Nourish your skin this winter – Tips to keep your body radiant

Does your skin feel dehydrated, sensitive and dull?

There’s a reason! It’s exposed to chilly winds, freezing temperatures, and then blasted with indoor heating. The results can be red, itchy and irritated skin.

The winter months can give your skin a battering; fortunately you can nourish your skin from within through the foods that you eat.

When you eat, eat to nourish. Choose foods that are jam packed full of nutrients that feed your body, feed your cells and feed your skin. My 4 hot tips to radiant skin this winter are:

1.     Stay hydrated!

If you need an incentive to stay hydrated think of a grape versus a raisin. You get the point? According to dermatologist Dr Jeannette Graff, “Dry skin is old-looking skin”. So drink up! Within the body water gets into the cells, plumps them up and diminishes fine lines and wrinkles. In addition to this, water also flushes your body from toxins, giving you a beautiful clean, dewy and healthy glow.
Aim for six to eight glasses or 2-3L of water per day. I suggest carrying a water bottle around with you everywhere you go and taking sips throughout the day. While at work, put this water bottle in plain sight to remind yourself to drink from it regularly.

2.     Eat your good fats

Essential fatty acids can’t be made in the body and must be obtained from the foods we eat. They nourish and protect the fatty tissue, which wraps every skin cell in the body. This is key in winter if you want to prevent skin which is irritated, dry and may even crack. Omega 3 oils are thought to increase natural oil production in the skin, keeping it soft, supple and moisturised. Omega-3 rich foods include salmon, mackerel, trout, sardines, anchovies, flaxseed, walnuts, almonds and seeds. If these foods are not common in your diet, I encourage you to increase them starting today, or grab yourself a high quality fish oil from Australian Menopause Centre instead.

3.     Protein at every meal

Ensure you have a portion of protein at each meal
to help boost the body’s production of the protein collagen. It acts as scaffolding by giving the skin its support structure. Unfortunately as we get older, the body’s production of collagen dwindles so the skin gets thinner. Beef, lamb and chicken have substantial amounts of the amino acids glycine and proline. These two amino acids are key components of collagen, and therefore healthier stronger skin. If you don’t eat meat, proline is also found in cabbage and cottage cheese.

4.     Eat the rainbow

The antioxidants in fruit and vegetables may help protect against the free radicals that affect skin health. Free radicals are highly unstable molecules that damage the skin by causing a breakdown of the proteins, collagen and elastin within the skin. In addition to this, free radicals also hinder the skin’s ability to repair itself. The damage they inflict results in sagging, inflammation and discolouration. Unfortunately we can’t eliminate free radicals; however, we can increase the amount of antioxidants within the body. It is thought that the antioxidants found in fruit and vegetables can neutralise free radicals, reducing the negative effect on the skin. Some of the key antioxidants in fruits and vegetables are found in different coloured foods. Aim to eat a range of different coloured fruit and vegetables every day.

If you would like any further help, or you are interested in any supplements, please contact one of our naturopaths at the Australian Menopause Centre on 1300 883 405