The Beauty Diet: 7 Foods to Eat for Healthy Skin and Hair
The three most important factors for maintaining good health are diet, exercise, and sleep. How you treat your body has a major effect on how you look and feel.
It’s no secret that an unhealthy diet can damage every organ in your body, leading to all sorts of major health problems, from diabetes to heart disease. But keep in mind that the largest organ of your body is actually your skin.
With this knowledge, it makes sense that the key to healthy skin and hair isn’t expensive products or cosmetic treatments, it’s a healthy diet.
While an overall healthy diet is important, certain foods are better for skin and hair than others. To learn some of the best food options for glowing skin and silky hair, just keep reading!
1. Salmon and Other Fatty Fish
Thanks to fad diets and a never-ending stream of bad nutrition advice from various sources across the internet, we’ve been led to believe that fat is bad for us. However, this is far from the truth.
Yes, there are certain types of fats that are bad for us, such as those that come from processed snack foods. But healthy fats that come from fish and other nutritious sources are essential to good health.
And in fact, the omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon and other fatty fish are some of the best ingredients for healthy skin and hair. Not a fan of salmon? No worries, mackerel, herring, sardines, and anchovies are also great options for omega-3 fatty acids.
These acids keep your skin cells thick and moisturized, which is why an omega-3 fatty acid deficiency can lead to chronic dry skin. Omega-3s also fight inflammation, reducing the appearance of acne and other skin conditions.
Fatty fish also provide high-quality protein, vitamin E, and zinc, all of which are not only necessary for overall health but vital for protecting your skin.
2. Sweet Potatoes
Though white potatoes are more nutritious than you might think, sweet potatoes are the ultimate root vegetable. Sweet potatoes are packed with a wide variety of nutrients, the most notable of which for skin and hair is beta carotene.
Beta carotene is a nutrient only found in plants and functions as a sort of natural sunblock when consumed. When you eat a beta carotene-rich food such as sweet potatoes, the nutrient is absorbed by your skin.
Beta carotene then protects your skin from the sun, preventing sunburn and other sun damage. In addition, this nutrient adds a warm color to your skin, giving you a healthier appearance.
It’s also able to be processed as vitamin A by your body, and sweet potatoes contain quite a bit of it. This means that half a cup of sweet potato can provide your body with more than six times your daily value of vitamin A.
3. Broccoli
Vegetables are some of the healthiest foods you can eat, and one of the healthiest options among them is broccoli. This is because broccoli is absolutely full of nutrients that provide a long list of benefits to the body, including cancer and disease prevention.
The specific nutrient responsible for that benefit is sulforaphane. It acts similarly to beta carotene, protecting your skin against sun damage. But it also neutralizes cancer-causing free radicals and triggers protective systems in your body.
On top of sulforaphane, broccoli is also a great source of lutein zinc, vitamin A, and vitamin C. As mentioned above, zinc and vitamin A are essential for hair and skin health. Like beta carotene, lutein is a carotenoid, meaning it protects your skin from damage that can cause a dry, wrinkled appearance.
4. Avocadoes
Like fatty fish, avocadoes are one of the best foods to eat for better skin, as they’re an excellent source of healthy fats. Your skin requires these fats to stay flexible, thick, and supple.
Avocadoes also contain high amounts of vitamin E and vitamin C, which coincidentally become more effective when combined. These vitamins work together to protect your skin from oxidative damage, shield you from the sun’s harmful rays, and create collagen.
Though most of us could use a little more time in the sun, the sun and the outside environment are two major causes of signs of aging.
There’s a reason that hair and skin vitamins such as those produced by Sugar Bear Hair contain collagen boosters. Collagen is the primary structural protein that works to keep skin healthy and strong.
5. Dark Chocolate
If you have a sweet tooth, there’s nothing better to satisfy it with than dark chocolate. All chocolate is delicious, but only dark chocolate offers skin health-boosting benefits. This is because dark chocolate has a high cocoa content, which has a profound positive effect on the look and feel of your skin.
Cocoa is high in antioxidants, making it an effective food for healthy hair and skin, as it causes your skin to be both thicker and more hydrated. With the antioxidants from cocoa, you’ll also be less sensitive to sunburn and your circulation will improve. This means more nutrients are brought to your skin and hair, leaving it healthier with better color.
Now, in order to get these nutrients, you can’t eat just any dark chocolate. It needs to be quality chocolate with at least 70% cocoa content. This will maximize the benefits you receive while minimizing your consumption of added sugars.
6. Green Tea
Next to water, green tea is the best choice of drink you can make. Green tea is something of a miracle drink, as it provides a wealth of health benefits, from improving blood flow to lowering cholesterol to preventing cancer and heart disease. And that short list doesn’t even scratch the surface of the full benefits!
Among green tea’s many health benefits is protecting your skin from damage and aging. Green tea contains compounds known as catechins, which improve the health of your skin and hair in a multitude of ways.
Catechins are very powerful antioxidants that fight against sun damage, reduce inflammation, and improve thickness, elasticity, and hydration. These compounds are so effective at protecting against sun damage, in fact, that they can reduce sunburn by 25%.
The only catch is that you need to drink your green tea plain. Adding milk or sugar to it can reduce the effects of the nutrients. Not to mention, too much sugar can make your drink plain unhealthy. If you want to add a little something to your green tea, mix in a dash of honey or lemon juice.
7. Walnuts
Nuts and seeds are a fantastic choice of an afternoon snack on their own, or to mix in with yogurt or homemade granola. Walnuts, in particular, are a good source of those ultra-important essential fatty acids, putting them on the list of quality foods for better skin and hair.
Remember, a nutrient labeled “essential” means that your body cannot produce it on its own. You have to consume these nutrients through diet in order to provide your body with the ingredients it needs for optimal health.
That said, walnuts are exceptionally high in both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-3s reduce inflammation and improve the appearance of the skin, but omega-6 fatty acids can actually promote inflammation.
Because of this, it’s important not to over-indulge in omega-6 fatty acids, which are far more prevalent in the typical western diet than omega-3s. Don’t worry too much about enjoying walnuts though, as they contain a good ratio of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
In addition to fatty acids, walnuts have zinc, vitamin E, selenium, and protein. All of these nutrients are essential for healthy skin and hair, but zinc is special, as it allows your skin to effectively act as a barrier between the inside of your body and the outside world.
Improve Your Diet for Healthy Skin and Hair
If your current diet habits aren’t the best, making positive changes can be difficult. But the benefits you’ll get from improving your diet will be worth the effort.
A healthy diet doesn’t just mean healthy skin and hair. It also means more energy, happier days, and longer life – and that’s only a few of the many reasons to fill your diet with as much whole, nutrient-dense food as possible.
Start making changes for the better today, and you’ll soon find that you look and feel better than ever before.
For more tips for improving all aspects of your health and fitness, take a look at our blog!