Author: Mei-Lana Chow

Want healthy Glowing skin? Create a healthy body!

How do you create a healthy body? By making smart food and lifestyle choices. We’ve all heard it before… stay out of the sun, don’t smoke, or drink alcohol, don’t eat refined sugar, or processed foods. Why eliminate these things? Because they cause inflammation in the body.

Inflammation is a Beauty Killer

Inflammation occurs when your body is stressed. The trigger could be stress from work, it could be from eating nutrient deficient processed foods, or it could be from eating foods that you’re allergic to, the list goes on. Everyone is exposed to things that can stress their bodies out, let me help you find more balance and bring back your personal power of choice.

Top 4 Food Groups for Reducing Inflammation

Below I have listed four healthy food groups that reduce inflammation, are packed with nutrients, and that contribute to clear, youthful skin. Incorporating all these foods daily and eliminating the beauty killer’s REALLY does make your body healthy and skin more radiant!

#1 Greens! Ohh those glorious greens! Green leafy vegetables give you a nutritional boost!

Greens are totally affordable, easy to prepare, and gives you basically every micronutrient your body will need! Greens are full of antioxidants and anticancer compounds, proven to fight heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimers, and stroke. The antioxidants are especially important for your skin because they neutralize free radicals! The vitamin content in greens goes through the roof with A and B vitamins, that help to fight acne, and repair damaged skin. Greens are also rich in Folate, Beta-carotene, Vitamin E, Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, and Potassium. These are all the beauty vitamins in one place!!

Fatten up those greens! Add grass fed butter, ghee, raw olive oil to assist the absorption of fat soluble vitamins, and add satiating power.

Eat more: Broccoli, lettuce, arugula, spinach, kale, collards, dandelion greens, beet greens, spinach, watercress, brussels sprouts, cabbage, bok choy. Eat raw, add to smoothies, or cook sautéed, baked or roasted.

#2 Fruit! Don’t be afraid of the sugar in fruit. Second to greens, fruit is the most nutrient dense beauty superfood!

If you want glowing radiant skin, always eat the whole fruit! When the whole fruit is eaten, it has lots a fibre to slow down the absorption of sugar. The fibre and water content in fruit helps to fill you up, aids digestion, and keeps energy levels up. Avoid “dead” pasteurized fruit juice in the grocery store which contains only sugar, artificial colour and flavours. *Fresh juice* is the only exception to the rule, which still contains some enzymes, vitamins and minerals. Be careful with consuming these liquid calories, as it won’t provide you with that same feeling of fullness the whole fruit would.

Did you know that consuming too much refined sugar is linked to sagging skin, wrinkles and also acne? eeek! There is something that happens in your skin when you consume too much white refined sugar, this my friends, is appropriately called Advanced Glycation End (AGE) This is when sugar molecules bind to proteins in the skin, creating inflammation, causing collagen and elastin to harden, clump up, weaken and breakdown.

The solution? Really, really try hard to eliminate candies, pastries, and cakes etc. Once your taste buds readjust, you will enjoy fruit soooo much more! Try to alternate your fruits. The rotation of different varieties will expose you to the different combinations of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. A great way to start your day is with fresh or frozen fruit! Add to smoothies, top granola, or organic unsweetened yogurt or dairy free yogurt, and add hemp seeds, or nuts.
Keep in mind serving size does count here. Aim for 1 cup of fruit per serving and consume no more than 5 servings of fruit per day.

Eat more: Apples, peaches, pears, papaya, pineapple, mango, berries, banana, grapes, cherries, oranges, lemon, cantaloupe, plums, papaya, grapefruit, avocado, and tomatoes.

#3 Fats keep your skin plump and radiant! Eating the right kinds of fats are crucial to having amazing skin!

They call them essential fatty acids (EFAs) because they are essential to life, and are only available from food sources. These are the Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, helping your body to produce healthy cells, including skin cells. They also aid the production of sebum, which keeps your skin hydrated and youthful.
If your not consuming enough in your diet, your skin will be dry, dehydrated, inflamed, and more prone to breakouts and eczema. Inflammation in the body is the underlying link to acne, psoriasis, rosacea, and eczema. Eating too much processed foods will result in an imbalance of these oils as they contain mostly Omega-6 fatty acids. When the balance of 3 and 6 are off, inflammation runs rampant in your body.

The solution? Avoid processed foods and focus on consuming NATURAL, whole, fatty foods!

Eat more: Fatty fish, coconuts, olive oil, organic grass fed butter and ghee, avocados, Brazil nuts, almonds, walnuts, flax, hemp, sunflower, or pumpkin seeds. Eat nuts and seeds raw, and cook with high flash point oils like avocado or grape seed oil.

#4 Funky fermented foods! Healthy skin starts with a healthy digestive tract.
When you begin to consume fermented foods on a daily basis, you are flooding your body with feel good probiotics, vitamins and live enzymes. Fermented foods have been used for centuries to heal us from the inside out by aiding digestion, fighting disease and bringing us vital nutrition. They provide your body with good bacteria, which we want plenty of in our intestines. This good bacteria is extremely beneficial for the entire body by giving us strength, vitality, reducing signs of early aging and creating a brighter, more clear even skin tone.

Eat More: Kombucha, miso, organic unsweetened yogurt, kimchi and/or sauerkraut from the refrigeration section in the grocery store.

Just one more thing…

Stay hydrated with plain old filtered water!

Ok, I know water is not a food, but I have to mention it, because we would not exist without water!

We are made up of 70% water. If we did not have clean water to drink, then we would die. Now think about what happens to your body when it’s dehydrated, you become groggy, headache set in, energy decreases, your lips crack, your mouth feels dry like sand paper, you become lethargic and moody. Every cell in your body is suffering a slow death!

Water yourself! To stay hydrated you need to drink half your body weight in ounces in a day. The key is to drink water before you feel any signs of dehydration. Caffeine, salt ,and sugar will dehydrate your body, you will need to drink 2 glasses of water to replace the lost water from consuming just one of these beverages. I’m not saying caffeine is bad, just replace the water so your body doesn’t suffer.

Matcha tea and Moringa leaf powder have an abundance of minerals, vitamins and are packed with antioxidant power. These drinks will protect cells and skin from damaging effects of free radicals and can decrease wrinkles and promote the quality and quantity of collagen and elastin. If you want to drink something to provide an energy boost, choose these healthy drinks in place of coffee.

In Conclusion

I hope this post has provided some inspiration and knowledge for you to start eating like your skin depends on it! Keep in mind, I would like to see you all eating more of these foods listed above, however, I encourage these as high lights to reduce overall inflammation. A balanced diet with lean protein, whole grains and vegetables are necessary for building your healthy body. Balance is key!

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions, or drop me a comment below! I would love to hear from you.

Yours truly,
Mei-Lana Chow RHN xo