Great Skin Starts With Great Nutrition

What is it and why is it important?
Good looks start with a great blemish free skin, this we all agree is a universal truth. A glowy, smooth skin is one of the first things we notice about a person. People want to care for their skin to the extent that we’ve made skin care a multi million dollar industry. There are a number of different products and skin care activities that we can do from lotions and creams to hiring trained skin care experts to exfoliate, moisturize, steam and apply fruit acid peels to our skin.

But before all that, we should acknowledge that great skin is a true reflection of a healthy body. If the body is not healthy the skin tells the tale. So therefore; a great skin can only be built inside out.

The skin protects us from various diseases and bacteria; it helps us lose metabolic waste throughout the day. It acts as our first line of defense. So there it pays to take good care of it.

Risk Factors:
If we are having problems with our skin, the usual internal and external culprits are:

- Over exposure to the sun, smog and environmental pollutants
- Whatever we eat feeds the skin, good or bad
- Soda, caffeine, alcohol and red meat all dry it out
- Junk foods, saturated fats and hydrogenated oils produce harmful free radicals that reduce the elasticity of the skin
- Smoking is the biggest cause of skin aging. Avoid smoky places, request your friends no to smoke around you

Dietary Considerations
The Dos and Don’ts of eating for great skin:

• Water is the most important factor. You should ideally drink 6-8 glasses of water. It also depends on the nature of our diet and weather conditions. Since most Americans’ consume low water containing food in as part of their diet, so it’s important that we hydrate our selves in the appropriate amount. A great way to do that is to consume alkaline ionized water, which is thought to be 6 times more hydrating than normal bottled, distilled or tap water. A water ionizer can easily be bought and installed in your kitchen.

• Fruits and vegetables is the way forward. They contain nutrients that are extremely good for our skin. Having fruits and vegetables for breakfast is a great idea because that is the time when our body is recycling. Most fruits will help clear acid waste leaving the body and especially the skin healthy.

• Having our bodies absorb the right kinds of oil is also very important. We can do it internally and externally. Avocados are a good source of olive oil which is great for the skin. For those who have a dandruff problem, olive oil can be applied externally to moisturize the scalp and eradicate dryness. Most good shampoo brands address this need.

• Saturated fats and hydrogenated oils are bad for the skin. These are a source of harmful free radicals in the body that destroy cells and eat into arteries and veins. Chips, cookies and other pre packaged foods contain these hydrogenated oils that interfere with prostaglandins that keep the skin healthy. Other fried food, like French fries contain oils that have been chemically changed through high heat. They generate free radical damage to the skin and else where.


Suggestions & Supplementation
Supplementation of nutrients is very important because some deficiencies can be a cause for a lot of skin problems.

Vitamin C
It is one of the most protective nutrients for the skin, internally or applied topically in sun lotions. It slows skin aging and wrinkling process by inhibiting radiation damage to the skin.

Anti oxidants
These neutralize free radicals that cause damage to the skin and cells in general

Zinc
Important to the production of new and healthy skin cells

Water (Alkaline Ionized Water):
6-8 glasses of alkaline water a day will flush out harmful acids toxins from the body. Alkaline water hydrates the body quickly and neutralizes the over acidic conditions that cause damage to skin. Alkaline water is also a very powerful natural anti oxidant. It can be obtained easily through a water ionizer.