Drinking water’s always a good one (and working out) for skin health, but what should someone be eating to not clog up pores or inflame the skin? What should people be avoiding if they’re concerned about that?
Once I dropped how much sugar/ soft drink (soda) I was consuming my skin started to really clear up. It’s more about not eating crappy food, avoiding smoking/ alcohol and staying out of the sun then anything else
Everything that’s low inflammatory, that reduces the release of free radicals and promotes a healthy gut microbiom.
Examples:
-low in sugars-high in antioxidants, most colorful greens and vegetables-high in omega 3 and 6, nut- butter and oils, fish, seeds, olive oil, coco oil-high in fibre
Salmon, eggs and green leafy vegetables are my go-to foods for skin health. I also eat a lot of fresh local and seasonal fruit. I’m 35F and barring a few months of cystic acne (stress & bad lifestyle choices ) when I was 25 I’ve had great skin all my life.
This isn’t popular but when I quit caffeine, my skin improved dramatically–specifically, sagging, fluid-filled pouches under my eyes completely went away and overall tone and texture improved. Caffeine is a vasoconstrictor so my theory is that improved blood flow has a lot to do with it. Face is more toned, bouncy, and glowy. I think lymph is flowing better.
I have quit alcohol and cigarettes too, and neither change had as dramatic an effect on my face as quitting caffeine. It was very hard to quit, though–the improvements in my skin, anxiety levels, and sleep quality kept me motivated to stick with it, but it was still very hard and took quite a bit of time to adjust.
Other stuff I do for skin health includes aloe vera gels, collagen, turmeric, red light, fish oil, and vitamin C. I also cut out sugar and eat lots of nuts, seeds, avocado, grains like quinoa, and vegetables.
speaking from personal experience, adding fresh turmeric root (but you need an amount high enough to see anti-inflammatory benefits) and collagen to my diet as well as cutting down on sugar definitely helped.
For good skin, it’s more about avoiding the ‘bad’ stuff rather than eating the ‘good’ stuff to overpower the damage. Just eliminating processed, high GI foods/inflammatory foods such as dairy and simple sugars have done wonders for me. I can really tell the difference in my skin when my diet’s been pretty off, shown by little bumps and whiteheads when seen under the light. And even more - I look tired, skin looks rather ‘dry’ and therefore I reckon I look older. That completely turns around when I eliminate the processed foods though.
Saying that, if you’re already not consuming many processed foods, here is my personal recommendation: Avocado. I swear to god, I’ve been sticking to a really healthy diet for the last 4 years, and nothing glows up my skin better than eating an avocado a few days before.
It could be anything but when my dietician told me to stop added sugars for two weeks I noticed a huge difference. No more extra sebum on my skin. Im actually doing it for an extra two weeks cause I’ve seen a huge change. You honestly don’t need to stop them all together but make sure it’s below 22grams if you’re a woman. I’m not sure what the recommendation is for men.
My understanding is that generally, root veggies like onion, carrot, beet, and the like tend to be very beneficial for hair/skin/nails.
Also, lifting weights can help simply by increasing muscle mass, so the skin presses a little more tightly against the muscles, rather than sagging. It doesn’t take much in that regard to make a visible difference.
Good quality fish! I remember I had a ton of acne on my arms my entire life, but then I had an episode where I ate fish and sushi for every meal for a couple of months. It was roughly 8 years ago and it hasn’t come back :)
Eat lots of meat, eggs and animal fat. Avoid plant oils, avoid carbs and sugars. I went on carnivore diet and in two months i went from deep cystic acne to 95% clear skin
Avoiding overly processed and sugary foods will already improve the skin, it’s also worth checking if any kind of food causes inflamation in your digestive system, there’s really not any secret, just good practices.
Skin health/texture, as pretty much everything else, is mostly genetic. Nutritional practices and supplement regimes will only help you a few percentage points. If you have shitty skin you’re going to, for the most part, have shitty skin (unless we’re talking about a specific dermatological disorder that can be treated).
With this being said.. avoiding highly inflammatory foods, increasing protein intake, + basic supplementation (such as Vit C & Omega 3s) will help with the increase of collagen and decrease free radicals. Exercising helps eliminate toxins from the skin and relieve stress (which is linked to aggravating skin conditions). Having proper hygiene (in general) is also important.
I used to make myself a breakfast consisting of natural yogurt (no added stuff), dark chocolate, walnuts, and a little bit of honey. I read up on the subject bc i had some skin issues, and tried to find a meal i could eat often to improve my skin. Cant remember the details, but it worked great for me!
Olive oil….not to eat but to clean your pores. If you mix with a bit of baking soda it’s even better. The baking soda will exfoliate the layer of dead skin off the top of your face. Then the olive oil gets into your pores and cleans them out. It’s counter intuitive but the stuff clogged in your pores is oil soluable so you need an oil to dissolve it if you want to remove it. Works better than any product to clean you pores.
I’m sure it’s good to eat too! Lots of healthy fats are good for your skin.
I dont think there is anything really you can eat which will improve dramatically your skin or make it not dry anymore or mayke it younger or more elastic. Sadly that is 99% genetics. Keto diet might have some effect, because of eating less sugar and carbs which might cause a little bit of inflammations. Food can have some impact on hormones and cause acne, but that is some different topic.
For just a very beginner course to eating for skin health I would focus only on cutting out fried food and excess dairy. A slice of cheese on a sandwich won’t break this plan. But fried cheese curds or big bowls of ice cream are something to avoid. And also when you find yourself craving one of these food replacing it with something high in fiber (like vegetables cooked or raw) can help solidify the habit.