If you want glowing, healthy, radiant skin, it helps to remember where the skin gets all those qualities. Skin products can be applied outside the skin to help deliver nutrients and moisture. But don’t forget the most effective path to the skin of your dreams often begins with what you put into your mouth!
So what are the foods for a healthy skin complexion? We’ll talk about your skin, foods that are good for your skin, and how to help restore that outer glow. Healthy, beautiful skin often begins within.
We’ll also tell you about a few cbdMD Botanicals products for added skin support. Because your skin deserves all the best, this extensive, new botanical beauty care line brings the nourishing benefits of CBD oil to skin care. And we’ve got the goods on what it can do for your complexion.
To Begin: What Does Your Skin Do?
Your skin is an organ, very much like your heart or your lungs. It plays very important protective and sensory functions, contributing to your overall health. For your skin to function at its best, it requires nutrients from your diet.
Your Skin, a Vital Organ
Your skin is composed of three layers. The outermost layer is the epidermis; the middle layer, the dermis, contains the sebaceous glands and hair follicles. And the innermost layer, with the fatty tissues, is the hypodermis. Your skin layers work together to provide a protective layer for your body.
It also shields you against the elements and alerts you to touch or temperature sensations. And, of course, your skin tone and texture are an important part of your appearance. Healthy skin looks more supple, “glowing,” and refreshed.
Your skin isn’t a solid blanket of cells but a permeable one, allowing for nutrients to pass through the skin and into the cells. This means you can use products like cbdMD Botanicals or other skincare products to deliver nutrients via the natural physiology of your skin.
But just as helpful nutrients can permeate the skin, so can other unwanted chemicals or pollutants from the environment. Support your skin as your outer "filter system" by providing the vitamins, minerals, moisture, and nutrients your skin needs for optimal function.
How Diet Affects Your Skin
In order for your skin cells to function as they were designed, they need certain nutrients to support optimum health and performance. There are some things your skin needs at a deeper level than the application of products can provide. For example, you can apply the most expensive moisturizer in the world, and it cannot rectify a lack of hydration in your body. Some things are necessary for you to eat or drink to supply nutrients for your skin, the largest organ in your body.
For ultimate skin care:
In addition to your healthy diet choices, you can try the cbdMD Botanicals skincare line, which offers CBD support for your face and body from the bath to your skincare routine. Support a healthy and radiant complexion with the best of Mother Nature and the wonders of CBD oil, crafted with essential oils and nutrients and no harsh chemicals or perfumes.
The Best Food for Skin Glow
Have you ever felt run-down or tired, and people start asking you if you are OK? It’s not always your body language that gives it away – it’s your face! Your skin loses that youthful glow very quickly when it isn’t getting what it needs from your diet. It can show signs of stress from daily environmental stressors from your habits, sleep patterns, and many other factors. Starting with the core needs of your skin, delivering crucial vitamins and nutrients plays a vital role in restoring that healthy appearance to your complexion.
What Makes Your Skin Glow?
You’ve heard people talk about “glowing” skin, but what does that really mean? When nice and smooth, skin reflects more light, giving it a healthy glow and that radiance that everyone wants. What can impede this is sluggish cell turnover, which causes dead skin cells to pile up on the surface of the skin – this is why exfoliation plays a role in restoring your healthy glow. When skin is well-hydrated, its function is improved, and it looks more supple, improving its overall appearance.
You can exercise to improve circulation, thereby improving the delivery of vital nutrients to your cells, and make sure to get plenty of restorative sleep. Your dietary choices also contribute to the appearance of your skin’s texture in various ways.
Vital Vitamins and Nutrients for Glowing Skin
When it comes to glowing, naturally luminous skin, Omega-3s help minimize signs of aging. And vitamins like vitamin C enhance the production of collagen, and vitamin A helps interrupt collagen damage. Vitamin K aids in the body’s natural healing processes, and vitamin D helps your cells stay healthy; they are all key players.
The best way to keep your skin nourished with these nutrients is to incorporate them into a regular, healthy diet.
Best Food Options to Nourish Your Skin’s Appearance
The next time you go to the grocery store, add these skin-boosting choices to your shopping cart:
Sources of Omega-3s: Fish like mackerel, salmon, and herring. Oysters. Flax seeds and chia seeds.
Vitamin A: Orange and yellow veggies like yellow peppers, squash, and carrots. Green vegetables like broccoli. Dairy products, liver, fish, cantaloupe, and fortified cereals.
Vitamin C: Citrus fruits like oranges and lemons. Other fruits like strawberries and papaya. Broccoli, peppers, cauliflower, sprouts, brussels sprouts, potatoes, capsicum, and citrus juices.
Vitamin B3 (niacin): Liver, chicken breast, tuna, salmon, anchovies.
Vitamin K: Green leafy vegetables (kale, spinach, turnip greens, collards, swiss chard, mustard greens, parsley, romaine, and green leaf lettuce). Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. Fish, liver, meat, eggs, and some cereals.
Vitamin E: Wheat germ oil, sunflower, safflower, and soybean oils. Sunflower seeds, almonds, peanuts, beet greens, collard greens, spinach, pumpkin, red bell peppers, asparagus, mango, avocado.
Vitamin D: Salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel, liver, egg yolks, spinach, kale, okra, collard greens, soybeans.
Vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid): Whole grains, mushrooms, avocado, broccoli, peanuts, legumes, sweet potatoes, meats like liver and chicken, yeast, egg yolk, fish, shellfish, and dairy sources like milk and yogurt.
For Added Support:
Try a combination of cbdMD Facial Exfoliant (with vitamin E) and cbdMD Luv Me Tender Soothing Lotion (with vitamins E, D, and B5) for the perfect powerhouse of exfoliation plus moisturization for your skin.
The Best Foods for Clear Skin
When skin isn’t functioning properly, it can make you look older or cause skin disturbances. Sebum production, hair growth, cell turnover, and other restorative functions all play a role in clear skin.
A healthy diet goes a long way to combat these issues and restore your skin’s natural balance.
How Diet Affects Sebum Production
The pores in your skin create a natural oil called sebum. This sebum is your skin’s natural way to keep itself protected and moisturized, but when skin’s cell turnover is slowed due to external factors or aging, sebum can clog pores. Some beauty products and cleansers can also either add oils to the skin that clog pores (comedogenic properties) or may throw off your skin’s pH levels and disrupt your skin’s equilibrium.
In addition to using a regular exfoliant and choosing your skincare products carefully for your skin type, you can also eat a diet that supports healthy oil production without prompting excessive amounts of sebum that disrupt the healthy balance of your skin.
Foods to Avoid for a Clearer Complexion
- Foods that trigger insulin production such as pasta, white bread, and white rice
- Sugar
- High-glycemic carbohydrates
- Foods high in trans fats or saturated fats
- Whey and casein (found in dairy milk)
Clear Skin Power Foods
Clearer skin also begins with a healthy diet. Some foods help to support clearer skin, such as probiotics and Omega-3 fatty acids. Here are some of the foods to add to your clear-skin shopping list:
Low Glycemic Index foods such as protein-rich foods like chicken, fish, and eggs, quinoa, sweet potatoes, oatmeal and brown rice.
Non-dairy milk options can help you to avoid whey and casein.
Berries such as goji berry, blueberries, blackberries, and cranberries.
Leafy greens like kale and spinach.
Other: turmeric, green tea, and “good” oils such as avocado oil and cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil.
For Added Support:
Try cbdMD Botanicals Clear Skin Line for clog-free cleansing, toning, and moisture to help maintain the natural balance of your skin.
Foods for Healthy Skin Protection
The beauty industry has lots of words to describe glowing skin: radiant, supple, energized, youthful, etc. Most of these words describe the same quality of your skin – your skin’s elasticity. This is your skin’s natural ability to "bounce back". When your skin loses elasticity, it often has a lot to do with environmental factors.
Environmental Impacts on Your Skin
Your skin faces a myriad of environmental stressors on a daily basis. The sun, wind and temperature create weather impacts on your skin. Smoking and other air pollution can damage your skin. Even as you sleep, friction against your pillow can cause skin damage on a cellular level. Free radicals in the environment create damage to your skin, speeding up the aging process. Beauty care products and make-up all bring various potential chemicals, dyes, or perfumes. All of this together can wreak havoc on your skin every day.
How Can You Protect Your Skin with Your Diet?
Your diet can help to deliver powerful antioxidants into your body which can help to protect your skin. Since your skin plays an important role as a point of contact barrier between all of your important internal organs and all of these external threats, your skin takes the worst of it.
Antioxidants help to neutralize threats to your skin and prevent oxidative damage to skin cells and tissues.
To help your skin do the best job it can to protect you, you can help to protect your skin by:
- Avoiding sun exposure and using sunscreen
- Avoiding smoking and other pollutants
- Eating a diet rich in antioxidants
Best Foods that Have Natural Antioxidants
Antioxidants include vitamins such as A, C, and E, minerals such as selenium, and carotenoids like beta-carotene, and lutein. Fruits, vegetables, and berries provide these, other antioxidants, and other skin-protecting components. The next time you fill your shopping cart, pick up some of these:
Fresh fruits and vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, potatoes, spinach, artichokes, cabbage, asparagus, lettuce, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, collard greens, kale, oranges, pears, guava, mango, red grapes, papaya, tomatoes, red currants, figs, cantaloupe, and watermelon.
Berries such as blackberries (which contain the highest amount of antioxidants per serving of all the berries), blueberries, raspberries, cranberries.
Dried fruits are convenient take-along snacks and contain more antioxidants per ounce than hydrated fruits. Try some dried apples, peaches, pears, plums, figs, dates, and raisins.
Spices and herbs like basil, cinnamon, oregano, turmeric, cumin, parsley, curry powder, mustard seed, ginger, pepper, chili powder, paprika, garlic, coriander, onion, cardamom, sage, thyme, marjoram, tarragon, savory, dill, and peppermint.
Cereals such as Corn Flakes, oatmeal, and granola.
Nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, almonds, cashews, and macadamia nuts.
Beverages such as green tea, many juices, and some alcoholic beverages such as red wine or beer.
For Added Support
Try cbdMD Dynamic Serum with hemp extract, a botanical infusion of elderflower, chamomile, burdock root, and marigold herbal tea, hyaluronic acid, and vitamin C.
Healthy Diet Choices and Healthy Skin
Your healthy and radiant skin comes from what you put in your body and what your skin is exposed to on a daily basis. Your options for vibrant skin are many, including eating a diet rich with foods that are good for your skin. Protect your skin from the environmental factors that can speed up the aging process and cause damage. Also, choose the supportive care of cbdMD Botanicals products. This is the beauty trifecta to battle that dull, sagging appearance and start looking and feeling refreshed.
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