Achieve Naturally Glowing Skin
How to Maintain Beautiful Skin with Nutrition and Self-Care
Your skin is the largest organ on your body. Learn how to take better care of it for improved health and increased youthfulness.
Although our skin is the largest, and most significant organ, on our body, many of us don't pay any attention to it until it's too late. Poor nutrition, sun tanning, smoking, dehydration and lack of sleep all take their toll on the skin. While genetics play a key role in the maintenance of youthful skin, extrinsic factors come into play too. Changing your daily habits will improve the appearance and health of your skin for life.
Skin and Nutrition
If you live on junk food, your skin will show it. By the time you're in your thirties, your skin may be dull, still pimply, yet lined from dehydration and vitamin depletion. Your skin, like the rest of your body, thrives on healthy food. The main vitamins your skin requires are A, C and E. If you eat a wide range of vegetables, especially green and leafy ones, as well as citrus fruits, you will obtain these vitamins easily. Some can also be found in milk products, nuts and liver.
Additionally, your skin requires biotin, from such foods as rice, bananas and eggs, selenium from grains, garlic and seafood and zinc, primarily found in lean meats and chicken. These nutrients repair tissue, plump up skin cells and protect the skin from sun damage with their anti-oxident properties. Try to eat them organically when you can. Always drink eight glasses plus of water a day. Only drink pop, alcohol and caffeine in moderation. Your skin will thank you for it!
Skin and Self CareAlong with nutrition, other lifestyle habits can help you keep healthy, vibrant skin for life. Much skin damage is caused early on, in adolescence or one's twenties, by damaging behaviors. The signs of this skin neglect only show up later, in one's thirties or forties. Even then, if you change your habits, you can improve your skin's condition without resorting to surgery.
Staying out of the sun is paramount. Especially now with the thinning ozone layer, skin damage happens earlier at a deeper level. Always wear a moisturizing sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher. Don a hat and long sleeved shirt. Stay out of the sun between 11 am and 4 pm. Don't use tanning beds. You will prevent skin cancer along with the age spots and wrinkles associated with tanning.
Stop smoking if you've started. Smoking depletes the skin and deprives it of vitamins. By one's thirties, smokers will often present with mouth lines and eye creases. Even second hand smoke can damage the surface of one's skin and diminish its healthy glow.
Exercise regularly. When you increase the blood flow to your skin with aerobics, cycling, swimming or any other impact activity, the appearance of your skin improves. Your cells plump up, your production of natural skin oils rises, and you develop that healthy flush of youth.
Get enough sleep. Without proper rest, bags appear under the eyes, skin takes on a grey or yellowish cast and lines deepen. Try for eight to nine hours a night. Use a humidifier if you live in a dry climate. Not only will it create white noise, which may help you sleep more deeply, but it will rehydrate your skin while you sleep.
If you take good care of your body's largest organ, you can enjoy gorgeous, glowing skin at any age!
