Healthy Skin, Hair and Teeth - Benefits of a Healthy Diet

Healthy Skin

The skin is the largest organ in the body, and the most exposed. Most people don't take proper care of their skin - either due to hectic work or due to pure ignorance.

Vitamins A, C, E, selenium, and zinc are especially important to maintain beautiful and healthy skin. Foods that are rich in these vitamins and minerals include:

Apricots
Cantalope
Carrots
Eggs
Broccoli
Citrus fruits
Tomatoes
Papaya
Almonds
Avocado
Olive oil
Walnuts
Sunflower seeds
Cabbage
Chicken
Liver
Onions
Seafood
Oats
Tuna
Cauliflower

This is just a partial list of foods rich in the vitamins and minerals you need for healthy skin. Foods and drinks you need to eliminate or reduce your consumption of include alcohol, sugar, and saturated fat. Coffee and tea should be limited to two cups a day.

Since the skin often mirrors the health of the whole body, eating a healthy diet provides you a healthy body and as an extra benefit, healthy skin.

Healthy Hair

Healthy hair depends on eating foods high in protein and certain vitamins and minerals. Inadequate protein intake over a lengthy period can force hair into the resting phase with shedding a few months later. Five amino acids are of particular relevance to hair growth - cystine, cysteine, methionine, arginine and lysine.

There a number of different specific hair vitamins and minerals that can play a major role in helping a person have a healthy head of hair. Vitamins necessary for healthy hair include vitamins A, B6, biotin, inositol, and folic acid. Minerals needed to good hair growth are magnesium, sulphur, silica and zinc.

Extra hair vitamins are likely to be needed if a person is generally unwell or is undernourished as their hair will show damage and may even stop growing. For example, brittle hair is an indication of iron deficiency while prolonged and severe hair loss can mean inefficient functioning of the liver or the thyroid.

Healthy Teeth

The health of your teeth and gums, the lack of plaque and debris, and the freshness of your breath can be a constant reminder of the status of your overall health. A healthy body generally means healthy teeth as well.

As with promoting healthy skin and healthy hair, eating healthy foods (such as lots of fresh fruits and vegetables) also helps encourage healthy teeth. These foods tend to help scrub the plaque off of our teeth before it can turn into tartar. It is tartar that can cause pockets in the gums where bacteria can take root and cause decay.

Vitamin C deficiencies can result in bleeding gums and loose teeth as well as mouth sores The Vitamin B complex is also essential to a healthy mouth as deficiencies can cause cracking and bleeding of the lips as well as open sores and lesions on both the inside and outside of the mouth.

Calcium is the super nutrient that keeps bones and teeth strong. Vitamin D is another important factor in keeping our teeth and bones healthy. Spending a total of about one hour each week in the sun will normally provide you all the vitamin D you need.

Besides causing other problems with our health, too much fluoride can cause permanent staining of our child's teeth. It can also cause brain degeneration and certain cancers. So be very careful to rinse completely after brushing your teeth with fluoride toothpaste and after a fluoride treatment at the dentist.

Conclusion

There's no way around it. The only way to have healthy skin, healthy hair and healthy teeth is to give your body the vitamins, minerals and protein it needs by heating a healthy and well-rounded diet.