Beauty Food

It is the era of paranoia and fear. A time full of facts about food: what they do to you, what they could do to you and what they don’t do to you. This is the era of food-a-phobia.

 The babble about which foods cause what disease is never going to end. As more ‘experts’ research every aspect of what we consume, it’s inevitable that we’re going to have a phobia of what we eat.

 Enter the Super Foods, our heros, our saviour.  

  A great day could start with a bowl of porridge oats.  They are filling and slow burning; they will keep you going till lunch. They are high in Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, Vitamins E  and B and a bowl full has oodles of Protein.

 If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, then think about your skin: the Vitamin E in porridge can help improve your skin and it’s great if you are stressed and tired.

 If you’re constantly tired and stressed, then lines and wrinkles are going to appear more rapidly. Pomegranate seeds are full of Alagin, a super nutrient which increases your body’s ability to preserve collagen - the thing that people pay to have injected into their faces… why not make an investment now and eat a pomegranate a day? They’re in season right now.

 You may have eaten them in a muffin or in pancakes, but do them some justice and eat them on their own once in a while, because the Blueberry, when it comes to Super Foods, is like a king.

 Packed full of fiber and free radical fighting antioxidants, these little berries help to prevent cell-structure damage caused by the sun, stress and exercise; which can lead to fine lines, wrinkles and a reduction in skins firmness.  

Experts recommend eating at least half a cup a day.

 Probably one of the easiest and cheapest of all Super Foods is Spinach. Like the Sprout, it’s reputation precedes it and is constantly shunned as boring and disgusting. 

 Try Baby Leaf Spinach in a salad or a pitta or even wilt it in a frying pan with some garlic and onion - delightful.

 Spinach is bursting with Beta-Carotene, which helps skin hold onto elasticity and helps fight against sun damage - so please, just give Spinach a chance, otherwise the consequences could be far worse than the parental threats of: You won’t grow up to be big and strong.” 

 Apart from being a healthy and handy snack to have between meals, nuts and seeds contain lots of useful fats, such as the highly regarded Omega 3.

 Along with Fibre, Protein, Calcium, Vitamin E and a long list of other nutritional pluses, nuts and seeds contain lignins, which have cancer-fighting properties. So go, erm, nuts! But make sure they are unsalted, unsweetened and aren’t chocolate covered, because that’s just counter productive.

 Moving on to our celebrities of late, the Acai and Goji berries, they seem to be every where, but why are they so good for us? 

 It is said that Goji berries, pound for pound, have more vitamin C than oranges; they contain 18 kinds of Amino acids; more Beta-Carotene than carrots, which can help fight heart disease, defend against cancer and help protect skin from sun damage. Some experts even say that [wink] they can raise your libido.

 Some fats are good fats, these fats are called Monounsaturated fats, and can help with digestive and cardiovascular health; that’s why it has been suggested Acai berries can help you loose weight.

 As well as helping with weight loss, the Acai berry has 10 times the amount of antioxidants than grapes and they help with muscle contraction and regeneration - which is all great, especially if you go to the gym a lot.

  The theme of maintaining healthy skin is preventing sun damage - so not too much sun exposure. Also you should keep your skin hydrated by drinking a lot of water, but why not try drinking something that is going to do two things at once?

 Green Tea has been drank for centuries by the Chinese and contains many antioxidants which can help prevent sun damage boost your metabolism - it has been said that Green Tea can reverse the effects of ageing too.

  If you’re addicted to chocolate, then you’re going to love this: Dark chocolate (65% and above) has health benefits; it can lower your blood pressure, lower your colestoral and it releases good endorphins when you eat it.

 Only 1/3 of the fat in Dark Chocolate is bad for you, which means some of the fatty acids in chocolate are good for you, such as: Oleic Acid, which is a monounsaturate - this helps lower cholesterol; Stearic Acid, which is a saturated fat, (bad normally) but this one has a neutral effect on cholesterol; and Palmitic Acid, which is the one that causes heart disease and raises cholesterol - bad, but in moderation it’s ok.

  Two out of three is good though, and it means you can eat a small bar of dark chocolate everyday, Try Green and Blacks 85% bar.

 Last Super food that is easy to include in your diet is Olive oil.

 Once again, it has those monounsaturated fats in it - the good ones. It contains Vitamin E and has cancer preventing properties. So cook with it, use it in salad dressings and throw out your vegetable oil.

  So, 10 little tips to healthier skin and, potentially, a happier you.

 But don’t forget, just because they are called Super Foods, they aren’t going to cause a miracle - you won’t magically loose weight because you ate a pomegranate, and you aren’t going to have the skin of a new-born baby because you drank a cup of Green Tea.

 These things take time and a balanced lifestyle: yes that means exercise and watching what you eat, but it will all be worth it when you have an amazing complexion.

 Try a Super Food salad for lunch for a week and see if you feel any different.