Part 1 of this series was on my last post. It talked about eating plenty of low fat protein (that’s no fatty meat or creamy dairy foods) and a few fish meals a week – preferably not greasy fish and chips. So what’s our next step to healthy skin, hair and nails? Here’s part 2…

3. Muesli – wholegrains

Swapping your croissant and Cornflakes to oats and muesli will boost your intake of essential fats, B vitamins and the potent antioxidant, vitamin E. B vitamins could easily be called the skin vitamins because a deficiency often shows up as itchy, dry skin. Wholegrains have all three parts of the grain – the bran, endosperm and germ. Refined, white flour based foods miss out on the bran and germ which is where all these goodies are.

4. Nuts – nutrition nuggets

Nuts are little nutrition nuggets – packed with essential fats, vitamin E and B vitamins. I was once the dietitian for a heart disease study where people who had had a heart attack were asked to eat 50 grams of peanuts a day for 6 weeks. Two women in particular noticed a huge improvement in their hair and nails. It’s likely that, after years on low fat diets, the peanuts gave these women some much needed essential fats.

5. Kiwifruit

Two hundred years ago British sailors were called ‘limeys’ because they ate limes to prevent scurvy. Before this, many suffered bleeding gums, bruising, wounds that wouldn’t heal, weakness and death due to lack of vitamin C on the long ship voyages. Vitamin C is essential to make collagen, the structural cement of the body. Under the skin, collagen is the fibrous tissue that plumps it up giving support and shape. As skin ages it loses collagen. Eating plenty of kiwifruit, oranges, lemons and grapefruit may not have the same instant ‘plumping out’ effect as a collagen implant but with its vitamin C and hundreds of anti-aging antioxidants it is natural beauty therapy at its best.

When we breathe car fumes, cigarette smoke and lie in the sun harmful oxidation reactions happen in our skin and body. Vitamin C, E and beta carotene are potent anti-oxidants which mop up the harmful by-products of oxidation and slow down damage to the skin. Large doses of vitamins C, E and beta-carotene help protect the skin from sunburn and improve its resilience to things that could irritate it. But sometimes the anti-oxidant activity shifts to harmful pro-oxidant activity. How to prevent this? Skip the pills and eat lots and lots of antioxidant rich fruit and vegetables.

6. Orange, yellow, red and dark green fruit and vegetables

According to its sticker, pawpaw is ‘Super-food for the skin’. It’s the beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A, that gives carrots, pumpkin, mango, rockmelon, spinach and broccoli their healthy skin image. If you have dry hair and skin, check whether you are eating enough coloured fruit and vegetables and other vitamin A rich foods – liver, oily fish, full fat dairy foods and egg yolk.

Large doses of beta-carotene help protect skin from sunburn and improve its resilience, especially when taken with other carotenoids like lycopene (found in tomatoes and watermelon. So perhaps the answer is carrot and watermelon juice although if you over-do it you may find your palms and eye-whites going a bit yellow from all that beta-carotene!

Dermatologists often use high doses of vitamin A to treat acne but this needs medical supervision as it can damage the liver and cause birth defects.

7. Skins and strings

Skin, hair and nail supplements often contain silica or the herb horsetail which contains silicon. Silica is part of collagen which gives strength to the skin, hair and nails. Wholegrains, oats, citrus fruit and the stringy bits of mango, celery, asparagus, rhubarb and cucumber skin all contain silicon.

8. Water and tea – fluids and flavonoids

Both carotenoids and flavonoids help protect skin against UV damage and can improve skin hydration. For well hydrated skin, hair and nails, drink plenty of water. And give yourself a daily flavonol dose with a few cups of black, green or white tea and, depending on your mood, a glass of red wine, a cup of hot cocoa or a few squares of dark chocolate.

A healthy diet, regular exercise and good thoughts will keep you looking ‘great for your age’ despite the inevitable wrinkles and saggy bits. Let’s leave the final word on beauty to Roald Dahl from his book “The Twits: “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

Original article written by me (Cindy). Reproduced with permission of Healthy Food Guide magazine www.healthyfood.co.nz

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