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Pumpkin also provides you with vitamin C 17 percent of your daily value in one cup of canned stuff. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that defends your skin against the free radicals that can destroy collagen. Because free radicals are made naturally in your skin, and because vitamin C cannot be stored in your body, it is really important to make sure that your daily diet is stocked with this vitamin.
Not Just for Pie
Not sure how to include pumpkin into your diet other than by baking it in a pie? Here are some quick ideas: Try roasting pumpkin for a delicious spin on winter squash, or pair it with chickpeas and curry in a fabulous fall stew (see p. 268 for recipe).
Abundant in the autumn months, fresh pumpkin is great skin-healthy food. Canned pumpkin is also fine if that’s all that’s available. Perfect for soups, pieces of bread, and muffins, canned pumpkin is stocked on shelves year-round, and it gives you most of the health benefits of fresh pumpkin (plus, it is easier to work with).
Zucchini
Zucchini, also known as summer squash, is a relative of the melon and cucumber. This vegetable contains many nutrients that can help your skin protect itself from the damage that restricts its ability to retain moisture.
Care for Your Skin with Carotenoids
Green and yellow vegetables are good sources of carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin. These carotenoids are not converted into vitamin A in the body like beta-carotene, but they are powerful antioxidants. That means that they neutralize free radicals, which would otherwise steal electrons from another part of the skin and damage it. The antioxidants found in zucchini can help prevent free-radical damage to the moisture barrier and help promote beautiful skin.
Mighty Lutein Protects
With healthy eyes, you can better see your skin’s beauty. Lutein is most known for its ability to protect the eyes from light-induced damage and aging, and it may also protect the skin from damage and aging in the same way it protects the eyes.
Research trials have determined that the lutein found in zucchini promotes skin health by reducing inflammation responses. When the skin is exposed to ultraviolet light (sunlight), lutein reduces the inflammation response. This ability of the lutein in zucchini to reduce inflammation means that exposure to sunlight will produce less damage to skin structure, including the moisture barrier. The result is more beautiful, moist skin.
HYDRATING HEROS
Drinking sufficient liquids and eating foods that contain moisturizing fats and a high water content is vital for keeping your skin properly hydrated and preventing wrinkles. Instead of wasting money on pricey cosmetic products that offer only temporary fixes, try incorporating the following foods into your diet to naturally improve moisture content and beautify your skin.
Cup of Protection
cell’s DNA. If the lipids or DNA of the moisture barrier are damaged, the result is compromised water control and dry skin. Tea delivers a host of antioxidants called phenols, which are also present in berries and grapes, to keep the skin healthy and hydrated.
Quercetin: Fit for a Queen
Tea contains antioxidant compounds called flavonoids, which include catechins, epicatechins, thearubigins, rutin, and quercetin. Rutin is a very strong antioxidant: Research studies in animals have found that rutin can prevent damage to skin cells and therefore has a healing effect. Quercetin has also received rave reviews for its ability to prevent free radicals from causing damage to cells
Tea’s many antioxidants are water-soluble, so brewing your tea bag in hot water speeds the release of these antioxidants from the tea leaves. Once in your glass, the antioxidants can travel throughout your body, spreading health and vitality.
