You’ve probably heard time and again that watching what you eat can help improve your skin. However, you might not realize how much power your diet really has over your complexion. Eating the right foods–and avoiding others–in your everyday diet can even out your skin tone and texture, fade hyperpigmentation, brighten dull skin, clear your pores, and keep breakouts at bay.
Changing your diet to fix your skin doesn’t mean clearing out your entire fridge and starting from scratch. The dietary changes you make don’t have to be extreme to be effective. In fact, making just a few small shifts in your diet to benefit your skin can be an amazingly effective step toward achieving the smooth, even, clear complexion of your dreams.
1. Eat Like Your Ancestors
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Thousands of years ago, your ancestors didn’t have access to supermarkets chock full of processed snacks and ready-made meals from the frozen section. Instead, they had to eat what they could get from the land–i.e. all-natural, fresh meat and vegetables. Eating like your ancestors for the good of your skin involves minimizing your intake of sugar, salt, fat, and processed foods and adding more lean meats and cruciferous veggies to your diet.
Eating too much processed food, gluten, dairy, sugar, salt, and fat could be your skin’s downfall. Avoid processed foods altogether, and replace some of the bread and cheese in your diet with lean meats, cruciferous vegetables, and healthy fats. Some examples of these skin-healthy foods include organic chicken and fish, eggs, kale, broccoli, avocados, and walnuts.
2. Take the Right Supplements
Adding certain nutritional supplements to your daily diet can do wonders for the quality of your skin.
If you have trouble keeping your skin hydrated, try hyaluronic acid supplements. Hyaluronic acid helps your skin maintain high amounts of moisture to keep it hydrated, supple, and smooth. Vitamin B6/B12 supplements help clear up and ward off hormonal breakouts. If your skin is dull or breaking out, take Omega 3 supplements. Omega 3 increases your skin’s resilience and helps it repair itself to heal breakouts and brighten your natural glow.
3. Eat More Chocolate and Drink More Wine
These dietary changes shouldn’t be too difficult for most women to implement. In fact, the vast majority of women would jump at the opportunity for an excuse to up their intake of chocolate and wine. Chocolate and wine are packed with antioxidants that can keep your skin hydrated, smooth its texture, and help it retain its youthful glow. The next time you’re savoring a dark chocolate bar or a glass of red wine after dinner, don’t feel guilty. After all, your skin will thank you for your indulgence.
Not just any kind of chocolate and wine is antioxidant-powered, though. Eating a Milky Way bar won’t help clear your skin–in fact, all the sugar and fat in one of these candy bars will likely lead to more breakouts. Only dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa will have a positive effect on your skin. White wine won’t help you, either. Only red wine includes resveratrol, which is the antioxidant thought to be responsible for the anti-aging properties of the alcoholic beverage.
