Eating for your skin

Samantha Chow Jia Ern, Updated: Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:23:18 GMT

Just hours before the all-important date, you find a new red zit popping out prominently on your chin. Doesn’t it make you wonder why some women always seem to have naturally good skin, while you can never seem to achieve the flawless look without makeup?

Nothing comes free. Women who have gorgeous skin usually practice some kind of beauty regime regularly, regardless of whether she has good genes or not. Haven’t you heard of the saying, ‘you are what you eat’? Well, it rings true for anyone. No one can achieve perfect skin without practising at least a few healthy habits like washing your face regularly and eating nutritious food.

Vitamin A, C and E are vital nutrients for achieving good skin. Vitamin A helps rejuvenate your skin and protect it from the sun’s ultra-violet rays. Besides helping produce collagen and protect your cells from radical damage, Vitamin C helps fight off oxidative damage. Meanwhile, Vitamin E helps protect cell membranes and can work together with Vitamin C to provide an extra boost of anti-aging skin protection.

You should watch carefully what you eat because whatever you put in your mouth doesn’t just disappear into oblivion. It goes through your digestive system and whatever nutrients or unhealthy elements of the food that you gobbled down is absorbed by your body and it’ll show in your skin.

Your daily diet should be high in protein, fibre and of course plain water! Nothing beats good old H2O which detoxifies your body and is preferable to fruit juices which may have additional sugar or colouring.

There are some common everyday food that you can eat to help provide your body with the nutrients it needs to maintain healthy flawless skin – consume in moderation, of course.

Continue reading the original gallery here: http://lifestyle.malaysia.msn.com/Beauty/photos.aspx?cp-documentid=3500292