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Great Skin – From the Inside Out!
Nourish Your Skin with the Right Foods
By Karen Ansel, M.S., R.D.
How many jars and tubes of skin care products are hiding out in your medicine cabinet? Probably more than you'd like to admit. Well, you're not alone. After all, who's not on the lookout for that one magical product guaranteed to produce flawless skin? But the truth is, the answer may not be in a bottle at all. It may lie in what you eat. You try to feed your body the right foods to keep it healthy on the inside, so it only makes sense that you need to nourish it properly to keep it in great shape on the outside.
Skin is in a constant state of renewal with new cells regularly nudging their way to the surface. But as we age, old cells aren't replaced as quickly as they once were. Couple this with exposure to sun and the elements, and you've got a recipe for dull, lifeless skin. To speed up cell regeneration and fight the damaging effects of the environment, you've got to feed your skin the right foods.
Free radicals are a good complexion's worst enemies. Generated by the environment, ultraviolet light and even our own bodies, these minute particles invade cells, causing permanent injury. When it comes to neutralizing them, vitamin E is a major player, and avocados contain more vitamin E than any other fruit.
To help us effectively absorb the avocado's vitamin E, nature has conveniently packaged it along with a healthy dose of monounsaturated fat. If that weren't enough, the avocado is also a prime source of the antioxidant glutathione, responsible for deterring the development of skin cancer, as well as staving off premature aging.
Try our Avocado and Tomato Wraps!
Green tea is showing up in skin care products everywhere and with good reason. It's loaded with plant chemicals known as polyphenols that inhibit inflammation associated with exposure to ultraviolet light, as well as preventing the growth of cancerous cells. Just how does it do this?