Eat Your Way Beautiful
Beauty From Within
From "The Beauty Diet" by Lisa Drayer, MA, RD
My top 10 beauty foods are packed with the powerful nutrients and micronutrients your body needs to keep your cells refreshed and in good repair. To have delicate, soft skin, thick, shiny hair, long, smooth fingernails, clear, bright eyes, and a brilliant, gleaming smile, you need to nourish your body from within. The more nutrient-rich foods you eat, the greater you feel and the better you look!
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Top 10 Beauty Foods
From "The Beauty Diet" by Lisa Drayer, MA, RD
1. Wild Salmon
Salmon (especially the wild kind) is one of the healthiest foods you can eat. What's even more exciting is that consuming the pink fish can enhance your beauty. I picked salmon for my top 10 list because it is one of the best food sources of omega-3 fatty acids, those beneficial fats that enhance our health and appearance by fighting inflammation, keeping our cells supple, improving circulation, and helping our brains function optimally. Salmon is a beauty food because its nutrients play a key role in keeping the skin's outer layer soft and smooth. The omega-3s in salmon reduce inflammation on the cellular level that can cause redness, wrinkles, and loss of firmness.
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2. Blueberries
With their bright flavor and unmistakable blue hue, blueberries seem to be trying to catch our attention. Today the humble blueberry is experiencing a new level of popularity, not because it has a significant amount of any one vitamin or mineral but because of its unusual antioxidant profile. Researchers at a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) laboratory at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts, rank blueberries number one in antioxidant activity when compared to 40 common fresh fruits and vegetables. Blueberries contain many plant compounds that combine to make this sweet fruit an antioxidant superstar. I included blueberries in my top 10 beauty foods because their antioxidant, antiaging, and anti-inflammatory effects protect you from premature aging.
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3. Low-Fat Yogurt
I've included low-fat yogurt in my top 10 beauty foods because it is a terrific source of calcium, which is especially helpful if you want strong bones, beautiful nails, good posture, and a beautiful smile. One cup of plain, low-fat yogurt supplies about 450 milligrams of calcium. That's more than the amount of calcium in a cup of fat-free milk, and it supplies close to half of your daily calcium needs. The beauty benefits of yogurt are not limited to its calcium content, though. Eight ounces of yogurt has two grams of zinc, which is beneficial for your skin.
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4. Oysters
The expression "the world is your oyster" suggests that oysters have a world of benefits tucked inside their shell. These little gifts from the sea are on my top 10 list because they are the best whole-food source of zinc. People often think of oysters as an aphrodisiac, but the high zinc content of oysters is a great beauty benefit as this mineral is a major player in skin renewal and repair. It helps create collagen, which provides the structural support in skin. It also has antioxidant properties and has been shown to be a protective nutrient at the cellular level. Zinc helps maintain stronger nails, keeps the scalp and hair healthy, and helps protect eyes from vision problems. Zinc is highly concentrated in the retina, where it serves as a critical antioxidant and helps protect against eye-related diseases.
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5. Kiwifruit
Kiwifruit offers a rich nutritional reward in a small, delicious package. Inside of this small, brown, fuzzy fruit -- about the size and shape of a very large egg -- you'll find semitranslucent green flesh and small black seeds around a white center. Kiwifruit has a unique sweet flavor something like a combination of strawberries, pineapples, and bananas. I've included kiwifruit among the top 10 beauty foods because it offers more than just a tropical touch for your fruit salad: it has an unusually abundant amount of vitamin C and other antiaging antioxidants. Kiwifruit offers beauty benefits from stimulating collagen synthesis (vital to lovely skin) to maintaining healthy bones and teeth to protecting against wrinkles and premature aging. Because kiwis are antioxidant all-stars, they can help neutralize free radicals, which otherwise can cause damage to cells that could lead to inflammation, cancer , and heart disease.
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6. Sweet Potatoes
The orange color of sweet potatoes gives their secret away. Sweet potatoes are on my list of top 10 beauty foods because of their big boost of beauty-enhancing beta-carotene, a fat-soluble pigment found in many orange vegetables and fruits. It is a powerful antioxidant that protects our cells by destroying the free radicals that can damage cells (including skin cells) and cause age-related disorders. The body converts beta-carotene to vitamin A, which helps keep your skin smooth, so incorporating sweet potatoes into your diet can help you achieve wrinkle-free skin. Beta-carotene also may protect skin from the damage caused by sun exposure. One cup of cubed sweet potato contains a stunning 14,260 micrograms of beta-carotene.
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7. Spinach
Spinach is a versatile, affordable, readily available, low-calorie leafy green vegetable that is loaded with beauty-enhancing nutrients. I included it in my top 10 beauty foods because of its exceptional lutein content, which keeps our eyes healthy and bright. Spinach also contains a significant amount of beta-carotene, as well as vitamin C, several B vitamins, magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, zinc, dietary fiber, and even omega-3 fatty acids, making it a wonderfully nutrient-dense vegetable.
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8. Tomatoes
I added tomatoes to my list of top 10 beauty foods because they provide the greatest amount of the antiaging antioxidant lycopene, the bright red carotenoid pigment that gives tomatoes, watermelons, and pink grapefruit their distinctive color. Believe it or not, tomatoes are one food I encourage you to enjoy processed. The lycopene in tomatoes is actually more easily absorbed by the body after it is processed into juice, sauce, ketchup, or canned tomato puree. Ounce for ounce, the greatest source is canned tomato paste. It's a great staple to keep in your pantry to add to soups or stews for an antioxidant boost.
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9. Walnuts
Smooth skin tone, healthy hair, vibrant eyes, and strong bones can all be attributed to the dominant nutrients found in walnuts. I've included walnuts among my top 10 beauty foods because they are the only type of nut that contains a significant amount of beauty-enhancing omega-3 fatty acids, plus they also provide vitamin E, a fat-soluble antioxidant that helps protect cells from free-radical damage and is associated with beautiful skin.
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10. Dark Chocolate
Chocolate may be described as "sinfully delicious," but in fact it is a heavenly food with many virtues. I've included dark chocolate on my list of top 10 beauty foods because it is a treat for your skin as well as your taste buds. Scientific articles published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and other journals reveal that dark chocolate contains as many polyphenols as red wine and has potent antioxidant, antiaging properties. Chocolate contains many natural chemicals, including the beneficial flavonoids epicatechin and gallic acid, which are plant compounds that possess antioxidant properties.
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Willnax 12:07:51 PM Nov 03 2009
Wanna a good time gonna give what he hear gotta HAY! idime midde of Native in the jungle Black sheep now i gott Brother Cousin on a Quest you can get with this OR you can get with THAT!
Brycebrytm 01:18:52 PM Oct 28 2009
you don't even know what keeps your skin wrinkle free? oil what oil keeps your skin oily? peanut oil ( beanut butter) , this is also go for your joints and keeps you pain free, and milk is #1 cause of joint pain, and to much calcium causes your body to start stripping your bones of calcium.
notionalchris 12:43:17 PM Oct 28 2009
I have found that a great way to maintain and lose weight and enjoy yourself at the same time, is by making your own food! I just got into cooking.. my gf bought me this hilarious beginners cookbook called "Get in the Kitchen, BIT@HES!" (bitchcooks.com).. besides being hilarious.. really has some great starter recipes and food I never thought I could make myself.. check out the free recipes on the site... youll see.. plus.. i get the added bonus of my gf telling me to "get in the kitchen, Bit@H!".. have to say that's pretty hot...lol
GAI65 10:54:10 AM Oct 28 2009
Diet is important to the outcome of a natural look. If we had focused on a balanced diet instead of more budget problems. It would be more beneficial to all Americans, I guarrantee you that we have more people in need of food in shelter. these numbers continue to rise. Most human ailments are do directly to accidental injuries some insurance carrier failed to properly pay based on set values. We have allowed these companies into our way but they are too becoming a burden when they do not carryout there duties. This message was sent to you by Curtis Hayward. Making your way better for all!
leahdamato 10:54:05 AM Oct 28 2009
If this is so, I am happy. I like each one on the list! But don't forget moderation and a balanced diet! But this is representative as a true example. Don't forget to try and throw in excercise! Even cleaning your home, using the stairs, walking, yoga.....whatever you call your favorite form of physical fitness is good! There is a something out there for everyone! :)
LittleMissR17 10:43:38 AM Oct 28 2009
It's not necessarily eating meat that's unhealthy, it's eating in-excess. Too much meat gives you gout, a disease that mostly disappeared about a century ago, until recently. You want to know why the Atkins diet works? Because your body can only absorb so much protein, so after a while, it stops taking in protein and since it has no carbohydrates (the body's preferred source of energy) to feed off of and no other nutrients coming it, it begins depleting its stores. You finally plateau because your body panics, thinking it has to maintain stores because it's going to starve. Then, the moment you touch something that your body can actually digest and use, you balloon because your body packs all the lovely nutrients and starches away. Yes, we need the iron and protein in meat, but it's better to get iron from spinach than red meat and protein from fish and chicken, which at least have other healthy things to offer us. Too bad I absolutely despise salmon in any form.
Sprkydc 09:56:24 AM Oct 28 2009
FHCsoccerChicka 07:13:56 AM Aug 23 2009 The article is WRONG about caretinoids providing the red/pink pigment in tomatoes, watermelons etc. It is actually anthocyanins that provides the red color. Caretinoids provide primarily the yellow color...... If you had bothered to read the article fully, it never said that tomatoes contain caritinoids. It spoke of lycopenes in reference to tomatoes. And yes, sex IS good for your diet. You burn 200 calories just avoiding the wet spot.
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Read The Beauty Diet
Beauty nutritionist Lisa Drayer has helped her clients lose weight and maintain a youthful glow without cosmetic surgery. It's all about what you eat.
