Nutrition tips for beautiful skin

In addition to my changed skincare routine, I'm trying to incorporate some 'inside' treatments to help me along and I thought you might be interested. I'm not a nutritionist or a specialist, but I'm just speaking of my own experience and what works for me.

1. Balanced diet. This is the first and most important point in keeping not only your skin, but also the whole organism healthy. Of course, following a balanced diet is sometimes really difficult, but we should always try and aspire to it, whether it'd be refusing another mojito or adding some fruit/veggies to a lunch box.

2. Moderation. Speaking of a balanced diet, the rule of the golden means definitely works for helping your skin out. Too much of anything may cause problems as well as ruling some products out of your diet completely. One example could be a skincare myth stating that eating chocolate may lead to acne, which caused me to avoid chocolate in any form for 2 years when I was 14. Not eating chocolate did not improve my acne, and I felt really miserable not allowing myself even a praline. On the other hand, devouring 2 bars a day will definitely cost you some pimples if not some more serious health conditions.

2. Drinking plenty of water. I know everyone says that and I am the first to completely forget about drinking it (like last Tuesday, when I got home at 7pm and realized I only drank 2 cups of tea throughout the day), but it really helps to get rid of the toxins and keeps your kidneys in shape.

3. Fruit and veggies. In the summer, we enjoy a wide selection of fresh fruit and veggies that contain essential vitamins and minerals that definitely play an important role in achieving healthy, dewy skin. Some nutritionist advise eating fruit or vegetables 5 times a day, which sounds quite unfeasable to a normal, hard-working human being. My methods to smuggle some fresh produce into my meals include eating sandwiches with lots of tomato and chive, berries for lunch and peaches for supper, eating out in a vegetarian bar, or if anything else fails, drinking organic carrot or fruit juice.

4. Fish. Eating fish is especially important for those of us who suffer from dryness, as some kinds of fish like salmon, herring, tuna or mackerel contain lots of healthy omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids that help to moisturize and condition the skin. If you dislike the taste, try taking cod-liver oil tablets, but you have to be careful not to overdo it as vitamin A overdose is toxic (thanks to Little Rus for the info!).

5. Supplements. Currently, we have lots of different food supplements that promise us a beautiful, healthy, radiant skin. What we have to remember though is that these products will not dramatically improve our skin as they're not medicine and as such have no clinically proved results. They can however help if we chose them appropriately and follow the recommendations for use. Right now, I'm using pansy (Violae tricoloris) extract pills to help cleanse my system, but unfortunately the immediate result in my case is having even more blemishes while the skin is getting rid of the toxins. For the next step, I'm going to take yeast tablets which help to regulate hormonal imbalance.

Also, I finally decided to go for a professional facial. I've never had one so far and I don't really know what to expect, but I'm so tired of what's going on with my skin and actually scarred that it might be very difficult to conceal for my wedding day that I'm planning to go this week. I'm thinking of a Dermalogica facial for acne-prone skin, has anyone had any experiences with it? xxx