It is said that you are what you eat, this simply means that the kind of food you ingest overtime begins to reflect on your health and on your skin.

Here are a few things you could add to your diet that can help improve the appearance of your skin:

• WATER- the importance of water can never be over emphasized, drinking water helps to flush out toxins in the body, plus it leaves your skin looking supple and well hydrated. IIknow a lot of people who say they do not like the taste of water, if you fall into this category, you can infuse lemon or cucumber into your water, drink at least 2-3 litres of water daily.
• FRUITS AND VEGETABLES- eating fruits and vegetables regularly provides our bodies with vitamins and minerals that help to nourish our skin. It is advised that we eat five portions of varieties of fruits and vegetables every day.
• NUTS AND SEEEDS- these are good sources of essential amino fatty acids, our body cannot make this kind of fat on its own, some of this nuts and seeds contain zinc which helps to form skin barriers. Walnuts, Almond nuts, Groundnuts, Chia seeds, Pumpkin seeds and Sunflower seeds etc are all examples of nuts and seeds, a hand full can be eaten when necessary.
• SPICES- like turmeric, cumin, fenugreek etc can be included to your food to help promote your health and skin as they are rich in antioxidants, antisepticproperties and anti-inflammatory agents that help to improve your skin.

AVOID- eating saturated fats, fried foods, excess sugar, fuzzy drinks, pastries etc regularly as they do more harm than good to your skin, remember let your food be thy medicine and let thy medicine be thy food-Hippocrates.

by Dietitian Chukwuamaka D Ezeoke.