Eat This for Gorgeous Skin

• by 

• 105 Comments
• Post a Comment
• Read More from This Author »
• Report Abuse

• Email
• Print

Thinkstock/Eat this for healthy skin.

The best get-flawless-skin regimen? It's not a trendy spa treatment. It's a way of eating. Yeah, yeah, we know that for years, experts said greasy foods and chocolate don't cause pimples and that, overall, what you eat has no effect on your skin. But research proves otherwise. So follow these four rules on how to feed your face.

Related: Smooth Your Lady Lumps: The Best Anti-Cellulite Creams

Lay Off the White Stuff
Turns out french fries do cause breakouts. But it's not the grease that's the culprit, it's the potatoes. In a recent study, researchers looked at 1,200 natives of an island near Papua New Guinea and 115 hunter-gatherers in Paraguay and couldn't find a single zit in the lot. What's their secret? "A diet that consists almost exclusively of protein, fruits, and veggies," says Loren Cordain, PhD, professor of health and exercise science at Colorado State University and lead author of the study. Absent from their meals: the simple carbohydrates — such as white bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and sweets — that are the basis of our modern diet. These carbs send our insulin levels soaring, and researchers speculate that this sets off a series of reactions that leads to breakouts.

Related: Your 2011 Get Gorgeous Guide

Simple food switch: Instead of refined white carbs, go for moderate amounts of complex ones like whole-grain bread, brown rice, and whole-wheat pasta (they're digested more slowly and don't lead to that skin-sabotaging insulin spike).

Find out another surprising secret to perfect skin.

Savor Seafood
Fish is a great source of essential fatty acids (EFAs) like omega-3 and omega-6, which reduce inflammation in the body. "Inflammation triggers the cells to clog the pore, causing acne," says Nicholas Perricone, a dermatologist and author of The Perricone Prescription. "It also leads to wrinkles down the line." The fish that contain the most EFAs are salmon, mackerel, and tuna (particularly the albacore and bluefin varieties). EFAs are also found in almonds, hazelnuts, and flaxseed.

Simple food switch: Have smoked salmon for breakfast, eat tuna-fish sandwiches for lunch, and swap hamburgers for salmon burgers. If fish isn't your thing, make a handful of almonds your afternoon snack.