When thinking about our skin it is important to think not only about how we support our skin from the outside but also about the nutritional building blocks that will help to create great skin from within. Sound complicated? I promise you it is not.

1. My first tip is one that I am sure you have heard a million times before and that is keep yourself well hydrated. Water needs to be part of your daily routine.. boring as it might be water is needed for 100’s of reactions throughout the body – it aids digestion and detoxification; it delivers nutrients around the body; it makes up around 75% of our brains and 85% of our blood; it supports our skin to be subtle and protected from the outside elements.

Think about drinking 1 ½ litres a day. You will need a little more in the warm weather or if you are exercising.

Struggle drinking water? Try including more water watery fruits and vegetables into your diet.

2. My second tip is to include fats in every meal that you eat. There have been a lot of bad press about fats in the past – they will make you fat or are not good for us BUT some fats are essential to our diet, it is just making sure you are including the right sorts of fats. Every cell in our body is made up of a fatty outer layer plus fats are also used to create the protective oil barrier on our skin. This means that fats are essential for good skin health.

Think about including omega 3 from oily fish, flax seeds and chia seeds that will support that cell outer layer.

Think about fats from monounsaturated and polyunsaturated forms such as olives, nuts, seeds and their oils; avocado and eggs as these will help with the protective oil barrier.

3. My third tip is to always include protein in every meal. Protein is needed to support the integrity of our skin as well as the underlying tissues and structures. We need a plentiful supply of protein because we do not store it in the body to be used at a later like we do other nutrients.

Think about good quality lean meats, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy, nuts and seeds.

4. Tip number four is to include brassicas in your diet. Brassicas have a special compound in them that supports our liver to get rid of toxins in from our bodies. Including these veggies is also important for us ladies as it helps to safely detoxify our sex hormones.

Think about eating at least one portion of brassicas every day. The brassica family include cauliflower, broccoli, kale, kohlrabi, Brussel sprouts, turnip, and cabbage. Lightly cooked is the best way to preserve the nutrients within them.

5. My last tip is to include a little dark chocolate every now and then. It needs to be 70% or above not a dairy milk but there has been some interesting research that says that the antioxidants in dark chocolate can protect again UV damage and has anti-aging properties. The perfect excuse to have a couple of squares of a good quality dark chocolate every now and then.

I hope you have found these tips useful if you want to find out more why not visit me over on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nourish.nt/  Or Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/NourishNT/ where I post most days.

A little bit about me:

Hi, I’m Lesley the Nutritional Therapy Practitioner® and Nutritionist® behind Nourish Nutritional Therapy.

I predominately work with women around the menopause and beyond to get to the root cause of their menopause symptoms and health problems using a function medicine approach. I then use a mixture of nutrition plus lifestyle changes to support them to make improvements to their health and banish their menopause symptoms.

A well as working with 1-1 clients I also run a small group six program called The Menopause Makeover a couple of times a year. This program upskills women to have a better understanding around all things nutrition and what they should be eating to support their body’s changing needs.

I also have a number of free resources. If would like a copy of my free e-book ’10 recipes to soothe your menopause symptoms’ then click the link here https://mailchi.mp/eaef3dfe70cb/the-menopause-makeover-recipe-e-book

Looking forward to seeing you soon,

Lesley x

🌿 The Skin Elixir blog is in the top 20 UK Skin Care Blogs. https://blog.feedspot.com/uk_skin_care_blogs/