A poor diet will affect the health of your skin.
It's true what they say. Your skin really does reflect how good you look on the inside. Diet and lifestyle are the key ingredients to keeping your skin looking smooth, youthful and glowing forever.
What your skin's made of:
Your skin is your body's biggest organ. It requires a vast array of nutrients to help maintain its health.
For that reason, it's extremely vulnerable to the effects of your environment. More than just cosmetic, your skin acts as a barrier to the outside world, protecting your body's organ and tissues from damage and infection.
Your skin has many functions such as protection, sensation, immunity, excretion of toxin and regulation of body temperature. Skin is made from 70% water, 2% lipids, 0.5% minerals, 25.5% protein. There are also different layers to your skin. There's the epidermis, which is the outer thinner layer, the dermis which is the inner, thicker layer, and the subcutaneous layer.
Did you know that your skin replaces itself every 27 days by shedding the outermost layer of dead skin cells? You'll also be surprised to know that your skin comprises of 16% of your total body weight. This makes it even more important to give your skin what it needs to stay healthy.
What things are detrimental to your skin:
An unhealthy lifestyle can play havoc with your skin, and will quickly cause ageing and lack of vitality. Sunlight is an essential nutrient for growth of food, water and air. Unfortunately, the sun can do more damage than good to our skin. Excessive exposure to sunlight accelerates the aging process. It's the Ultra-Violet Radiation (UV-A) component of sunlight that accelerates aging by increasing free radical damage.
Dehydration is a massive cause of aging for your skin. When you breathe, you lose moisture to the air as you exhale. Furthermore, your body loses water through evaporation from the surface of your skin, even without rigorous exercise. So to maintain your hydration levels you should drink water, herbal teas or freshly squeezed juice.
Also try eating a well-balanced diet, with a large proportion coming from raw fruits and vegetables. A poor diet will effect the health of you skin, for example a diet high in simple sugars can effect your skin's collagen and increase wrinkles. Excessive alcohol or smoking will increase free radical damage.
What does you skin need:
One vitamin which is particularly fantastic for the health of your skin is Vitamin E. Vitamin E is a very powerful antioxidant which helps protect your skin from the cellular damage that occurs everyday.
Antioxidants reduce oxidative stress and free-radical damage, which causes skin aging. Vitamin E is a fat-soluble vitamin that helps protect the membrane which surrounds the cell as well as the tiny structures inside the cell itself.
Avocados are a rich source of Vitamin E, which are free-radical scavengers that assist in slowing the aging process. Getting an adequate amount of the antioxidant Vitamin E from your diet is extremely important. Eating 100grams of Avocados gives you 2.07mg of Vitamin E, and the recommended daily allowance for an adult is 30mg. So adding avocados to your healthy balanced diet is a great way to help your skin.
Skin tips:
Try using avocados as a mask or moisturiser. Because of their smooth texture, they are highly absorbent and will penetrate deeply into your skin. They will help leave your skin feeling smooth and healthy. They're also chemical free, which makes them good for you and the environment.
Article courtesy of Avocados Australia.
Reference:
Hyperhealth: Science based encyclopaedia of nutrition and natural health. (2008). Retrieved August 14th, 2008 from http://www.hyperhealth.com
Patton, T. (1996). Anatomy and Physiology (3rd ed.). St Louise, MO: Mosby.
Ballentine, R. (1978). Diet and nutrition: A holistic approach. Honesdale, Pennsylvania: M.D. Himalayan Institute Press.
Healthy Aging with a Diet Rich in Vitamin E. America Dietetic Association Retrieved September 15th, 2008 from http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/index.html
Question and answers about Dietary Fats September 25th (2007). International Food and Information Council. Retrieved September 15th, 2008 from http://www.ific.org
