The skin is the largest organ of the body and reflects what is going on internally. If you do not exercise or eat a healthy balanced diet that contains all the essential nutrients your skin is not going to look your best.
When it comes to your wedding day every bride wants to look the best that they can possibly be. The secret to ensuring that you glow on the day when all the attention is focused on you is to get active and eat well.
Simply by getting the body moving and doing some form of cardio exercise will increase circulation, taking more essential nutrients around the body as well as to skin cells. This in turn assists in cell regeneration as well as help to expel toxins through the skin via sweating.
Getting active also helps to reduce stress which relieves pressure off of the adrenal gland. When the body contains excess adrenalin this can cause stress related pimples etc. Regular exercise will also help control hormone production which will also combat hormone related acne.
Weight training will help to tighten the muscles and the body not only looks better, it will have a shapely figure with great posture. More muscle will mean an increased metabolism so the body’s functions and processes run regularly to take nutrients from food and remove waste and toxins.
Just by having a body that is fit and healthy will radiate a glow of wellness. Exercising outside is beneficial to the skin as the fresh air will stimulate a glowing complexion.
From a nutritional point of view the key to great looking skin is ensuring you put unrefined natural foods into your body. Eating processed foods, drinking excessive alcohol puts strain on the system that accelerates the aging process. You should ensure you eat food rich in vitamins and essential fatty acids to slow down the aging effect that free radicals have on the body. Antioxidants repair the damage that free radicals do to all cells, muscle and organ tissue in the body. (FYI: free radicals occur naturally during the exercise and as a by product of metabolising food and generally the body can deal with this. However environmental factors such as pollution, smoking, pesticides etc expose the body to more than it can tolerate hence the need to increase antioxidant intake to outweigh this)
The essential nutrients for great looking skin are:-
Vitamin C: Required for growth and repair of all tissues as well as being required for formation of collagen. Collagen provides elasticity to the skin that helps keep it supple and firm. Vitamin C is found in a wide range of fruit and vegetables – key is to eat a ‘rainbow’ of colours.
Vitamin E: Fat soluble vitamin that slows down aging process by preventing breakdown of tissues and protects against free radicals and the oxidation of essential fatty acids. It is abundant in natural vegetable oils such as, corn, soybean and safflower. Avocados are rich in Vitamin E also.
Vitamin A: Promotes healthy skin as antioxidant and prevents skin aging. Found in eggs and dairy. Plant sources of beta carotene (which the body converts into Vitamin A) are dark green vegetables and orange ones such as carrots and pumpkin.
Other top tips:-
- The body is made up of approx 70% water and for it to function at its optimum it is essential to stay hydrated – ensure you drink 2 to 3 litres a day, potentially more if you exercise and sweat a lot. Also reduce caffeine intake as this can cause dehydration.
- Sleep – the body repairs at night so you need to ensure you get at least 6 to 7 hours a night. To look great on your wedding day get a good night’s rest before.
- Eat wholegrain products to ensure adequate fibre intake to prevent body becoming sluggish and toxins reabsorbed.
- Ensure protein intake adequate to assist in growth and repair of all cells in the body.