Beauty isn’t just about what you put on your skin, but also about what you put into you body. There’s no point spending hundreds on a miracle cream, only to run on a diet of food that contains none of the good stuff.
By all means feel free to “treat yo’self” every once in a while, but there’s a host of skin-boosting foods that will help you reach your goal of a flawless complexion sooner rather than later. Whether your problem is fine lines, spots or dark circles, there’s a foodie solution for you.
Read on for tips on how to eat better for your skin.
Dark circles beneath the eyes
Tackling dark circles starts with every beauty expert's top tip - drink plenty of water, a minimum of one and a half litres per day. And if your eye baggage is really causing you problems, cook up plenty of potassium and magnesium-rich foods in the form of leafy greens such as cabbage and kale - together with squashes, and sweet potato (skin on). And instead of sweet treats, pick citrus fruits and papayas for afters.
Eat celery to calm puffiness
Puffy skin is usually due to fluid retention, especially if you’ve been drinking alcohol. So chow down on natural diuretic foods like fennel, celery and cucumber to rid the body of extra fluid or salt. Just add them into a salad with your favourite protein source.
Fats for frown lines
Colder temperatures are notoriously tough on our complexions, with indoor heating an additional stressor, leaving skin dryer and lines more noticeable. Plump them up by adding skin-friendly fats from plant oils such as olive, rapeseed and flax to juices or smoothies. Or stash a bottle of good-quality olive oil in your desk draw for drizzling over a lunchtime some salad.
Oily fish for flaking skin
Omega-3 is the queen of fatty acids but it can be difficult to get enough into your diet, especially if you’re not a fish eater. Combined with a great moisturiser, these fatty acids will disappear your flaky patches leaving you with smooth, supple skin ready to apply your foundation.
Beauty experts recommend boosting your Omega-3 intake with oily fish such as herring, mackerel, pilchard, sardine, salmon and tuna. And if you’re vegan, flaxseed and rapeseed oils contain a similar essential fatty acid profile, so just add to salads and juices.
Smoothies for a spotty T-zone
Sugar certainly doesn’t help when it comes to breakouts, but as well as cutting back on the sweet stuff, spot sufferers should aim to eat more alkaline-forming foods such as asparagus, celery and endive together with hedgerow berries, fresh grapefruit, lemons and limes which can help keep the area across the forehead, down the nose and over the chin calm and clear. The easiest way to get the healthy stuff into your diet is to make a tasty green juice using ingredients like peeled pink grapefruit, spinach, asparagus and celery stalks.
