The diet plays a great role in your looking young. An adequate diet prevents you not only from falling ill but also from looking old. Let us see some wonderful ways in which a healthy diet helps us look young and beautiful.
Skin: Mostly your skin is the perfect mirror to your age. As you start aging, your skin does not remain tight and gradually loses its glow. But there are certain ways in which you can look maintain your skin and attractive looks.
- Introduce good amount of zinc and vitamin A in your diet. Zinc helps in the skin’s auto repair mechanism and vitamin A keeps the skin supple, preventing dryness and helping shed dead cells. Zinc is commonly found in beef, eggs and sea food whereas many dark-green leafy vegetables are rich in beta carotene, which are the body converts of vitamin A. Beta carotene is also present in surplus amount in carrots, sweet potatoes, sweet red peppers, apricots and mangoes.
- Vitamin C improves the blood supply to the skin and helps in forming collagen, the fibrous protein which lies under the skin’s surface and gives it a smooth appearance. Vitamin C is present in citrus fruits and juices, cauliflower, snow peas, red and green peppers, broccoli, white and sweet potatoes, tomatoes and watermelon.
- Greens are wonderful source of skin preserving nutrients and generally the darker the leaves, the more nutritious.
- The cooking of food also matters a lot. The longer you cook the food, the greater is the loss of vitamins and texture. Do not soak the vegetables for long while washing them otherwise the water soluble vitamin C will be drained with the water.
- Drinking 6-8 glasses of water each day is also a great way to keep your skin healthy.
- Avoid excess of coffee and colas. Coffee contains caffeine, a diuretic that induces water loss.
Hair: Hair are also an essential ingredient to look young and vibrant. Long and beautiful hair add to your appearance.
- Eat food rich in iron and protein (amino acids) such as green leafy vegetables, red meat, milk, eggs and grains etc.
- Wash your hair regularly and avoid using chemicals on your hair.
Immune system: besides all that which is apparently visible, there is another important ingredient to good and young looks i.e. your immune system. At a growing age the immune system needs to be strong enough to ward off all kinds of health snags. In order to keep your immune system healthy, eat food rich in vitamins E and C and beta carotene known as anti oxidants which are powerful disease fighters.
If your immune system is not good, with age the cells of your body start damaging due to the accumulated toxic compounds called free radicals. To counter that anti-oxidants are a good choice. Anti oxidants impair the ability of these substances to attack healthy cells and thus avoid some of the damage.
Finally to stay healthy and fit even while growing old, you must consume good amount of proteins. Proteins should make up nearly 10-30% of your daily diet, around 10% calories should be taken through the fats and the rest should be compensated through carbohydrates.