Diet for a Healthy Skin

If you're anything like I used to be, you might think that organic foods are not really different from conventionally grown or raised food. Thankfully, I have learned the difference and wanted to share it with my readers.

It was the lack of herbicides and pesticides that originally attracted people. They realized that those things were not good for their health. Most of those chemicals are carcinogens.

But, what kept people eating organic food, once they tried them, was that they actually tasted better. What no one realized, until recently, is that they actually contain more nutrients than non-organic foods. For example, organic berries contain an average of 45% more antioxidants than non-organic.

Since antioxidants like vitamin A, C, E and other more unique ones are an important part of a healthy diet for a healthy skin, that's one of the reasons that organics are a better choice.

If you think about it for a minute, it will start to make sense. Organic farmers must use crop rotation and allow fields to lay fallow, occasionally, or they will not continue to produce. Berries grown on most farms are grown in the same fields, year after year, after year. The farmers accomplish that by adding fertilizer.

Fertilizer does not contribute to the vitamin and mineral content of vegetables. But, when the soil is naturally mineral rich, it does make a contribution. In addition, many of the antioxidants found in plants are a part of the plant's defense mechanisms against insects and disease. If the plant has no disease to fear and insects are removed through the use of pesticides, they will eventually start to produce fewer antioxidants.

In addition to a healthy diet for a healthy skin, you might also be interested in nourishing creams. These creams are akin to feeding your face and body on the outside, rather than just the inside. If it contains the right ingredients, a cream can delay and reduce the signs of age. It has been proven in clinical studies.

While a healthy diet for a healthy skin may make some improvements, they are not clinically proven effective. Protein-rich creams are.

It must be the right kind of protein or it will do more harm than good. For example, collagen-rich creams often cause prolonged redness. Keratins are the proteins that make up 95% of the skin's outermost layers. And, it is keratin-rich creams that are clinically proven effective.

Nutrients for Healthy Skin

If you were trying to eat food for healthy skin, you would want it to contain the things that are needed to create one of the skin's cells or a collagen and elastin fiber. The components necessary are the amino acids serine, proline, glycine, alanine, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin A and coenzyme Q10.

There are some vitamin companies that promote collagen supplements for the purpose of improving the skin's appearance. Collagen is a protein. When you eat protein, the digestive system breaks it down in to its component amino acids. Collagen is considered an incomplete protein, because it does not contain all of the essential amino acids. Other protein sources are actually better. Let's take salmon, as an example.

Salmon is considered a "super-food" by health and fitness oriented individuals. Some respected dermatologists suggest it as a food for healthy skin. That's because its nutritional content is high. It is a complete protein and a good source of the vitamins A, D, B3, B12, B6 and the minerals phosphorus, potassium and magnesium. It is also the best known source of omega-3 fatty acids, which make up the skin's moisture content and improve its firmness.

While salmon contains many of the necessary nutrients for healthy skin, you can see that it does not contain all of them. It might be the closest thing to a complete food for healthy skin, but you would want to eat something along side it that is rich in vitamin C.

Coenzyme Q10 is one of the nutrients for healthy skin that can be difficult to get, through diet alone. Every cell of the body needs it and it is only present in trace amounts in the foods that we eat every day. So, it is an important ingredient for any skincare cream, but it must be properly formulated, so that the cells can use it.

Basically the bottom line ... eating food for healthy skin is a good idea, because it is good for the rest of your body, as well. But, if you really want to improve your appearance and your skin's health, look for creams that contain the necessary nutrients for healthy skin and use them every day. That's the best advice.