Diet plays a huge role in maintaining healthful, youthful, totally glamour girl worthy skin. The same nutrient dense diet that keeps us healthy and prevents chronic diseases naturally helps prevent pimples, acne.  So girls and guys welcome to Radiant Skin 101, my one article  on the ins and outs of how to attain and maintain healthy, radiant skin through food:

Everybody is allergic to milk – whether we develop visible symptoms or not. The human digestive systems lacks the enzymes to properly digest milk from other animals. Milk curdles immediately upon entering the stomach, so if there is other food present the curds coagulate around other food particles and insulate them from exposure to gastric juices, delaying digestion long enough to permit the onset of putrefaction.

“But how could milk cause acne? Because drinking milk and consuming dairy products from pregnant cows exposes us to the hormones produced by the cows’ pregnancy hormones that we were not designed to consume during our teenage and adult years. It is no secret that teenagers’ acne closely parallels hormonal activity

Read more at Does Dairy Cause Acne Canada or read About Hormones & Pesticides in Foods We Eat

Dairy products are probably the worst foods you can eat if you have acne. First, dairy products are often high-fat; think cheese and ice-cream, too much fat can cause acne. Milk almost always comes from pregnant cows. The milk from pregnant cows contains hormones. Milk or dairy products contains bioactive molecules that act on the glands where blackheads are formed. 70 to 90 percent of all milk that comes from pregnant cows contains hormones such as progesterone, testosterone precursors and insulin growth factor releasing hormones, all linked to acne. Unfortunately your skin glands contain enzymes that convert these hormones into DHT (dihydrotestosterone) hormone. DHT boosts sebum production at skin gland. So the hormones in milk indirectly increase sebum production, which of course leads to acne.

The hormones inside our bodies are important contributors to what cause pimples to appear on the outside.In particular, the hormone insulin an important modulator of breakouts.  Insulin is most commonly known as the hormone for regulating blood sugar and is associated with diabetes, yet interestingly it also increases oils that appear on our skin. Who would have thought?  Insulin levels fluctuate based on what we eat, and these fluctuations can affect other hormones such as testosterone that also promote acne.

Processed foods made with white flour and sugar lead to blood sugar spikes, causing insulin levels to go into the hateful “pimple-producing zone” Sugar and processed foods are not good for our skin.

The foods you should eat for radiant skin? Green vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, seeds, avocado’s, starchy vegetables, and whole grains, of course. These foods are loaded with antioxidants and help our skin repair damage.

Plant foods contain an array of phytochemicals. Foods rich in carotenoids are super foods for your body, not just your face., they supercharge the immune system’s defense and help prevent disease, including heart disease and cancer.  So in regards to the health of our skin, the more carotenoids and phytochemicals that are present, the faster our skin can repair damage, and remove and detoxify waste products and toxic compounds.

So, in summary, eat plenty of micronutrient-rich natural plant foods and say a kind “thank you, but no thank you,” to processed foods and dairy products for clear, radiant skin.  Avoiding dairy and junk food is all too easy when there are so many healthier, just as amazing, food options available.

Try: So Good, Almond Milk, Daiya “Cheese”, Vegnaise, Coconut Bliss Bars, Coconut Milk (Can replace cream in cream sauce) or Cashew Cream.

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