Simple food swaps that give you healthy, glowing skin

01/31/2019 / By Ellaine Castillo

Recent studies show that a person’s diet is important for how their skin looks and feels. This is because of a connection referred to as the “gut-skin axis,” which highlights the importance of gut health on keeping the skin healthy and glowing. This explains why some people with gastrointestinal disorders also suffer from skin conditions like acne, atopic dermatitis, and psoriasis.

To help you achieve healthy and glowing skin, here are some simple food swaps that can help eliminate unhealthy foods from your diet:

Drink lemon water instead of soda and fruit juices — Sugar is bad for your skin. Too much of it can damage the collagen that keeps skin supple and tight. This leads to wrinkles and sagging, which can make you look old. Soda and commercial fruit juices often have high amounts of sugar that might even exceed the recommended daily intake. By replacing these beverages with lemon water, you reduce your sugar intake and supply your body with more vitamin C, a nutrient that has potent anti-aging effects.
Swap sweets for berries — Excessive amounts of sugar in sweets can lead to the production of advanced glycation end products that make skin more vulnerable to stress from outside factors like UV light. Moreover, these molecules can interfere with wound healing. Berries are delicious yet healthy alternatives for sweets since these are rich in antioxidants that can make your skin more radiant. Eating these superfoods can also enhance the production of collagen, which can make your skin smoother.
Replace dairy milk with nut milk — A lot of commercially available milk in the U.S. are produced with the help of artificial hormones that can result in acne and other skin conditions. Because of this, it would be better for your skin if you go for milk made from organic nuts and seeds that do not have additives or sugars.
Choose paleo starches over bread — Breads are high-glycemic foods that can spike blood sugar levels and cause acne as well as other skin issues. Additionally, they are often rich in gluten, which can affect gut health and consequently, your skin health. Some paleo starches that you can replace bread with include sweet potatoes, taro, carrots, and winter squashes.
Eat more wild fish than red meat — Some red meats contain excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acids that can cause inflammatory skin conditions and acne. On the other hand, omega-3 fatty acids commonly found in fish are anti-inflammatory and can even prevent sebum production.
Sautee foods in coconut oil instead of vegetable oil — Under extreme heat, vegetable oil can go through oxidation, which makes it an inflammatory substance. Moreover, the oil can stimulate the production of free radicals that damage DNA and cause skin aging. It would be better to just saute food in coconut oil since this can resist oxidation from heat.
Snack on nuts instead of junk foods — Chips and fried snack foods are not good for your skin since they are rich in high-glycemic starches and oxidized vegetable oils. Nuts are good alternatives for these snacks since they contain antioxidants and vitamins that can prevent skin damage and aging, as well as inflammation. To achieve the best results, go for walnuts since these have the highest polyphenol antioxidant content compared to other nuts. (Related: Walnuts rank as top nut, providing highest level of quality antioxidants.)