Ways Your Diet Affects Your Skin

Ways Your Diet Affects Your Skin

As they say, you are what you eat, and that’s definitely true in terms of how your diet affects your skin. 

While, in general terms, drinking plenty of water and eating a well-rounded diet of whole foods can help you exude health from the inside out, there are some specifics as to why and how our diet affects our skin.

Interested? Keep reading to learn some of the ways your diet can affect your skin (for better or worse) and some bonus skin cleansing hacks for your best skin ever.

Antioxidants

First, let’s start with antioxidant-rich foods. Antioxidants seem to provide a protective barrier for the skin. Some foods that are rich in antioxidants that you can add to your diet include:

  • Raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries
  • Carrots, apricots, and other orange or yellow foods
  • Turmeric

Collagen

Collagen is an amino acid that makes up the building blocks of our hair, skin, and nails. So, adding collagen to your diet can offer amazing improvement in the health of your skin.

The best way to get more collagen into your diet is by taking a supplement like our LUSH Collagen Complex. Plus, you’ll get added benefits like reducing fine lines and wrinkles -- a win-win!

Ways Your Diet Affects Your Skin

B Vitamins

You may have heard of biotin if you’re looking for healthier hair, skin, and nails. Biotin (a B vitamin) helps carry enzymes and nutrients throughout your body, and biotin specifically plays a crucial role in metabolizing fat essential for healthy skin.

Biotin can be found in supplement form to add to your diet, or you can simply eat foods that are naturally high in B vitamins, including dark green leafy vegetables like spinach or kale.

Healthy Fats

Since the metabolization of fats with the help of B vitamins are crucial for healthy skin, then you also need the healthy fats themselves. Healthy fats to add to your diet that can help improve your skin include: 

  • Avocados
  • Fatty fish like salmon
  • Nuts and seeds
Ways Your Diet Affects Your Skin

Foods to Avoid for Healthy Skin

While it’s important to include certain foods in your diet for healthy skin, it’s also essential to leave a few things out, especially alcohol and refined sugar.

While there are elimination diets like Whole30 or Paleo that claim that leaving out things like dairy or grains can also help improve your skin, the main things everyone can agree are wreaking havoc on your skin are alcohol and sugar. 

At the end of the day, your diet affects your skin, but food tells only about 25% of the story. Sleep patterns, stress levels, environmental factors, and good skincare also plays a role. 

So, let’s finish things off with some of our favorite skin cleansing hacks.

Skin Cleansing Hacks We Love

Ways Your Diet Affects Your Skin

Keep It Simple

These days, epic skincare routines using unnecessary products are the norm. In reality, all you need is a gentle cleanser and a moisturizer (one with sunscreen for the daytime). Sure, you can add some steps in between, but your face doesn’t need much. 

If you’re concerned, speak to your dermatologist but otherwise, keep it simple!

Use Your Hands

Skin cleaning brushes and other tools might feel like they’re getting deep into your pores, but they’re quite unnecessary and, in many cases, filled with bacteria. Your hands are likely to be the best “tool” for washing your face.

Be Gentle

Another hack for better skin cleansing is to be gentle. Even if you use your hands instead of an abrasive brush, you might still be scrubbing too hard. The skin on your face is delicate, and not being gentle enough can cause damage. 

Plus, you don’t want to use scrubs or microdermabrasion very often, as this unnecessary irritation can cause acne and other issues if not done correctly.

Use a Separate Face Towel

If you use the same towel to dry your face and dry your body, your towel might be the culprit for your skin woes. While all your towels should be washed regularly, make sure to use a separate face towel to dry your face. 

And, again, be gentle by patting your face dry, not rubbing it.

Switch Your Pillowcase

Dirty pillowcases may also be causing issues for your skin. Think about it -- your face touches your pillow continuously for 6 to 8 hours (or more) each night. So, you’ll want to make sure it’s cleaned often. 

Even better, try sleeping on a silk pillowcase for its anti-bacterial qualities. 

Wash Your Face Immediately After Exercise

And our last skincare hack, of course, has to do with exercise. Leaving sweat and dirt on your face after a kickboxing workout (or any workout for that matter) is a big no-no. So, promise us you’ll wash your face after every session!



 

Ways Your Diet Affects Your Skin

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