How To Eat Your Way To Glowing Skin
6.01.20
Photo by Alique Studio for Vogue Paris
As a self-proclaimed skincare junkie, I've tried every product in the book that promises me baby skin and a glowing complexion overnight. I love testing new products and my skincare hobby (or addiction I should say) isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. After many over-promising products and an overflowing beauty cabinet, I’ve begun to wonder if the results I crave aren’t JUST about what I put on my face but maybe what I put in my body matters too? Subconsciously I know that my second (or third) oat milk latte of the day isn't doing my skin any favors, but in order to get the bottom of this theory, I asked my friend and holistic nutritionist from RASA LIFE, Mia Ridgen, to answer all of my questions.
Emily: So what is the first step towards cutting cravings and eating my way to glowing skin?
Mia: Finding a way where you can eat foods that scratch that itch and feel comforting and delicious, but then also working towards your goals and providing a lot of nutrition to give you energy so that you feel good. You know support your mind, body, soul all of that jazz. It’s really important and it’s totally possible.
Emily: Are there types of foods that people can start incorporating into their lives that can help with skin in general? Whether it be healthier skin or more glowing skin?
Mia: I like to take a 360-degree approach to this. Often times we like to hear ‘what is the one food you can eat?’ and then all of a sudden your skin will be glowing. And I really wish that that was the case but it’s not. It’s really a confluence of what you are eating, what you’re not eating, and also other activities. Food makes a huge difference. So It’s important what you add into your diet and also what you limit. I am not going to say don’t eat completely, just limit.
Emily: When I hear the word limit, my brain immediately goes to caffeine and alcohol…
Mia: Two things that come with caffeine and alcohol is that they’re both diuretics. That means that they can dehydrate you. And we know that you don’t want to have dehydrated skin. So drinking a lot of water is really important as well as not drinking excessive amounts of caffeine and alcohol. And everyone is different. Maybe for you, you have your morning coffee and an afternoon coffee and you drink a lot of water during the day and you feel ok. But if that afternoon coffee is disrupting your sleep at night, that can have an effect on your skin as well. So maybe you have a decaf in the afternoon. Everyone reacts differently to caffeine. Some people drink a coffee after dinner and they’re able to go to sleep. I’m not one of those people. But if you find that maybe 2pm is your threshold and having caffeine after 2pm really interrupts your sleep, then maybe you want to make that second coffee a little earlier than that and make sure to be drinking water.
Emily: I do see a difference when I drink a lot of caffeine. I notice on photoshoots I will stay away from a lot of caffeine because I see it automatically right around my under-eyes. It really impacts that area for me.
Mia: Also with alcohol, there is a level of inflammation that happens. And some people are more susceptible to it than others. If you’ve ever abstained from drinking completely for a couple of weeks, you can really see it in your face. I’m not saying don’t drink. When summer comes and we are able to go out of the house again I know I’m going to want a Margherita. But just figure out what your limits are and do some self-discovery. Now we’ve got lots of time on our hands to do that, so hopefully that will help you figure out ‘ok maybe I can have can have one or two glasses of wine but when it goes to three then it really affects my sleep and I look tired and puffy the next day’.
Emily: Are there a few key foods to lean towards? What areas of the grocery store should I be focusing on?
Mia: Definitely the produce section. Of course vitamins are very important for the skin, especially the super antioxidant rich vitamins like Vitamin E, Vitamin A and Vitamin C. These are three very important vitamins for skin health. But so are B Vitamins, Vitamin D, Vitamin K. I’m not going to say there is a vitamin that’s not important for skin health because a lot of times what’s going on internally we show externally. So, I always encourage my clients to eat a diversity of fruits and vegetables. It’s not just having a lot of them, but it’s making sure you have a lot of variety in your diet. Because every vegetable and fruit for that matter has its own unique mix of vitamins, minerals and phyto-nutrients, so the more variety that you eat the more nutrition you are getting.
Emily: Does it matter if you are eating these foods raw v. cooked?
Mia: Well, if you overcook your vegetables, if you are just boiling them to death, then you will lose some of the nutrient quality. But sometimes raw vegetables can be difficult to digest. So generally what I say is to eat a mix. I don’t think that for most of us we don’t have to be too intentional about it, because sometimes we have a salad and other times we have a soup, and then just naturally we end up having a good mix of things. And everyone is different! Some people have a really hard time digesting cruciferous vegetables which are foods like broccoli, kale, brussels sprouts, cabbage. Some people can only eat those vegetables cooked as they are very fibrous. Other people are fine eating them. So I think understanding your own body and figuring out what foods agree with you is important. And then just trying to eat the vegetables however you like them. However you are going to eat the vegetable, eat it!
Emily: You mention all of the vitamins and antioxidants, what are your thoughts on supplements to get them?
Mia: I think you need both. There is this whole issue of soil health. When a vegetable is picked that is when it is the freshest and that is when you are going to have the highest concentration of nutrients. So if you have some broccoli in the fridge for a week, then slowly everyday it is depleting nutrients. We also don’t know how the quality of the soil was, how much calcium is in that broccoli vs. the broccoli from 100 years ago. So I think taking a multi vitamin is a good safety net. We don’t take multi vitamins for near term benefits. It’s not like you are going to take it and then all of a sudden be like ‘wow my skin,’ unless you had a severe nutrient issue which hopefully would have come up in your annual doctor appointment or something like that. But generally, these are for long term benefits to help give us an overall level of vitamins and minerals so we don’t have to overly scrutinize what we’re getting from each meal that we are eating. Because that would be a full time job.
Emily: If you were going to put together a perfectly balanced meal for glowing skin, what would be on my plate?
Mia: I would recommend that 70% of your plate is vegetables. And I would look for diversity in vegetables like different colors and textures. Different colors are signaling different phyto-nutrients, so the more colors on your plate the more nutrition you are going to get. Then the other 25-30% of your plate I would have some high quality proteins. You’re going to get a lot of amino acids from animal protein. But if you chose a plant based protein that works, as you can have things like beans and tofu. You are also getting protein from the vegetables, but you’re going to have more amino acids from animal protein and also it’s going to be easier for you to absorb. You also may get some collagen, which I know is very trendy these days, and that is helpful for hydration and also elasticity of your skin. If want to have some whole grains in there that’s where you are going to get some fiber. And having whole grains versus refined grains that means white rice versus brown. So the husk of the grain is where all of the nutrients are and there’s a lot of B vitamins which is really important for energy and overall health.
Emily: I feel like I have read this on so many blogs, but for skin, aren’t Omega 3’s an important thing for this? like salmon and fish?
Mia: Absolutely! So essential fatty acids are your Omega 3’s and your Omega 6’s. When something is essential, like a vitamin or a nutrient, it means our body cannot make it ourselves. So we have to get it from our diet. You can get Omega 3’s from fatty fish. There is also Omega 3’s in eggs, walnuts, flaxseeds. But the EPA and the DHA is part of the Omega 3, so when we are getting them from plant based sources, our body has to convert the Omega 3 fatty acid into its active form, the EPA and the DHA. But when you are eating it from fish like wild salmon, then you are getting that directly. So I recommend if you are not eating a fatty wild fish three times a week, I think taking a fish oil supplement, like cod liver oil or fish oil, is really effective. And if you are vegan, you can take marine algae and still get the EPA and that DHA.
Emily: So probiotics and prebiotics, are they important for skin or not?
Mia: Yes, very important. So essentially, we have this whole eco-system living inside of our gut and on our skin as well. There is good bacteria and there is bad bacteria. But when we have more good bacteria in our gut, that is going to help our immune system, our digestion and hormone regulation. All of these things are really important for your skin health as well. So probiotics are like basically ingesting good bacteria and prebiotics are food for the good bacteria in your gut so that that bacteria can continue to thrive. Bad bacteria unsurprisingly thrives off of things like processed foods, and sugar and alcohol. The more of those foods we consume, the more that bad bacteria will be able to grow and then that can actually influence our cravings. But on the flip side, prebiotics are found in lots of foods like garlic, onions, and bananas. By eating a diversity of fruits and vegetables, you are going to get that prebiotic. You can also take a probiotic, they call them symbiotic, which has probiotics and prebiotics in them. I think if you eat a lot of vegetables you probably don’t need to take a prebiotic. But taking a probiotic is really smart. Or you can eat probiotic rich foods which would include anything that is fermented, like miso, yogurt, kombucha, sauerkraut, any sort of lacto fermented vegetables. If you don’t like sauerkraut, now at the grocery store they have lacto fermented carrots and beets. Those are great.
Emily: There are so many times where I buy a probiotic and then people are like ‘oh it doesn’t work if it’s in a capsule,’ and then I’m trying to eat yogurt but I’m like ‘I don’t want to eat this dairy.’ It’s a roller coaster!
Mia: Yeah, there’s a lot. But lot of times what is going on inside of your body manifests in your skin so your gut health really has a direct correlation. If you have been noticing that you’ve been traveling, have been a little unhealthy, you’ve been drinking more, eating more sugar than normal, or if you ate some really greasy foods, for some people their skin reacts immediately and they break out. And that’s a real tell-tale sign. Improving digestion and keeping your microbiome in balance is really important. And you are the expert on you, so it can be really confusing when you hear all of this conflicting information. But if you know that something feels good in your body and your skin looks good and you feel good then that works for you and it’s important to trust your intuition there. But yeah, there’s a lot of information.
Emily: You’ve mentioned to eat a ton of vegetables, colorful vegetables. If you had to name top 5 skin foods that are great for skin, what would you say?
Mia: Lot’s of leafy greens that’s wonderful. I like anything orange colored so sweet potatoes, carrots, honey dew melon, papaya that’s going to give you a lot of Vitamin A. I am a huge fan of bone broth because you are going to get a lot of collagen and a lot of hydration. And I know it’s not really a food but water, count that! And then of course limiting sugar, refined grains and processed foods. Just adding in those skin healthy foods is not going to work if you are still eating all of these other things.
Emily: I can really feel when I eat or drink something bad for me, I feel an immediate difference. Certain things will make me feel hyper or sluggish.
Mia: Well that can be a good thing because then you are actually realizing what is happening to your body in real time. And sometimes you don’t realize it until you’ve totally gone on the other side of the spectrum and you’re like ‘oh crap.’ But if you’re like ‘wow this food doesn’t feel good to me,’ and you know that, then it is easier to avoid or to make decisions that are more supportive of your body.
Overall, Mia says that the right approach to eating your way to glowing skin is to look at it as a long term goal, rather than a short term fix. Healthy eating should be something that is sustainable and something that becomes a part of your everyday diet. Lucky for us, Mia isn’t saying to totally eliminate anything, as that’s unrealistic. But creating a good balance and eating healthy foods more frequently, to offset a time where you squeeze in something not as healthy, is the right approach.
Now next time I go to the food store, I’ll now know what to add to my shopping cart!
This interview has been edited and condensed
I spoke with holistic nutritionist Mia Rigden to find out what we all should be eating for glowing skin!
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