Meal Prep For Skin Health

As I’ve mentioned now a time or two, I used to struggle with hormonal cystic acne. Now, to say it 100% in past tense wouldn’t be entirely accurate, as I’m still ever evolving, and experimenting with different foods and activities that can make my skin condition fluctuate. So, while my skin is for the most part healed, I will still get one or two breakouts every now and then. This happens like clock work after a weekend ((like this past weekend, for me) of one too many cocktails, sugary indulgences and french fries, but, guess what? I’m okay with that. It’s called LIVING LIFE my friends. You can’t ‘eat clean’ and live a perfect healthy lifestyle all the time, you’ve gotta liveeee a little (I mean, actually YOU can do whatever YOU want and makes YOU feel your best, but this is how I feel and what I need sometimes to stay sane). Anyways, when this happens, I don’t panic…I know what my skin needs to bounce back as quickly as possible and get back to glowing healthy status. Enter: skin health meal prep…

Yesterday I prepared a bunch of food with components that are super beneficial to my skin health:

• Dark Leafy Greens
  • Pretty much any topic that discusses health promoting foods lists dark leafy greens as the number one thing to add to your diet, and skin health is no exception. Beyond all of the more commonly discussed benefits, they are loaded with Vitamin A. Do you know what’s super beneficial to getting rid of acne? Ding ding ding: Vitamin A.  People with acne will often be prescribed ‘retin-A’ topically to get rid of their acne, and guess what? You can also eat your vitamin A to help things along. This means getting into the ever trendy *KALE*. I eat all kinds of it, red kale, green kale, tuscan kale. I like tuscan kale for juicing (easier to fit into the juicer), green kale for massaging with apple cider vinegar or lemon, sea salt and extra virgin olive oil (you literally add some drizzles of those ingredients and massage it with your hands to break it down and it make it more pleasant to consume and easier on the digestive system), and I like to sauté red kale in a pan with some ghee butter, onions and garlic. Other great options are chard, collard greens, beet greens, and mustard greens to name a few.
    • As you can see in the photo above, I have massaged green kale, and sautéed red kale. I’ve heard that it’s important to have a good mixture of cooked and raw vegetables, you don’t want to consume solely one or the other. I sound like a broken record, but, this is important for digestion…and since the gut truly does govern what is expressed on the skin, when my digestion is off, my skin gets super out of whack and breaks out, IN SUMMATION: proper digestion and “evacuation” is key.

• Hydration: Water & High Water Content Vegetables
  • When I used to research how to get rid of my acne, I got so sick of reading: DRINK MORE WATER. I don’t know why I didn’t just listen to something so freaking simple. I now finally understand just how important it is to drink a lot of water. For my system to flush out the excess of toxins I consumed last weekend, I need lots and lots of water. When I’m drinking enough of it, I can truly see it in my skin. My eyes look more awake and brighter, my pores look smaller, my skin tone looks more even. Beyond just drinking water, it’s also helpful to consume a lot of high water content foods. My favorites are cucumbers, celery, watermelon, grapefruit, radishes, spinach and berries. A green juice is also always a good idea, here’s my favorite recipe. 

• Roasted Carrots
  • Carrots are super high in beta-carotene which is very beneficial to the skin. The antioxidants in carrots help to flush out toxins and protect the skin from the sun’s harmful rays. You can eat carrots raw or roasted, but I find that cooked carrots are super calming to my system and (of course) help with digestion.
    • I like to peel a bunch of organic carrots, toss in coconut or avocado oil and sprinkle with curry powder, cinnamon and sea salt, and roast at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.

• Pumpkin & Sunflower Seeds
  • Both pumpkin & sunflower seeds are super high in zinc. Many acne sufferers are deficient in zinc and to put it simply, the zinc in our body is responsible for carrying vitamin A to our skin, so not enough zinc can equal skin issues.  These seeds and their zinc content are also good for regulating hormone imbalances which are often one of the causes of acne. Make sure they’re raw, unsalted and organic for maximum benefits. I like to throw them into salads or grind them up for raw high fat treats like the snickerdoodle balls in the photo above. Here’s a recipe for another high fat cookie dough ball.

• Avocado
  • Avocados = amazing healthy fat source. On the topic of consuming healthy fats, I think of it as moisturizing my skin from the inside out. Healthy fats provide the lubrication needed to make things run smoothly and are quite literally expressed on your face in the form of a glow. That’s why I’ve got all kinds of oils in my medicine cabinet to slather on my face every day, and I’ve also got quite the collection in my kitchen pantry to ingest.

• Sweet potatoes
  •  Sweet potatoes are not only a delicious and low glycemic carbohydrate, but they are also high in Vitamin A. So, bring on the sweet potato fries…here’s my favorite recipe

• ** Special seasonal addition=FIGS
  • Obviously they’re not available year round, but while they are, you must take advantage. Figs are alkaline and super high in fiber, so…digestion blah blah blah you get the idea by now. They’re also the perfect whole food treat when you want something sweet.

As I always like to add, we are all different. These are the foods that help my skin & digestion, but you might be different. Let me know which are your favorite skin healing foods and tag #vibrantandpure or @vibrantandpure if you make any of my recipes!