Natural Ways to Get Glowing Skin

November is Natural Skin Health Month. That makes right now the ideal time to shine a spotlight on the body’s largest organ—and the one that many of us pay the least attention to. Your skin reveals a lot about your overall level of health, and in this article, we reveal seven natural steps you can take to get glowing skin so that you look and feel great.

• Love the Skin You’re in
• Use a Mineral-Based Sunscreen Daily
• Collagen Supplements
• Exfoliate
• Take Care of Your Gut
• Incorporate Healthy Fats into Your Diet
• Keep Your Skin Microbiome Balanced
• Hydrate
• Summary

Love the Skin You’re in

Skincare is not simply about vanity, it is actually a valuable part of your health. Your doctor or pharmacy team can offer you a lot of qualified advice about what skincare options are suitable for you.

Your skin is the largest organ in your body. It provides the following essential functions:

• Serves as a waterproof barrier for your body
• Keeps harmful bacteria, viruses, and other toxic elements from the body
• Regulates body temperature
• Acts as a sensory receptor

As we age, there is a slow-down in skin regeneration. The result is wrinkles, fine lines, and sagging dry skin that is more prone to external damage.

Here are seven ways to start giving your skin the love it deserves.

Use a Mineral-Based Sunscreen Daily

Protecting your skin from ultraviolet radiation is extremely important. To do so, you should use a mineral based SPF sunscreen that is effective against both UVA and UVB rays. And don’t just limit your sunscreen use to those sweltering summer months. UV radiation can affect us all year round!

Look for an SPF 30+ sunscreen that is infused with such minerals as zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. Mineral sunscreens have SPFs that work by physically shielding the skin from the sun’s harmful UV radiation. Imagine them as a reflective sheet of glass; some of the sun’s rays hit it, bounce off, and protect the skin below.

Collagen Supplements

Collagen, a protein that binds tissues, is the most abundant protein in your body. It is basically what holds everything together. We naturally produce collagen every day—but as we age, right around twenty-five, that production slows down and we actually break it down faster than we can produce it. That, in turn, causes wrinkles, sagging skin, and achy joints.

We hear most about collagen in the skin industry as it keeps our skin plump and wrinkle free. It makes up about 75% of our skin, but we also find it in our tendons, cartilage, connective tissue, and bone matter.

By supplementing with collagen, you’ll stimulate the fibroblasts in your cells which are responsible for producing collagen. We recommend buying a collagen supplement that is sourced from wild caught fish or grass fed stock. The recommended dosage is ten to twenty grams per day.

Exfoliate

The cooler the weather is, the drier your skin becomes. This means when you apply a tanning product, results can be patchy and disappointing. In order to get the sort of tan that you see on the models on those fitness blogs, you need to exfoliate in order to rejuvenate your dry skin. Use a quality overall body exfoliator and work your way up from your feet, working the lotion in with circular motions.

Take Care of Your Gut

According to research, there are a number of ways that underlying gut health issues can show up on our skin, including in the form of breakouts and flushes. The manifestations of gut microbiome imbalance are not fully known. What is known is that the better we care for our gut health, the healthier our skin will be.

Inflammation and oxidative stress can develop throughout the body as a result of anything that is unhealthy for your gut, including sweets and processed meals. If these imbalances are not corrected, skin problems may result.

To promote a healthy gut microbiome, we recommend taking a prebiotic supplement.

Incorporate Healthy Fats into Your Diet

By adding healthy fats to your diet, you’ll be helping prevent dryness and strengthening cell membranes. This strengthens skin’s defenses against UV radiation and other environmental damage.

Get your healthy fats from nuts, fatty fish, avocados, eggs, and coconut oil.

When it comes to foods for healthy skin, we recommend eating a diet that is high in antioxidants, which can bind to free radicals. This prevents them from damaging the skin. Look for foods that are high in beta carotene, zinc, and vitamins A and D.

We also recommend moderating your alcohol intake. Alcohol depletes the body of the nutrients that it needs for healthy skin. Too much drinking also forces the skin to filter out a vast number of toxins. It can also lead to a vitamin B complex deficiency. The B complex vitamins are essential fighters against skin damage. For your skin’s sake, limit yourself to two drinks per day.

Keep Your Skin Microbiome Balanced

The term for the trillions of bugs that dwell on our skin is the skin microbiome, also known as the skin flora. There are up to eighty different fungus species and 1,000 different bacterial species. Some of them, such as Staph, Strep, and Candida species, are also found in your gut flora. On some parts of the skin, there are also a few Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus species, though considerably less than in the gut.

Keeping your skin microbiome healthy and balanced is crucial for glowing skin. The more balanced it is, the better able you will be to fight off UV radiation, oxidative stress, and skin dehydration.

Give your skin microbiome some love by choosing skincare products that contain prebiotics.

Hydrate

You know how important it is to hydrate the inside of your body to promote good health. Well, it’s just as important to hydrate the outside. Getting a plentiful supply of water into your system will keep your skin moisturized and glowing. To cover your body’s hydration needs, get into the habit of drinking half a gallon of water each day.

Summary

Skincare is an essential part of health care. Even if you previously neglected your skin, it is never too late to take more care as you age. Take on board our six suggestions during Natural Skin Health Month—and keep it going for the other eleven months of the year.