Nutrition: Healthy food for summer skin

Nutrition tips and tricks can help ensure healthy summer skin. Photo / Getty Images

The body's largest organ - the skin - needs some extra love through the summer. Nutritionist and naturopath Lani Lopez shares her top tips.

There is nothing better than the warm kiss of summer sun on your skin.

Unfortunately there are also few things worse for your skin. What you eat is an important decider in skin health so here's how to feed your skin for a healthy summer.

Your skin is a great indicator of your health and wellbeing but, more than that, it is also our primary filter and plays a vital role in keeping toxins out. Living and breathing every moment, your skin is your biggest organ and needs nutrition plus some simple care to function well while looking and feeling good.

Here's the healthy skin plan in brief:

1. Eat fresh foods high in antioxidants and choose to eat healthy fats.
2. Moisturise using natural oils.
3. Regularly skin brush
4. Detoxify this summer.

Perfectly porous

Orange fruits and vegetables can improve your skin's resistance to sunlight. Photo / Getty Images

The skin is a filter protecting us from environmental dirt and toxins. In summer we wear less and get out more - exposing the skin to a lot more toxins each day. To improve your skin, let's start from the inside out.

Cleaning up your diet is key (scroll down for more details). Pile up your food pyramid with fresh fruit and veges, especially carrots, peppers and other bright orange fruits and vegetables which improve skin's resistance to sunlight. Make nuts and seeds your snacks. Pumpkin seeds are a great source of zinc and tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which decreases skin sensitivity to sunlight. Good news for the chocolate lovers among us as cocoa has been linked in research to UV protection.

For dietary take-outs, eliminate any foods you are sensitive to or have allergy to - to begin with; dairy, gluten and eggs. Cut-down refined sugars, processed foods, artificial colour, flavour and preservatives. Avoid fatty meats and go for water over alcoholic and caffeinated drinks. Water is crucial to hydrate the skin and flush toxins.

Keep your coat shiny

I often joke with clients that we are a lot like dogs with glossy, shiny coats when we are at our best. As with healthy hounds a bit of a brush works wonders. Skin is constantly shedding old-cells, generating new layers and dry brushing helps to remove layers of dead skin cells and stimulate skin circulation. Brush when skin is dry, use a firm brush in circular movements brushing your whole body. Start with the soles of the feet and work your way to the centre of your body continuing from your feet to ankles, calves and thighs. End on upper limbs from hands to elbows and shoulders.

To tone your skin up, brave a contrast shower. Try a minute or two under hot water, stimulating vasodilation of blood and lymphatic vessels bringing nutrients to skin surface. Then an equal time under cold, stimulating blood and lymphatic vasoconstriction to remove toxins and inflammatory molecules. Repeat the cycle three times and end the shower on cold!

Natural oils such as those from flax seed, avocado, coconut, olive and sesame seed provide mild sun-protection but are great to restore and retain skin oil and moisture.

Detox tips

Blood-cleansing tea can boost your summer detox. Photo / Getty Images

Beneficial to a skin-supportive summer is a detox. You can check out my

detox guide online for Element

.

Choosing some specific blood cleansing teas to sip can help with no effort at all, for example echinacea. Supplements to support liver detoxification include dandelion root (Taraxacum officinalis root) and milk thistle (Silybum marianum).

Teas to support kidney detoxification include dandelion leaf (Taraxacum officinalis leaf) and stinging nettle (Urtica dioica).

With this little bit of attention to your body and wellbeing you can get out and enjoy the rest of the sun-kissed summer.

Eat more

• Oily and whole fish
• Raw nuts
• Avocados
• Olive and flaxseed oil
• Nut and seeds
• Kale, capsicum, carrots, tomatoes
• Summer berries
• Citrus and fresh fruits
• Fermented foods
• Whole grains

Summer skin supplements

• High quality multivitamin - daily
• Vitamin A - as directed
• Vitamin C - 1,000 mg a day
• Antioxidants - selenium, turmeric, acai berries, resveratrol among others
• Probiotic - 1 capsule with breakfast and dinner
• Evening primrose oil - 1000 mg a day

Eat your vitamins

• Vitamin A
Found in any orange and yellow-coloured foods. Eggs are high in vitamin A and are a source of complete protein.

• Vitamin C
Found in berries, oranges, grapefruit, apples, kiwis and green leafy vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, herbs and spices.

• Vitamin E
Found in avocado, nuts (almonds, peanuts), sunflower seeds, apricots, paprika, basil and oregano.

• Selenium
Five brazil nuts per day delivers all the selenium you need.

• Zinc
Found in nuts, seeds and animal proteins such as chicken, turkey and fish.

• Gamma linolenic acid
Found in hemp seeds, spirulina, safflower oil, evening primrose oil, oats and barley.

Lani Lopez (Adv. Dip Nat, BHSc) is a naturopath, clinical nutritionist and founder of lanilopez.com. You can talk nutrition and wellbeing with Lani at facebook.com/lanilopez.com. For more news and tips from Element, sign up to our newsletter.