The typical American’s diet, and more particularly the typical teenaged American’s diet, is anything but skin-healthy. In fact, it’s not healthy for any part of the body.
Teenagers like to eat what is fast, easy, and socially convenient.
This usually translates into meals made up of hamburgers, French fries, pizzas, hot dogs, and sodas. For snacks, they go for the chips and the candy bars.
These foods may taste good and are fun to eat, but they wreak havoc on the body.
Food is not meant to be a source of entertainment.
The purpose of food is to give the body the fuel it needs to survive.
It is the mechanism through which the body receives the nutrients that are necessary for the natural and healthy functioning of its many systems.
This includes the maintenance of healthy and clear skin.
There are many nutrients that are important for the body to be healthy and to function properly, but there are three nutrients that are of special importance to the health of the skin and the prevention of acne.
EFA
EFA stands for Essential Fatty Acids and this is one nutrient that the body needs in order to have healthy skin. This nutrient comes through eating healthy foods that aren’t normally part of the average teenager’s diet.
Some common food sources of EFA are sunflower seeds, walnuts, leafy green vegetables, flaxseed, hemp oil, shellfish, canola oil, soya oil, pumpkin seeds, and chia seeds.
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is also very important to healthy skin maintenance.
Fortunately, Vitamin A can be found in many foods; but unfortunately, the Vitamin A is lost when the foods are cooked.
You can get a lot of Vitamin A from raw vegetables, but once you cook them there is very little or no Vitamin A left.
Another good source of Vitamin A is raw fruit (or unprocessed fruit juices).
A few of the better sources of Vitamin A are broccoli, spinach, peaches, carrots, mangoes, apricots, and kale.
Zinc
Healthy skin also depends on zinc.
It is difficult to get enough zinc in a balanced diet, let alone a typical teenager’s diet, so it may be beneficial to take a zinc supplement. However, there are some good food sources of zinc.
You can get zinc from whole grains, pumpkin seeds, Brazil nuts, and brewers yeast.
Remember, junk foods like French fries and chocolate will not cause acne.
However, if they are eaten constantly at the sacrifice of other foods which would provide the body’s needed nutrients, then you have a recipe for acne.
Knowing what to eat and how to take care of the body is a major factor in the fight against acne.
