to your belly and walk around with it all day long.

Extremely high weight can put considerable stress on your joints, especially if you do not have the height advantage to handle that sort of weight. The biggest part is the high risk for non-communicable diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure etc. These are pretty serious players in the health world. They are among the largest killers of human beings.

Why shed unwanted weight – Physical appearance

For many people, physical appearance is linked directly to their self-esteem. If they believe their body is undesirable to others, they can become depressed or stressed and it causes serious emotional problems. Worse yet, in some, it can trigger the impulse to eat, even more, making the problem worse. The emotional side of being obese is only just being charted in the medical world. It is already understood that a person’s self-worth and self-confidence can be shattered if they gain excess weight. But the emotional toll it can take over an extended period might be considerably more damaging.

Conclusion

Effective strategies for healthy weight loss are not far-fetched; however, they are entrenched in discipline and determination. The value you place on the outcomes of excessive weight will determine your motivation level. Consistently practising good nutrition matched with an appropriate activity level will get you there. Dr Debbie has developed a step by step weight loss plan to practically guide you through. Access the E-book here.

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