7 Tips To Nourish Your Skin - Part I

What is the link between nutrition and your skin?

We all know how what we eat can affect just about every area of our lives. Eating the right things can fill you with enough energy to get through a hectic day. Your diet can strengthen your immune system, helping to fight off ailments that might slow you down. And, of course, your diet will affect your overall weight and general health.

Nutrition can also have a direct impact on the appearance and condition of your skin.

The Part Food Plays

The foods you eat can have a dramatic impact on the condition of your skin. Your diet can affect everything from the health and hydration of your skin, to whether or not you will experience acne breakouts, to how your skin will age.

Basically, to a large degree, the quality of your skin depends on what you eat.

Making Changes to Your Diet

The best diet for beautiful, healthy skin is one that is rich in antioxidant vitamins and minerals.

Foods that contain Omega-3 fatty acids are worth adding to your regular diet. These foods include sardines, salmon, Pacific oysters, flaxseeds and walnuts.

Beta carotene is another important antioxidant. You can get more beta carotene by eating more carrots, mangoes, apricots, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin.

And, of course, you can't forget Vitamin C. This vitamin helps protect your cells from free radical damage. To get more vitamin C, you should eat more red, green and yellow peppers, oranges, lemons, strawberries and broccoli.

Green Tea

You might have heard about the amazing health benefits of green tea. Well, your skin can also benefit.

Drinking green tea can help prevent and reduce the appearance of wrinkles. It can also reduce inflammation, while increasing blood circulation, both of which are good for your complexion.

Topical Treatments

While what you eat is a major factor in the health and appearance of your skin, what you put on your skin is important too.

There are many skincare products designed to help nourish your skin. The L'Occitane Intense Nourishing System can soothe and rehydrate damaged, dehydrated skin. This system keeps your skin soft, moisturized and nourished.

So there is a link between nutrition and your skin, and the saying, "You are what you eat," is even more true than you might have realized. A healthy diet means a healthier skin. And, by watching what you eat, and eating certain foods, you can help make your skin look younger and healthier.

There is a link between stress and your skin. And the stresses you deal with every day, and how you deal with them, can affect how your skin looks, and the condition it is in.

We all lead busy, hectic lives. There are the demands of work or school, not to mention family and other relationships. There are money issues. There is the feeling that we have too much to do every day, and not enough time to do it. Even something like driving through rush hour traffic can send your stress levels through the roof.

We all know that stress can cause both physical and psychological problems, like headaches, loss of appetite, moodiness, or lack of sleep. But stress can also affect the way your skin looks.

The Effects of Stress

Some skin conditions can be triggered by experiencing too much stress. Some of these conditions include acne, eczema, cold sores and psoriasis.

Have you ever had a big event you were really worried or nervous about, like a party, an audition, or an important meeting? Then, the day of the big event, you woke up to find a pimple on your nose. It is very possible that you worry and nervousness were what caused the breakout.

Hormones and Stress

Stress causes the release of hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. These chemicals are supposed to help make you faster, sharper, stronger and more alert. This is great when you're dealing with a stressful, demanding and challenging situation.

Unfortunately, if your stress levels don't go down, and these hormones continued to course through your system, they can have physical side effects. They reduce the response of your immune system, increase inflammation, and also increase sebaceous gland activity.

The results? Breakouts are a common side effect. So are dry, scaly patches, and skin redness or flushing.

And, on top of everything else, the stress you feel about your skin problems can make your skin problems even worse.

Dealing with the Problem

Reducing your stress levels can reduce its effects on your skin. So you should do things like exercise regularly, get plenty of sleep, eat properly, and try to do things to reduce the number of stresses in your life.

There are also skin care products designed to reduce the effects of stress on your skin. BABOR Anti Stress Cream provides 24-hour protection against the impact stress and fatigue can have on your skin. It calms the skin, and soothes away dryness, irritation, and redness.

There's no denying the link between stress and your skin. But, by taking steps to prevent stress, and using products designed to help you deal with the problem, you can keep the stresses in your life from affecting your complexion.

How important is sun protection for your skin?

Very important. The fact is that sun exposure is responsible for many of the unpleasant changes your skin experiences throughout your lifetime. And these changes include the development of wrinkles, skin discoloration, rough texture, and broken blood vessels.

That is why, every day, you need to take steps to protect your skin from the skin aging and damaging effects of sun exposure.

Fortunately, many skin care products, like daily moisturizers, come with UVA radiation and UVB radiation protection built in. Not only do these products offer sun protection, they also help reverse some of the damage sun exposure might have already caused.

SkinMedica Daily Sun Protection SPF 20

SkinMedica Daily Sun Protection was designed to help prevent the premature aging sun exposure can cause. It uses zinc to protect your skin from the sun's harmful UVA and UVB rays. Powerful antioxidants (like vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin E) and botanical extracts protect you from the aging effects of the sun, while keeping your skin hydrated and moisturized.

SkinMedica Daily Sun Protection is meant to be used daily, and reapplied after you've gone swimming, or engage in heavy physical exercise.

Dermalogica Extra Rich Faceblock SPF 30

Dermalogica Extra Rich Faceblock is not only a superior sunscreen, it is also a nourishing moisturizer. Ingredients include peptides to help stimulate collagen production, and help improve the tone of your skin. On the other hand, the built in skin smoothing complex will help improve your skin's texture. It also contains plant oils that will help build up your skin's own natural defensive barriers against harmful UVA and UVB rays.

Meant to be used every day, Dermalogica Extra Rich Faceblock contains no artificial fragrances or colors.

SkinCeuticals Sport UV Defense SPF 45

SkinCeuticals Sport UV Defense, which is oil free and fragrance free, was designed for people with very active lifestyles. Transparent zinc oxide, along with other powerful sunscreens, protect your skin from the aging effects of UVA rays.

This broad-spectrum sunblock is waterproof and sweatproof. So, whether you spend an hour doing a high energy aerobics workout, or swimming laps at the local pool, this sunscreen will not be sweated off or washed away, and you will stay protected.

There is really no denying the importance of sun protection. And regular, daily use of beauty products that have sunblock built in will help to protect you from the sun's damaging, skin-aging rays.