Ever since the start of the pandemic, nutrition has been a huge concern for a lot of people. Keeping ourselves healthy is extremely important during these challenging times, and a balanced diet is vital for that. However, if you’re like many, then it’s likely that you’ve struggled with a poor diet and even unintentional weight gain while in quarantine.
If you haven’t been feeling your best lately, and noticing signs of dullness, dryness, or excessive moisture and breakouts on your skin, there’s a good chance your diet and lifestyle have a huge part to play here. The fact is, when you’re not well on the inside, the illnesses don’t take too much time to manifest on the outside as well. It would make sense, therefore, that your skin, hair, nails — as well as the overall appearance of your body — would also be good indicators of your internal well-being.
Fortunately, regaining that healthy spark doesn’t have to be a huge challenge. Unless you’re seeing some serious symptoms of nutrient deficiency due to a poor diet, then you should be fine if you simply change your diet up a little. And today, we’ll be telling you exactly what you need to do! Here are some of our top picks for foods you need to include in your diet to help you look and feel healthy.
Dark Chocolate
We’re starting our list with something delicious, as we all deserve the occasional treat in our lives. And yes: you’re reading it right. Dark chocolate is actually extremely good for you. Not only does it help reduce cramps when you’re having your menses, but it’s also got several antioxidants that help alleviate the dullness that might be bothering you, and makes the skin look tighter and healthier.
Now, we’re not talking about the heavily processed stuff that you can find at the grocery store, of course. These benefits only lie in pure 100% cocoa powder that doesn’t have added sugars and preservatives. If you manage to get your hands on pure cocoa powder while shopping for your groceries, you could easily make some delicious homemade chocolate.
Simply mix it with half a cup of milk per 1 and a half cup of cocoa powder (and feel free to use vegan kinds of milk, like coconut, if that’s your preference), and honey (or agave or maple syrup) as per your taste preferences. What you don’t finish, you can easily store the leftovers in your freezer for a cold treat on a future day. Voila — you have a healthy, delicious, and emotionally satisfying snack to savor after dinner!
Sunflower Seeds
Sunflower seeds are a really easy snacking option, if you discount the seed peeling. Of course, that’s one of its perks — it’s an interactive snack! Plus, it’s got healthy fats, Vitamin E, and zinc to nourish your skin and prevent painful acne breakouts. You could always toast it and add it to a bunch of dishes, but raw sunflower seeds are just as tasty and offer more nutrients, too.
Green Tea
Green tea’s no longer an exotic ingredient, so if you haven’t switched to it as your primary beverage of choice, then you’re really missing out. Green tea is basically tea that hasn’t been dried up, aged, and stripped of its nutritional value, and therefore, it carries a lot of health benefits that the original leaves possess. Green tea’s primarily known to help assist with maintaining a healthy weight, and that’s because it contains a variety of antioxidants it contains.
In addition to that, its properties also enable it to increase skin elasticity and undo UV damage, essentially making the skin look younger, brighter, and smoother. While green tea’s mostly drunk as a beverage, you could always use it as a flavoring agent for various dishes, including matcha ice cream. If you want its effects on a specific part of your skin, you could even try out a green tea mask.
Carrots
Carrots aren’t just an excellent source of beta carotene for improving your vision. They’ve also got several antioxidants to improve your skin’s texture and boost your metabolism to keep breakouts at bay. What’s awesome about carrots is that they’re super nutritious, rich in fiber, and can be eaten raw. However, if you want to eat carrots differently, you could also try adding them to smoothies or juicing them. Carrot cakes are also a great healthy dessert option you could try, too.
Nuts
Nuts, especially walnuts and almonds, are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, which a lot of us are missing out on in our diet. They also contain fiber, Vitamins C and E, and minerals including zinc and selenite, which are all great for your skin. While the best way to have nuts is grabbing a handful of them every day as a snack, you could also include nuts as toppings in a variety of dishes, including salads, baked goods, and sweets.
Dietary changes are one of the best ways to include a variety of vitamins in your minerals in your diet, rather than settling for supplements. This is largely due to the synergistic effects of these foods. However, if adding these foods doesn’t help much in improving your skin’s condition, you might have to seek help from a dermatologist for a personalized treatment to rejuvenate your skin.
Once you pick up your prescription from your skin care pharmacy, though, you can start to see that glow you so crave once more. Ultimately, taking care of your skin is incredibly vital, too — not only for the aesthetic benefits, but also for the fact that it’s indeed the largest and the most protective organ of your body. By taking charge of your health, and not shying away from seeking out professional help if you need it, you can kiss your dull, tired skin goodbye!
Don’t Ruin Your Sleep Schedule
Quarantine has made even the most organized people toss their routine out the window in exchange for a new, albeit more chaotic, one. However, even if you’ve been working from home in your pajamas, you can’t ignore the importance of a good night’s sleep. The fact is, sleep is vital for your body as it not only helps you feel energized for a brand new day, but your body is also actively repairing itself while you sleep.
If you have trouble falling asleep on time, switching things up on your routine to give yourself a comfortable bedtime when you’re thoroughly exhausted by the day’s activities could help. You could also split the required 8 hours of sleep into several naps throughout the day if you can’t seem to set out a clear sleep schedule.
Self-care needs to be your primary concern no matter the circumstances, so don’t forget that you need to follow these tips even when you’re back to working offline. We hope these tips help you carve out a better and healthier daily routine! Although following a schedule every single day is extremely difficult, if not impossible, turning these into daily habits could do wonders for your health.
Photo by Kim Carpenter on Unsplash
