What You Need to Eat to Get a Healthy and Youthful Skin

We all know that what we eat has a tremendous influence on how we look, because everything we eat becomes a part of us. Beautiful and glowing skin is one of the most important signs of good health and one of the secrets of personal success. It is the biggest organ of your body, and in order to keep your skin healthy and youthful, you must nourish it with certain vitamins and minerals. Below, you can learn what are those nutrients and in what foods they occur.

• Vitamin A and beta-carotene.

Vitamin A, a potent fat-soluble vitamin, is one of the most important elements for normal activities of skin cells. It assists in maintaining and repairing epithelial tissues. It is a powerful antioxidant, which helps in neutralization of free radicals and various negative processes in your skin, has anti-inflammatory properties, prevents wrinkles and makes your skin look fresher. You can find Vitamin A in egg yolks, low fat dairy products, fish fat, liver, and other foods. Beta-carotene is the most effective source of Vitamin A. Besides, this element has an excellent property to protect our skin against harmful effects associated with sunburn. Such foods as carrots, spinach, broccoli, watermelon, apricot, sweet potatoes, are the best sources of Beta-carotene.

• Vitamin B.

Important vitamins of this group include Vitamin В1, В2, В3, В6, В9 and В10. These vitamins are responsible for forming good nails, hair and skin. They assist in converting calories into energy and boost the function of the oil-producing glands helping to keep your skin fresh, moist and youthful. Such foods as milk, potatoes, eggs, red meat, fish, cabbage, whole grains, beans, breads and cereals, bananas and many others contain great amounts of Vitamin B.

• Vitamin C.

This anti-oxidant is very important for our skin that is why it is used in many cosmetic creams and lotions for skin. Vitamin C improves hydration of skin, nourishes and refreshes it. However, exposure to sun and various stresses drain this vitamin from our skin, so it becomes sensitive to possible damages and negative effects of the environment. A great number of foods contain this vitamin, including oranges and other citrus fruits, strawberries, broccoli, green peppers, sweet potatoes and others.

• Vitamin E.

This vitamin has the reputation of “the Vitamin of Youth”. It is one of the most powerful antioxidants, which slows down the processes connected with aging of the cells and breaks down collegen, responsible for sagging and wrinkles. Vitamin E makes your skin look better and also protects it against harmful effects of the environment. Nuts, tomatoes, spinach and other leafy vegetables, sesame and olive oils, fish and other types of seafood are good source of Vitamin E.

• Zinc and Selenium.

Both of these elements are good antioxidants, which are necessary for growing healthy hair and nails, healing wounds, improving metabolism and slowing down aging processes in our body. Zinc aids in maintaining normal levels of collagen in your skin and improves skin elasticity and firmness. It occurs in leafy vegetables, oysters, red meat, mushrooms, soy beans, nuts and pumpkin seeds. Selenium helps to decrease negative effects of ultraviolet and has certain properties to prevent skin cancer. Seafood, whole grains, eggs, tomatoes, garlic can be good sources of selenium.

• Iron.

This element is essential for hair, nail and skin regeneration. Besides, iron assists in providing your body cells with oxygen. Iron is an element which occurs in apples, apricot, chicken, seafood, whole grain, and other foods.