Want Smoother Skin?
I love a decent face cream, body moisturiser and facial as much as the next gal, but did you know that one of the most effective routes to building smoother, softer, more hydrated and youthful skin can also come from eating the right types of fat each day?
Essential Fatty Acids:
Most people don’t believe me when I tell them and many of us have been conditioned to fear dietary fat. But essential fatty acids (EFAs) are needed for optimal skin and overall health, and cannot be made in the body. Therefore, it is crucial to include the right balance of EFAs in our daily diet from specific foods. These include omega-3 and omega-6 fats.
Achieving the Balance:
People often eat too many omega-6 fats found in vegetable oils and margarine, yet plenty of us may be borderline deficient in omega-3 fats. Its therefore important to focus more on omega-3 foods to achieve a healthy balance.
Omega-3 Fats for Brain Development and Disease Protection
The majority of our brain growth is finished by five to six years of age and omega-3 EFAs are especially critical for the growth of the brain during foetal and post-natal development.
EFAs also provide energy for the body and research has suggested that they may help to protect against heart disease, skin diseases and numerous other health issues. According to experts, one of the major health benefits of EFAs is their ability to reduce inflammation in the body, as well as relief from various allergies, painful menstrual cramps, eczema and psoriasis.
Want to Include More Omega-3 in Your Diet?
My fave plant-based food sources include flaxseeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds, raw walnuts, leafy green vegetables, micro-algae such as chlorella and spirulina, and avocado. In fact, micro-algae is the finest source of these essential nutrients because the oil has the optimum balance of DHA to EPA and your body puts it directly to work without the multi-step conversion processes of other omega-3 forms. It’s available in tablet or powdered form from most good health food shops and some supermarkets.
It’s a great idea to include a serving of one of these foods in your diet each day. I love fresh avocado in salads, on toast or as guacamole, ground flaxseed sprinkled on porridge, raw walnuts as a snack, leafy green smoothies with chlorella or spirulina and chia pudding made with almond milk and sweetened with cinnamon, vanilla and berries.
It’s an added beauty incentive that your skin is one of the first places you will really notice an improvement in when you start adding more healthy fats to your diet. Mine became softer, smoother and less prone to dryness, especially during the winter months 🙂
If you’re a fish fan, oily fish including mackerel, salmon and sardines are also excellent sources.