SKin Nutrition.
Sabra Manttan, Nutritionist (BHN)
You can’t out cleanse a bad diet, good skin starts from the inside. Whilst I wish it was as easy as a one size fits all approach, much like your skin care regime, your nutrition should be personalised to you. Luckily there are some basics that are consistent across the board for not only starting to improve your skin, but overall health and wellbeing.
Hydration: At minimum you should be drinking around 2.5L a day, and as a general rule of thumb an additional 500-1L for every hour of exercise you do dependent on intensity. Water is pivotal to every single bodily process, including detoxification which helps eliminate toxins instead of them trying to force their way out through your skin - cute.
Macrobalanced meals: what’s good for your overall health is food for your skin. Make sure that your meals consist of all the macronutrients – carbs, protein and fat with a big handful of veggies, the more colour the better.
Zinc is a key mineral for skin health acting as an anti-inflammatory helping reduce the presentation of inflammatory skin conditions and heal lesions. You can find zinc in foods such as shellfish, red meat, eggs, dairy products as well as legumes, nuts and seeds.
Essential Fatty Acids are another great anti-inflammatory whilst also playing a key role in the structural function of skin with the added bonus of helping reduce the signs of ageing. Salmon, tuna, avocado, olive oil, nuts and seeds are all great sources.
Limit toxins: sorry team but alcohol, processed foods, and caffeine are not great for our skin. Try to stick to 1 cup of coffee a day and keep alcohol to single digits in a week. Processed foods, the closure to none the better.
Sleep: 7-8 hours a night of sleep is pivotal. It gives your body time to rest and digest, absorbing all the great vitamins and minerals from the food you’ve eaten, allowing them the time to get to work healing your skin from the insides out.
Another big step in clearing up you skin, wether it be breakouts or psoriasis, is identifying and eliminating foods that exacerbate the condition. So this week pay a little bit more attention to what you’re eating and how it makes your skin look and feel in the days after. Before removing any food groups I highly recommend you seek guidance from a health professional to ensure that you don’t also eliminate essential vitamins and minerals in the process. Dairy may not agree with your skin but you still need to make sure you’re getting enough calcium!