7 Superfoods for Super Beautiful Skin

Beauty is skin deep, but there's nothing wrong with making sure your skin looks amazing. After all, people are visual creatures first and foremost, and first impressions are often based on how someone looks. Not to mention, it feels good when you look at yourself in the mirror, and all you see is smooth and glowing skin.

So, it goes without saying that making sure your skin remains healthy is perhaps a higher form of investment over cosmetics and creams. If you think your skin needs some help or just want to take your beauty game up a notch, we made a quick list of the 7 best foods to eat to keep your skin beautiful, looking young, and, most important of all, healthy.

Fatty Fish

Fish like salmon, herring, mackerel, and other fatty fish are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids, a nutrient known to have skin-beautifying benefits. Omega 3s, on top of just being an overall amazing nutrient for the entire body, can help your skin have that thick, supple, and moisturized feeling. As a matter of fact, researchers say a lack of omega 3 is a possible cause of dry skin.

How does omega 3 work? By helping your body mount a healthy inflammatory response. Skin inflammation can cause a variety of skin problems such as acne and rashes or redness. Omega 3s can also help reduce damage from UV-rays.

Avocados

One of the few fruits that happen to be a good source of healthy fats, eating an avocado a day could help your skin retain its suppleness, flexibility, and moisturized feeling. Several studies point out that eating fats from fruits like avocados directly results in more supple and springy skin.

Avocados also happen to be an excellent source of vitamin E, a critical antioxidant that protects the skin from oxidative damage. And we all know just how good vitamin E is for our skin, what with just about every skin cream out there having vitamin E as one of their main ingredients.

Green Tea

Green tea is just a healthy drink at this point. Like, what can green tea not do? It can help with weight management, give antioxidant protection, fight stress, and even help prevent our body from getting weak and just not healthy overall. For our skin, the antioxidant property of green tea helps protect our skin from harmful sun damage. There's also some evidence showing how it can improve moisture, thickness, and skin elasticity.

Red Bell Peppers

Bell peppers are one of the best sources of beta carotene, a nutrient the body converts into vitamin A. Carotenoids help keep the skin supple and healthy by acting as a quasi-sunblock. Red bell peppers are also a good source of vitamin C, a vitamin critical to produce collagen, a compound responsible for skin elasticity and firmness.

Broccoli

We already know broccoli is good for us, but did you know eating these amazing superfoods can greatly benefit skin health? Broccoli is full of many nutrients vital for skin health, such as vitamin A, zinc, and vitamin C. It also contains lutein, yet another carotenoid that can protect our skin from harmful UV rays.

Tomatoes

On top of being the number one ingredient in ketchup, tomatoes contain a carotenoid called lycopene. Just like some of the carotenoids mentioned, lycopene is good for protecting our skin from sun-based oxidative stress.

Dark Chocolate

A lot of skin creams have cocoa butter, a major component in dark chocolate. Cocoa butter and cocoa powder are high in powerful antioxidants, and regular consumption (in moderation!) has been shown to provide consumers with thicker and better-hydrated skin.

Takeaway…

Past our clothes and accessories, our skin will be the first thing people will notice, so it's completely normal to be a bit anxious about skin health. If you want to elevate your skin health, try any of the 7 foods we listed and add them to your regular diet. You might surprise yourself with how healthy your skin can look and how healthy you will be since the foods we mentioned are also nutritious.