Best Foods for Great Skin

Great skin begins with eating good foods. So, if you've been trying to improve the texture, quality and overall look of your skin with expensive creams to no result, you may just want to take a closer look at what you've been eating. Does your diet contain a lot of fatty foods and sugars? If so, your diet may very well be the cause of your skin problems.

Research has shown time and again that foods high in cholesterol and fats wreak havoc on the skin. The build up of fats and oils in the skin glands make the skin break out in bumps and acnes. Similarly, research has shown that foods high in sugars can lead to acnes and blemishes on the skin. So avoid eating these foods in high consumption for the best skin care results.

Water is the drink of life. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that one of the best dietary products against bad skin would be water. Try drinking at lest five glasses of water per day to hydrate and rejuvenate the skin. When the skin is dehydrated it dries out and starts to crack. This will make the skin look dull, rough and unattractive.

Add colorful fruits and vegetables to your diet for best skin care. Fruits such as berries, prunes, grapes, apples, apples; vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, squash, spinach, kale, pumpkin and sweet potatoes are antioxidant-rich foods. Antioxidant-rich foods contain vitamins A, C, E and phytochemicals that protect and repair skin cells against damage, minimize the appearance of dark spots and blemishes and stave off wrinkles.

Foods that are rich in vitamin E are wheat germ, dark leafy green vegetables, sunflower seeds and liver. Vitamin C- rich foods are oranges, grapefruit, most fruits, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Foods that are rich in vitamin A are squash, carrots, sweet potatoes and berries.

There has been a lot of fuss over green tea as of late. Everyone just seems to be touting its many health benefits of which is its ability to maintain and repair the skin. Well, what's all the fuss about? Green tea is an antioxidant-rich food that contains many phytochemicals that repair skin cells, prevent the skin from wrinkling and discoloring, and improve the look and feel of the skin. So drink a little green tea throughout the day or make a green tea scrub and apply it to the skin for best skin care results. It works!

Another food that is good for the skin is food that contains essential fatty acids. Essential fatty acids are found in foods such ad salmon, tuna, walnuts, flaxseed, fish oil and canola oil. Essential fatty acids are great for the skin because they clear the cell membranes in the skin, making it easy for nutrients to pass in an out of the cell membranes.

For even greater skin care results eat foods that contain a lot of selenium. Selenium, like essential fatty acids, works wonders on skin cell membranes, allowing them to function at optimal levels. Eat foods such as tuna, whole-wheat bread, muffins, turkey, cereals and Brazil nuts for your daily supply of selenium.

Don't forget that skin care starts with what you put into your body. Don't rely on expensive creams as your first line of defense against bad skin. That's because no matter what you do to your skin on the outside, it all starts with what you do to your skin on the inside. So make your diet and your skin products work in unison to give you the kind of skin you deserve.