By Carla Oates
Your skin keeps no secrets. As your largest—and most truthful—organ, it can reveal a lot about your inner health, hydration and stress levels, sleep quality, digestion, diet and your rate of cellular ageing.
If you treat yourself well, your skin will reward you with a radiant and glowy complexion, but by failing to nourish your mind and body, you’re more likely to experience a complexion that’s dull and lacklustre, with pronounced fine lines, wrinkles, breakouts and congestion.
To make matters worse, no matter what topical skincare products you're using, if you’re not getting enough nutrients from your diet, or you’re suffering from poor digestion or long-term stress, the side effect is that your body will divert any available nutrients to your vital organs, meaning that your skin health, hair and nails can suffer.
Nonetheless, your skin is in constant communication with you—so it pays to listen (and look) closely. Your skin will tell you loud and clear that it doesn’t like to be overfed with sugar, refined carbohydrates, alcohol, trans fats or processed foods (hello dryness and blemishes!). But it will certainly respond with radiance when you nourish yourself with beauty-boosting antioxidants and the best vitamins, minerals, healthy fats and probiotics, as these nutrients are all essential for cellular repair and rejuvenation.
Remember, building beautiful glowing skin begins deep below your dermis.
Why Are Antioxidants Important?
Essentially, these skin-loving superheroes scavenge for free radicals which are caused by UV radiation, environmental pollution, toxins and your body’s own internal metabolic processes. Because free radicals can wreak havoc on your complexion, it’s essential to get a daily dose of antioxidants to mop up them up, encourage cell turnover and prevent oxidative damage.
Brightly-coloured, nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables are an excellent source of antioxidants—as are avocados, green and black tea, onion, garlic, leeks, nuts, grains, seeds and legumes. The darker the colour, the higher the antioxidant value, or Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC). The more of these nutrient-dense wholefoods you eat, the happier and healthier your skin will be. Be sure to enjoy a wide variety of plant foods every day, as this also helps to cultivate a diverse microbiome and overall wellness.
The Beauty Chef’s GLOW® Inner Beauty Essential is a daily beauty powder for radiant skin and gut health, providing 5-star results. It contains 17 Certified Organic wholefoods, including bio-fermented maqui berries, queen garnet plum and pomegranate fruit peel extract, vitamin C to help boost collagen production and zinc to support healthy hair and nails. Plus, with provitamin A, broad-spectrum B vitamins and probiotics and postbiotics, our berry-flavoured blend is the perfect way to promote luminous skin from the inside, out.
Curious about which vitamins are best for your skin? Read on to discover our favourite vitamins, minerals and nutrients for a glowing complexion.
Vitamin A
Cheat sheet: Promotes skin cell turnover
Tell me more: A potent antioxidant, vitamin A fights free radicals, promotes the growth of healthy new skin cells and strengthens the skin. It can be found in cod liver oil, liver, egg yolks, organic grass-fed butter. For plant-based sources, look for vegetables that contain provitamin A (beta-carotene) which is converted into vitamin A in your body. This includes foods like carrots, sweet potato and GLOW® Inner Beauty Essential. GLOW boasts over 20% of your RDI of provitamin A to support cellular turnover, skin structure and healthy immune system function.
Vitamin B3 (Niacinamide)
Cheat sheet: Supports the skin barrier
Tell me more: Also known as niacin, vitamin B3 helps to keep your skin soft, healthy and glowing. It’s essential for cell metabolism and cholesterol synthesis. Good sources include beef, pork, chicken, turkey, liver, yeast, tuna, salmon, green leafy vegetables, mushrooms, green peas, avocado, sunflower seeds and our bio-fermented beauty powder, GLOW® Inner Beauty Essential. GLOW® contains naturally occurring B vitamins—including activated niacinamide—which is derived from sprouted quinoa. Activated niacinamide is integral for normal skin function and structure and helps with the reduction of tiredness and fatigue.
Vitamin B5
Cheat sheet: Promotes skin healing
Tell me more: Otherwise known as pantothenic acid, vitamin B5 supports new skin cell growth and wound healing. Notably, it also helps to regulate the production of cortisol, your stress hormone. You can find pantothenic acid in egg yolks, whole grains, broccoli, mushrooms, avocado, sweet potato, liver, kidney, fish and chicken.
Vitamin B7 (Biotin)
Cheat sheet: Supports hair and skin health
Tell me more: This water-soluble B vitamin helps to protect your skin cells from water loss and regulates fatty acid metabolism. If you suffer from a scaly scalp, dandruff, hair loss, brittle nails, fatigue, dry skin or inflammation, this might be an indication that you’re not getting enough of it. You can increase your intake of biotin by eating egg yolks, beef, liver, salmon, avocado, almonds, walnuts, legumes, whole grains and nutritional yeast. Beneficial gut bacteria also synthesise biotin, so maintaining a balanced microbiome helps too! For an easy way to boost your daily intake, try our SUPERGENES™ Healthy Hair & Nails capsules.
Vitamin C
Cheat sheet: Brightens the skin
Tell me more: Aside from its immune-boosting benefits, vitamin C is crucial for collagen synthesis, wound healing and healthy skin. For radiant skin, you need to ensure you’re getting your daily dose! Good sources of vitamin C include kiwifruit, citrus, tomatoes, dark leafy greens, capsicum, coriander and parsley, as well as GLOW® Inner Beauty Essential, BODY Inner Beauty Support and COLLAGEN Inner Beauty Boost. Thanks to the high levels of vitamin C that it contains, COLLAGEN Inner Beauty Boost helps to preserve your skin’s structural proteins, thereby promoting a smoother skin tone and healthier complexion. Where possible, don’t forget to eat the above foods raw or lightly cooked, as vitamin C can be destroyed by high heat.
Vitamin D
Cheat sheet: Supports immune health, bone strength and healthy skin
Tell me more: Not technically a vitamin, but a hormone, vitamin D is produced when your skin is exposed to ultraviolet B (UVB) light from the sun. Food sources of vitamin D include fatty fish, cod liver oil, mushrooms, cheese, egg yolks and our delicious plant-based protein powder, BODY Inner Beauty Support. A single serving of BODY provides you with 50% of your RDI of vitamin D—which is vital for skin repair, strong bones, new cell growth, immunity and overall health—so be sure to enjoy a scoop in your daily smoothie!
Vitamin E
Cheat sheet: A moisturising multitasker
Tell me more: Another free radical fighter, this fat-soluble vitamin is secreted via your sebum (the oily substance produced by your body's sebaceous glands) to help protect the surface of your skin and prevent inflammation. Unlike other antioxidants, vitamin E is a hydrating molecule that acts as both a humectant (to absorb water into the skin) and an emollient (to trap water in the skin). It’s found in foods like leafy green, Brussels sprouts, avocado, almonds, hazelnuts and olive oil.
Omega Fatty Acids
Cheat sheet: Keeps skin balanced and hydrated
Tell me more: Among other things, omega fatty acids are critical for eye health, as well as healthy skin, hair and nails. While our body does produce some of the fatty acids we need—including omega 7s and 9s—as we age, our ability to produce these oils naturally declines. The other essential fatty acids that are critical for our health—omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids—need to be obtained through our diet. You’ll find them in nuts and seeds, fish oils, oily fish like mackerel and sardines, and our vegan, citrus-flavoured drinking oil, OMEGA ELIXIR. This skin-boosting formula was created to quench dry skin from within and contains a synergistic blend of nourishing plant-based omega 3, 6, 7 and 9 oils from ingredients such as bio-fermented algal oil, sea buckthorn fruit oil and black cumin seed oil.
Want to nourish your skin from within? Take our quiz to discover which products from our range are right for you!
