Rubaina Adhikari elaborates on some eating habits that can impart a healthy glow to your face
Deep down, every one of us yearns for healthy and glowing skin. To achieve this goal, we undertake various skin treatments and practise numerous home remedies, as well as other intensive skincare routines.
But what often goes unnoticed is that our internal health has a significant impact on some aspects of our body which are externally visible, especially our skin. This implies that what we eat eventually shows on our faces. Consuming junk, oily or spicy foods, irregular eating patterns, and not staying hydrated damage our skin. This is the reason why a healthy diet is extremely important if blemish-free, glowing and soft skin is what you wish to achieve.
Have a glimpse at some easy and effective tips that you can incorporate in your daily lives to reach one step closer to the best, possible skin you could attain:
The magic potion
Staying hydrated is one of the most basic rules for having radiant skin. Drinking at least three litres of water daily is the key to healthy skin. Acting as a natural detoxifier, it flushes out the toxins and cleanses the skin naturally. Additionally, including water content rich foods such as citrus fruits, cucumbers, watermelon, coconut water and lemonade, among others, can also help fulfill the body’s water requirements.
Eat those seasonal fruits and veggies
Consuming fruits and veggies, especially the seasonal ones, help reap various benefits for the skin. Rich in antioxidants, along with essential vitamins and vital minerals, they prevent ageing while imparting a healthy glow to the skin.
Consuming a balanced diet
This is one of the most common, yet essential, tips for maintaining your skin health. Intake of a balanced diet packed with all the essential nutrients will help keep your skin gleaming.
When your body obtains fiber, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other immunity-boosting foods in sufficient quantities, your vital statistics and overall health will be elevated. Be it fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, etc. include everything in the right quantities to your food and see how the diet works its magic on your skin!
Choose wisely
If you want to have a radiant face and skin, then you will have to bid goodbye to the salty, sugary and spicy foods! They do not offer nutritional benefits and eventually damage our skin’s health. Instead, try including healthy fats in your diet that would add to the glow and enhance your skin quality as well as complexion. Incorporate nuts, seeds, olive oil, avocado, eggs in your food that will prevent early ageing and wrinkling by rejuvenating your skin.
Probiotics and prebiotics
Did you know that consuming probiotics and prebiotic-rich foods not only maintains gut health but also helps in having flawless skin? Probably not, right?
While consuming such foods, like yoghurt, our gut stays healthy and this eventually paves the way for a glowing complexion and radiant skin. You can consume it as it is or transform it into fruit parfaits and smoothies to slowly, but surely, witness the change in your skin.
Green and herbal teas
As much as reducing caffeine intake is important, substituting these with green tea and herbal tea is also essential. They protect our skin from harmful radicals, while preventing dark spots and acne as well as premature ageing and wrinkling.
Make a schedule and stick to it
Amid our fast-paced lives, our eating patterns are usually erratic. If this sounds familiar, it's high time this needs to stop. Eating too little or in excess, at irregular intervals or simply skipping meals, consuming unhealthy food items -- all of these are bad eating habits. They don’t just affect our health but also rob our skin of its glow!
It would be ideal to formulate an eating schedule wherein you take five-six small meals that are balanced with the right food combinations. And don’t forget, there should be adequate water breaks in between.
Summing up
We need to understand that our diet is a critical element of our skincare regime. If you don’t, all the efforts you put in to ensure your skin remains healthy and supple will go down the drain.
(The author is a dietician and a wellness coach.)