Whatever our age, we hate wrinkles, acne and blemishes and long for clear and beautiful skin. Your skin is an outside indicator for your internal health so when we have skin based disorders those are very often indicators of toxicity, mineral imbalances, oxidative stress, and inflammatory processes that are taking place within the body.
At menopause it is often related to the declining oestrogen levels, but many natural food sources rich in anti-oxidants and minerals help to balance this internal stress and promote radiant skin.
How to help your skin
Sorry but this is new, or news, but the most important nutritional considerations for healthy skin are to eat a diet loaded with raw vegetables and a smaller quantity of raw fruit. The fruit and vegetables will provide the three most important nutrients for healthy skin: water, trace minerals, and anti-oxidants.
Water is the arguably the most important thing we consume everyday, but sadly not usually enough of it to give us what we need to provide the way for all chemical reactions in our body to take place.
Just as importantly, it helps to cleanse and purify toxic debris and wash away the oils from the skin.
Essential minerals
Three critical minerals for healthy skin include silica, zinc, and sulphur and they a are found in many plant based foods. Foods rich in anti-oxidants are very important for the body to balance the oxidative stress is encounters each day and protect the skin cells from free radical damage.
Here are 5 foods that will help you build beautifully radiant skin.
1 Cucumbers are rich in water, vitamin C, and silica. Silica is a trace mineral that is critical for strong connective tissue and amazing for skin health. Silica deficiency’s lead to reduced skin elasticity which promotes wrinkles & age spots.
2 Radishes are loaded with water and the sulphur-containing amino acids cysteine and methionine. This is known as a beautifying mineral as it helps our body detoxify.
Radishes are known for their ability to help the liver process toxins and produce bile. Additionally, radishes also contain zinc, vitamin C, phosphorus, and the B vitamins that are critical for skin health.
3 Eggs are one of nature’s most incredible skin enhancing superfoods. They are loaded with sulphur-containing amino acids, zinc, fat-soluble vitamin A & E, biotin, selenium, and methyl donating B vitamins.
Zinc helps control the oil content of the skin and reduces the androgenic hormonal effects that produce acne both in our teenage years and at menopause. Zinc is also critical to the formation of collagen which is a protein molecule that forms connective tissue and skin.
Selenium is an anti-oxidant mineral that helps promote normal tissue elasticity and protects the skin from ultra-violet damage.
Biotin is a B complex vitamin that helps promote healthy skin and vitamin A & E are critical anti-oxidants that helps protect the skin from oxidative stress.
4 Turmeric is the best skin purifying herb and is truly amazing for the skin and body. It is loaded with powerful polyphenol anti-oxidant phytochemicals called curcuminoids. Many experts have suggested that curcuminoids have 5-8 times stronger anti-oxidant properties than Vitamin E and other more well-known anti-oxidants.
Turmeric also helps to cleanse, purify and nourish the skin to maintain its elasticity. Additionally, it helps to support the natural flora that protects the skin from dangerous microbes.
5 Spinach is very rich in water, vitamin C, magnesium, folate, and chlorophyll which help booster the skin. Additionally, spinach is loaded with the anti-oxidant carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin which are powerful at scavenging free radicals and protecting the skin from oxidative stress.
Top tips for skin nutrition
1. Drink at least half your body weight in ounces of pure, clean water
2. Eat a big salad with raw spinach and hard/soft boiled eggs
3. Snack on radishes or add them to your salad
4. Slice up some cucumbers and add Apple cider vinegar and herbs
5. Add turmeric to hummus, brown rice, meat dishes and your shakes
6. Supplements can also help, best to Omega 3 fatty acids in combination with gamma linoleic acid (GLA). These fatty acids play an essential role in the formation of new and healthy skin cells. Also try to have some turmeric each day either as a herb, or supplement.
Helpful information:
If your skin is looking and feeling dry and tired then you may be a little low in oestrogen so a combination hormone cream such as 20-1 can be helpful. The oestrogen certainly is good for the skin, but the progesterone content can help as it is an anti-inflammatory and you are best to keep inflammation to a minimum for healthy skin.
https://www.bio-hormone-health.com/2016/08/05/dry-hair-brittle-nails/
https://www.bio-hormone-health.com/2017/11/03/why-spots-acne-occur-at-any-age/