If you have problem skin, your probably know how to complement your skin care routine with a bit of exercise, fresh air, plenty of water & a healthy diet. But there are some foods that aren’t just healthy – they actively help your skin to recover. And some of them do this whether you eat them or mash them up & smear them on your face.
This list includes the foods that both benefit your skin & happen to be available in your local supermarket. It’s all very well harping on about the legendary benefits of some mystic vegetable when it only grows in tiny quantities up an environmentally sensitive mountain in deepest Borneo. What we need is fresh, easily grown produce that we can eat (& daub on our skin) all the time, without bankrupting ourselves or the planet.
Avocado: mostly grown in Mexico & California, avocados are an excellent source of vitamin E, which helps your skin – and the tissues supporting it – heal. This is especially valuable if you already have scarring from acne. They’re also a good source of B vitamins, which are great all-rounders & help prevent various skin conditions. You can mash avocados up & use them on your face, but they’re quite oily (& expensive) so you might be better off just eating them instead.
Broccoli: usually grown locally, & already a celebrity in the superfood world, broccoli is so crammed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants & anti-cancer substances that you need a really good excuse not to eat it. Boiling broccoli does remove some of its goodness, so steam, stir-fry or microwave it instead, to retain the maximum. It’s not bad eaten raw, either, once you get used to it – dry dipping in houmous – but it doesn’t make a great face-mask.
Oats: if you’ve been bombarding your skin with harsh “spot-banishing” products, it may well be feeling sensitive, maybe even dry in between the spots & oily patches. This is a painful situation to be in, but you can rebalance it quickly. Stop using any harsh ingredients like sodium laureth sulfate or salicylic acid, & start taking baths in porridge. Well – almost. It’s actually best to put a handful of oats in a sock or fabric bag to stop them floating around sticking to everything – but oats are excellent at moisturising & soothing sensitive, inflamed skin without making it too oily or introducing even more chemicals. They make an excellent facemask, too, either with water, or oghurt, banana & honey.
Yoghurt: can sometimes cause spots if you eat it, so if you have a dairy intolerance you may have to give this one a miss. However, natural live yoghurt (ie, still has live cultures in, & no sugar or fruit) is antibacterial & packed with nutrients. As a facemask yoghurt can reduce pore size, moisturise & clear spots. Mix it up with some oats or banana if you want something a bit sturdier than simply sloshing yoghurt on your face.
Suzie Saw is a writer who loves nature, animals, making clothes, dressing up in them & waiting like a preying mantis for “50% off!” emails from online skincare shops to land in her inbox.
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