by Bianca Osbourne
Winter is harsh on our skin. When you live in northern climates, there are a number of forces aligned against you and you skin causing it to dry and crack, sometimes becoming painful. Even your nails and hair can be subject to the harsh realities of winter’s long, cold months.
Why do our nails, hair, and skin take a beating in the winter? The cold, dry air during the winter absorbs more moisture, basically sucking it from our bodies. On top of that, we are often concerned with colds and illnesses, such as the flu and as a result we tend to wash our hands a great deal more than in the summer and use alcohol-laden hand sanitizers. Add to this brutal combination that most heating systems (aside from radiant heating) pull even more moisture out of the air when they run and you have the perfect storm attacking your skin.
Luckily, you can arm your body from the inside out to combat winter’s moisture-sucking effects with healthy winter vegetables!
Vegetables for Healthy Winter Skin
During any season, what you eat has an effect on your health. When you consume more junk food (highly processed foods, candy, and soda), you tend to feel run down, quickly fatigued, and even lethargic. In most cases this is because you aren’t getting the proper nutrition for your body. The human body is a delicately balanced machine, and while you can operate well enough with even the worst diet imaginable, eventually the lack of proper nutrition will catch up with you.
Vegetables are high in nutrients and antioxidants, which help the carry minerals and amino acids throughout the body. By consuming more vegetables during the winter, you will also be taking in more natural fluids. Starches, such as corn and potatoes, tend to absorb moisture within the body and don’t offer a high concentration of nutrients. Vegetables like kale, spinach, broccoli, beets, and carrots are rich in nutrients and liquids.
By adding the proper nutrients to your diet, you help to keep your skin naturally moisturized. What are the other hidden benefits of eating properly doing the winter months? You have probably noticed acne becomes more prevalent during the winter and this is the result of the lack of moisture. Moisture in your skin helps to clean out pores and when your skin is dry, the clogged, dirty pores become infected, which leads to blackheads and acne.
When you want the best acne treatment product available, there are plenty of engineered options, but nature has never been surpassed in its innovation. That’s why the best acne treatment product will incorporate the same nutrients that you would find in vegetables, and that will help you enjoy winter a little bit more.
Bianca Osbourne is a professionally trained chef and freelance writer. She writes voraciously about diets for skincare; most specifically how healing foods are the best acne skincare products in the world!
Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by B.D.’s World