Did you know your skin is your largest organ and is your main external indicator of your internal environment!? Skin concerns such as acne, eczema, psoriasis, and rosacea, are your body’s very clever way of signalling that something on the inside is not quite right. Possible causes of skin issues include; potential food intolerances/allergies, diet, hormonal imbalances, stress, and gut disturbances. Thus, your skin condition is a sign that your body is craving some tender lovin’ and nourishment. We definitely need to treat the gut, look at the cause of your skin condition and support your beautiful skin with all of our skin loving herbs, nutrients, and lifestyle factors. Please see below for Nutmeg’s quick 7 tips for feeding your skin. Even choosing and implementing just one of the below tips will be helping your skin!
Hydration - Water is essential for healthy and happy skin! You require adequate fluid intake throughout the day- i.e. water, preferably filtered, approx. 8 glasses/ day or about 2-3 L/day. A more individualised approach to water consumption? Multiply your weight by 33. Example, 60 kg x 33 = 1980. Thus, a person weighing 60kg needs to aim for around 2L/day + extra when exercising!
Protein, Protein, Protein - Among its many roles, protein helps build and repair the cells in our body, including your skin cells! Including a ‘good’ serve of a protein-rich food such as seafood, lean meat, organic cage-free eggs, legumes, organic tofu, or nuts/seeds with each meal/snack is vital. A ‘good’ serve of protein will fit inside the palm of your hand. For example, 2 eggs at breakfast or a palm sized portion of firm organic tofu at lunch. If and when eating meat, make sure to choose (whenever possible), high-quality, organic, hormone/antibiotic-free and “grass-fed” meats.
Essential Fatty Acids - These are our good fats and they feed our skin! We need good fats with each meal such as those found in nuts, seeds, avocado, wild-caught fish, flaxseed oil & extra virgin/cold pressed olive oil. Aim to have a small portion of good fats at each meal, such as ½ avocado with your eggs at breakfast, a handful of nuts/seeds mid-morning or a drizzle of olive oil or flaxseed oil on your salad at lunch.
Eating a Wide Variety of Vegetables/Herbs - Vegetables and herbs are full of our skin loving nutrients and minerals. Aim to have each main meal ½ full of vegetables and include at least 1 vegetable with each snack! Vegetables are one of the only foods we can’t seem to eat enough of. So go on, knock yourself out! Eat all the colours of the rainbow!
Reduce/eliminate dairy, saturated/trans fats and excess carbohydrate consumption (particularly high GI foods…. Yes that definitely includes sugar) - these three bad boys seem to be the three most common factors in upsetting your skin. So reduce and eliminate consumption wherever possible.
Reduce your stress levels - easier said than done right? Stress is an unavoidable part of life, so learning how to control and manage your stress is so important. Stress is not all doom and gloom, actually a certain level of stress can be positive in certain situations! Strategies you can use to help control the psychological and physiological aspect of stress include yoga, meditation, Tai Chi, daily journal-writing, partaking in daily hobbies and relaxation techniques such as deep breathing. See here for more ways to help manage your stress.
Daily sunshine + exercise + jump in the ocean!
