Hello lovelies!
Did you know that the human body was made of 70 to 80 percent water?
And among this percentage, the skin incorporates 30% of water. That’s what keeps our skin looking supple, youthful, and healthy.
However, with the arrival of summer, our skin can be depleted from hydration. Indeed, the skin is both a friend and a foe for many women during this season.
Whether you are young or more mature, basic skincare tips in summer are not enough. Actually, you need to take a 360 degrees approach and focus also on the inside. That’s where skin hydrating foods intervene in your beauty routine.
Let’s discover the foods together!
Skin hydrating foods: Watermelon
Watermelon is the summer fruit par excellence. Thanks to its abundance of water (more than 90%), it seems to be THE fruit designed by God to hydrate your skin during this hot season.
Moreover, it is full of other useful vitamins and minerals for your skin such as lycopene, beta carotene, and vitamin C. Thus, these minerals and vitamins will support the youthful appearance of your skin.
Whether you eat it alone, in a fruit salad, or drink it in a smoothie, you can’t make mistakes with this fruit in your daily food intake this season.
Skin hydrating foods: Cucumber
Cucumber is a fruit often mistaken for a vegetable. Nevertheless, like watermelon, cucumber contains more than 90% of water as well. Also, cucumber has vitamin C, vitamin K, and silica that boosts the appearance of your skin for the best. Because of all these elements, cucumber will be your best ally to reduce skin irritations and sunburns, as well as swelling.
You can eat cucumber in your salads, or add it in your smoothies and green juices. It’s up to you!
Skin hydrating foods: Avocado
Avocado has seemed to be the fashionable fruit these past years. This superfood is a delicious mix of vitamin C, vitamin E, and monounsaturated fats that support your skin’s hydration in summertime. Moreover, thanks to its anti-aging properties, avocado helps your body to produce more collagen, thus making your skin more youthful.
Therefore, putting avocado in your daily food intake will give a soft, supple, and hydrated skin during this season. Don’t hesitate to add it in your salads, your smoothies or your gaspachos!
Skin hydrating foods: Sweet potato
Sweet potato contains beta carotene, vitamin B6, vitamin C, manganese, potassium, and magnesium. Thus, all these elements contributes to make your skin soft, colorful, and supple. Moreover, sweet potato acts as a natural sunblock by strengthening your skin’s protective barrier against the potential harmful effects of the sun.
Whether you incorporate it in your soups or eat it with your lunch, you can’t go wrong with sweet potato! Combine it with carrots for a maximum effect on the appearance of your skin.
Fatty fish
Being rich in omega-3; fatty fish will add good to your skin, Indeed, it will reduce skin inflammation, boost your skin’s clarity, and helps your skin to trap moisture in. Consequently, many dermatologists recommend you increase your fatty fish intake during the summer, especially salmon. Besides salmon, you can also add tuna, mackerel, or sardines in your meals.
Nuts
Nuts are not for winter only! Thanks to their abundance of vitamin E, they are great skin hydrating foods to incorporate in your diet. Indeed, they improve your blood circulation in your body, leaving your skin soft and supple. Also, they protect your skin against pollutants and environmental free radicals.
Guess what will be your best snack this summer? Almonds, pistachios, cashew nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, and macadamia nuts! Moreover, you can add them in your salads or eat them with your favorite fruits. However, you must eat them in small quantities as they are high in fats.
Coconut
We already know that coconut water is one of the best hydrating liquids on earth. But did you know that coconut meat was also a super skin hydrating food? Indeed, thanks to its unique combination of vitamin E, vitamin K, and essential fatty acids, and proteins, coconut is marvelous to protect your skin against acne.
Moreover, the healthy fats will promote your skin’s health, leaving it soft and youthful. Don’t hesitate to consume all the goodness coming from coconut for a maximum effect on your skin: coconut meat, coconut oil, and coconut water! You skin will grateful for this potent nourishment from within.
Olive oil
Olive oil has been a staple in my kitchen for years. Rich in vitamin E and other useful fatty acids, olive oil a true blessing for your skin. Indeed, thanks to the antioxidants it contains, olive oil will restore your skin barrier and lock in moisture effectively. Moreover, olive oil will protect your skin against inflammation in case of sunburns.
Olive oil will be great to season your salads, but don’t be liberal with it, as it is fat!
Bonus: Collagen supplements
Let me tell you a story about me.
I first heard about collagen supplements when I visited my best friend in Hong Kong. I saw all these wonderful ads about collagen supplements and I couldn’t believe what I heard!
Until then, I always thought that you found collagen naturally in animal products; and that it depleted gradually over the years. That’s why I wasn’t convinced about their effectiveness until I started a more or less paleo diet. I’ll come to that later in this blog, so stay tuned!
Anyway, I started implementing collagen powder in my daily smoothie when I heard about its multiple benefits, such as:
- brightening the skin
- supporting natural moisture levels
- boosting more elastin and collagen production
- adding protein naturally within the skin
- giving shiny hair, skin, and nails
That’s why I started consuming them, and I never regretted my decision! In fact, I noticed almost immediate effects on my nails and the current state of my skin. But I can’t say anything for my hair yet!
Don’t hesitate to add collagen powder in your summer diet if you can. Otherwise, you also have bone broth who has similar effects, but shhh…we’ll take about bone broth later in this blog!
Summary: what kind of foods do you need to keep our skin hydrated this summer?
To sum up, you’ll need to focus on skin hydrating foods rich in water, vitamins A/C/E, and essential fatty acids to keep you skin plump and young. With the proper summer skincare tips, these foods will support your regimen to get a winning complexion this summer.
Well, that’s all for today! What do you think of these 8 skin hydrating foods? Do you have other foods that you incorporate in your diet this summer? Feel free to share in the comments below!
Take care!
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I see I need to go shopping, as these foods you mention here are not normally on my list except for the olive oil and avos when they are in season. Do fruits like oranges also count?
Also one would probably need to keep drinking the required 8 glasses of water a day to keep the skin well plumped, or do these foods take away the need to drink so much?
Hello Michel, yes and yes! Orange counts and you still need your water intake, though it won’t probably be necessary of you eat lots of watermelon!
Hey there! Did you know that our skin is made up of about 30% water? It’s what keeps our skin looking supple, youthful, and healthy. But during the summer, our skin can easily get dehydrated. That’s where skin hydrating foods come to the rescue! Foods like watermelon, cucumber, avocado, sweet potato, fatty fish, nuts, coconut, and olive oil are amazing for keeping your skin hydrated and glowing.
Good!
Eating the right foods can certainly help to keep our skin hydrated during hot seasons. I notice that I already eat many of the foods on the list, particularly avos, nuts and olive oil, without realising that they are also good to keep my skin hydrated. Watermelon is in season at the moment, so I will certainly add it to my shopping list.
I do drink a lot of water throughout the year, yet often when it is hot I use a facial mist to hydrate as well. Do you think a Face spray, like Evian, can help to hydrate, or is it more of a marketing gimmick used by some of the water companies? Thank you for this helpful post.
Hello, thanks for your comment! And yes I do have an Evian Face spray !
I was reading the article and I completely agree with the biggest basic values we get from food, fruits and vegetables, and in the summer our skin needs hydration and healthy seasonal foods, all fruits do not only the skin but our whole system immune to be protected from harmful rays. a very beautiful and helpful article, the more juice we consume, the more energetic and healthy we will be.
Yes indeed! Thanks for your comment Aida!
I was reading the article and I completely agree with the biggest basic values we get from food, fruits and vegetables, and in the summer our skin needs hydration and healthy seasonal foods, all fruits do not only the skin but our whole system immune to be protected from harmful rays. a very beautiful and helpful article, the more juice we consume, the more energetic and healthy we will be.
Thanks for your comment !
Another excellent article Elodie, I hope that you will keep them coming. I know that this post will be helpful to a lot of people as the summer really heats up and these tips of foods that keep the skin hydrated will be more in demand. I don’t have near the problem with my skin needing hydrated in the summer as I do in the winter but every now and then it sneaks up on me and I have to slather on lotion just to be comfortable where if I would have stayed hydrated in the first place it wouldn’t have reached such a critical level.
Some of the vegetables and fruits that you have included in you list seem like no-brainers such as cucumber, watermelon and avocado as the cucumber and watermelon especially have a high water content. What do you think about celery, would that be another good choice for skin hydration because of the high water content of its stalks?
Hello Joseph, thanks for your comment ! Yes, celery is an excellent choice, especially in juices…