Tell Me What You Eat and I'll Tell You What You Are

I mentioned Dr. Claudia the last post and so of course I had to dedicate a post to her and my love for IDI...but now I want to share what exactly I learned from her! This past Monday I went to listen to the Dr.'s lecture on Nutrition. Since this is a blog on skin and it's maintenance, I was ready to hear all of the beauty aspects that comes with eating right. I left with a new found respect and passion for wellness and not just aesthetic benefits. I never really understood the importance of incorporating certain micro- and macro- nutrients in my diet until now.

I have multiple friends and family members that suffer from a variety of illnesses. Of course their lifestyles are different- some are vegetarians, some are busy single mothers, manly men, gym rats, etc. They all have their own mantra or diet that "fits" their lifestyles and when you google 'diet' alone, you have so many to choose from. You are constantly asking, which one will fit me? Do I need to cut out carbs? Eat only veggies? What about drinking my meals?Let me explain what we need to survive and you can make your only decisions!

Your MAC-ATTACK!

Macronutrients, these are going to be the building blocks of your diet.

Proteins
Proteins are created by chains of amino acids. There are 20 known amino acids that we need to live, 11 of those are made by our own bodies and the other nine we have to supplement through diet to get. Proteins are essential for every activity carried out by your body. Our body cannot carry out the functions needed to sustain life. As you can read by the little bubbles coming from the little missy on the left, they are pretty important. Not only do they create a majority of our body, they also protect our body.

Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates give our bodies the energy to perform the functions we need to survive. It's the oil to our car.Carbs broken down are turned into sugars, glucose to be exact.Glucose is the main fuel our body uses.

Fats
Obviously, there are good and bad fats in certain foods.The bad may add a little too much cushion, however, good fats are utilized to protect the organs and our cells. They also store and help absorb vitamins. Also fats are used to lubricate/moisturize our skin and hair.

Now on a smaller scale...micronutrients

Vitamins are translated as vita- meaning "essential" or "vital" and -amin standing for "amino acid" . So those amino acids are needed. A deficiency in these nutrients can actually manifest in sickness and disorders. I'm not going to go into the importance of each because there are many vitamins.That may have to be a series of posts! So I'm going to only emphasize the "beauty bonuses" of a few particular ones. After all, this is a skin blog!




Vitamin A is not only beneficial for eyesight but both types of vitamin A can improve the skin. A common form of this vitamin is a retinoid. As, you might know this ingredient could be used as an exfoliant and also to increase cell turnover. In turn- diminishing the appearance of lines and encouraging the production of collagen and elastin. Carotenoids are the other form that actually encourages a healthy "glow" in the skin.This is because it affects the color of the skin and gives it a golden hue. An actual study states that participants that consumed more of the veggies that contained carotenoids were deemed "more attractive". Read more here.


There are many types of Vitamin B and all of them can be consider anti-stress vitamins. Less stress means good things for our complexion! This is why people under stress experience breakouts.

Vitamin C is another ingredients in skincare that is proven to be beneficial. not only is vitamin C and antioxidant but it also stimulates the production of collagen within our skin. Vitamin C has also been studied and proven to help fight photo damage. That's why, along with sunscreen, vitamin C is encouraged to be in skincare for daily use.

 Vitamin E is also an antioxidant that is used more for moisturizing and conditioning the skin. It is actually been stated that vitamin C and vitamin E work better together than separate. Together they act like superheroes, vitamin E and C fighting off free radicals. And when vitamin E gets damaged, vitamin C actually begins to repair it's partner.



Whether you have these nutrients as a part of your meal or you supplement them, they are important for our well-being. Just think, if these things can have such a great impact on our outward appearance think of how are internal health would be affected.I may have to go more in depth of these at another time! but of course you know I'm a nerd and want to do more research. But that doesn't go to say that I won't start making changes now! What about you?