Spinach Strawberry Salad with Walnuts Contains Beneficial Plant Chemicals for Healthy Skin
Make an Avocado Strawberry Walnut Salad with spinach to get lots of vitamins for glowing skin!
Much money is spent on cleansers, sunscreens, and night creams made with high-quality ingredients and not-so-high-quality ingredients to maintain a healthy complexion, but what we eat may be our best weapon for fighting wrinkles, dark spots, and saggy skin! Good nutrition from foods works from the inside out, keeping our skin firm and elastic!
But what we eat may also protect our skin from cancer too! This post shares a little about the foods to put on our plates to maintain that youthful glow!
What foods help our skin glow?
Here Are Vitamins for Glowing Skin
- Many vitamins and minerals work as antioxidants to help slow the skin’s aging process. Below are some of these. Food is always more effective than supplements, and sometimes, supplements may have less favorable results. Food also provides healthy plant chemicals called phytochemicals, so eating a variety of colors in our diets can also be helpful!
- Vitamin C: An essential building block that produces collagen, a protein in our skin. It also helps prevent oxidative damage to our skin, which may contribute to tissue breakdown. Foods that contain vitamin C include oranges and other citrus, tomatoes, bell peppers, strawberries, and mango; check out the article for more on vitamin C and skin health.
- Vitamin E: Helps protect skin cell membranes and guard against UV radiation damage. It works with vitamin C to boost anti-aging building proteins in our skin. Foods containing vitamin E include plant oils such as olive oil, avocado, nuts, and seeds.
- Beta Carotene: This nutrient benefits our skin by building and repairing skin tissue and may protect against sun damage. Foods that include beta carotene are broccoli, dark leafy greens, sweet potatoes, carrots, and cantaloupe.
- Selenium: This trace mineral protects our skin from sun damage, delays the aging process, and protects the quality of our skin. It may protect from some skin cancers. Food sources like grains, meats, seafood, and Brazil nuts (these nuts should be eaten sparingly because of their high amount)
- Essential Fatty Acids: According to Web MD, essential fatty acids protect skin from damage and help keep it looking younger. Food sources include fatty fish such as salmon, trout, mackerel, sardines, walnuts, chia, and flax seeds.
- Water: Remember to hydrate skin with adequate amounts of water, which, according to Women’s Health Magazine, reduces the appearance of wrinkles and minimizes the size of pores.
Avocado Strawberry Salad Walnut Recipe
Here is a delicious strawberry walnut salad recipe that contains some of these age-fighting foods. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and I do!
Avocado Strawberry Walnut Salad
The beautiful colors of orange, red, green, and brown provide beneficial health chemicals that add healing properties. However, the best benefit is its fantastic flavor! It was inspired by a recent trip to Florida, where we enjoyed some seasonal honey bell oranges and local strawberries!
Makes four servings
1 serving orange, sliced horizontally, cut into four pieces, and peeling cutaway
One avocado is peeled and cut into slices, and then each slice is cut in half
1 cup strawberries, stemmed and sliced into four pieces
4 cups of baby spinach, washed well and drained
1/4 cup walnuts
In four bowls, divide the spinach, then add sliced oranges, strawberries, avocado, and walnuts. Drizzle with salad dressing
Best Dressing for Strawberry Spinach Salad
Juice of one lemon
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1-2 teaspoons of honey to taste
Mix all the ingredients in a cruet and shake well.
Good Skin Fruits and Vegetables for Skin
What fruit is good for your skin to eat or apply to the skin? There are a lot of great options.
Fruits for Healthy Skin
Fruits benefit our skin when we eat them and can also be helpful in skincare products! It mentions a yogurt mango smoothie for the face, but it would also be delicious!
If you have been wondering what fruit is best for skin health and products, here is a list:
- Citrus: Like lemons and oranges, citrus is high in vitamin C and has significant natural bleaching.
- Strawberries: natural exfoliator, rich in alpha hydroxy and ellagic acid, which helps prevent UV damage; it is also rich in vitamin C
- Papaya and Bananas: Both are rich in vitamin A & C
- Watermelon and Tomatoes: Rich in A & C as well as lycopene, which helps prevent tissue damage to the skin
- Pineapple: Contains Bromelain, an enzyme that is anti-inflammatory and provides wound healing
- Grapes: contain a powerful phytochemical called polyphenols, which are excellent for the skin and have many other benefits!
- Mango: Rich in vitamins E, A, and C. In addition, it has healing properties to reduce scars.
- Kiwi: Helps with puffy eyes and wrinkles. It is rich in vitamin C.
- Cucumber is a skin-whitening fruit that can reduce fine lines, puffy eyes, and dark circles. It is very hydrating and rich in vitamin C.
- Apples and Apricots: Rich in vitamins A & C and anti-inflammatory properties.
- Avocados: rich in vitamins A and C, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which help prevent UV damage.
Vegetables for Healthy Skin
The U.S. Dermatology Partners and the Cleveland Clinic have some great resources regarding the benefits of vegetables for skin health.
- Yellow Vegetables: These are rich in vitamin C, which the body uses to create collagen, and A, which helps in cell turnover. Examples include yellow squash, peppers, and corn.
- Leafy Greens: which help reduce skin cancer. They are also rich in antioxidants, which promote healthy skin turnover. In addition, the lutein and zeaxanthin help prevent UV damage.
- Broccoli: is high in sulforaphane, which helps protect against UV rays and maintains higher levels of collagen production.
Make At Home Healthy Skin Creams
Let’s Make Some Healthy Skin Recipes!
Besides what you eat, ingredients from our kitchen can even be used to make face and body care products! For example, mashed strawberries or mangos can be made into a mask with vitamin C that can benefit the face, just like many body care products on the market. Here are a few ideas from Reader’s Digest to help get you started!
Make a Summer Strawberry Salad with Walnuts to Feel and Look Your Best!
I hope you can make this walnut spinach salad and eat high-vitamin foods. I also hope that you try some make-at-home skin creams. I recently taught this class, and the students loved making their products!
Healthy skin glows!
Some other resources that can help improve your overall health and skin include our Women’s Nutrition program here. I also have a Plant-based eating program, and/or we could individualize your plan to provide a combination of these topics! I would love to help you look and feel your very best!
As a registered dietitian nutritionist living in Asheville, I love helping others feel more youthful and healthy. I am also very happy to benefit from learning more about it! If you are new to the Vine Ripe Nutrition blog, I hope you return soon! I will share many great ideas in the next few weeks.
