Glowing Skin Smoothie

EVENT:FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP
THEME:#185 GLOWING SKIN RECIPES

When Amrita who blogs at The Food Samaritan suggested glowing skin recipe, I thought wow, what a topic. We normally tend to ignore the fact that food very much predicts how our skin is going to look or looks. The glowing radiant smooth appearance of the skin comes from within us and not entirely from what cosmetics we use on top of our skin. It is important to use facial creams to combat dryness of the skin due to variation of weather and seasons. I personally am not into buying very expensive creams for my face or skin. I don’t believe that a Rs.5000 plus pot of facial cream rich in Vitamin E or collagen will change my skin in a matter of a month as those creams contain a minuscule amount of the promised elixir of eternal beauty.

However, eating the right foods for a month will definitely bring about a change in how your skin looks. While all natural products like fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, grains etc have numerous health benefits not only for the skin but overall wellness, there are certain foods that are very beneficial for the skin.

Some of the best foods for skin are:

• Coconut Water – keeps the skin hydrated and elastic
• Normal Water – the recommended 8 glasses of water keep the skin hydrated and flush out toxins from the skin.
• Green Tea – contains powerful antioxidants that combat the havoc wreaked on the skin through exposure to sun and environmental toxins.
• Collagen rich foods like bone broth, gelatin, algae, leafy greens, meat, oysters  – an anti-aging agent which provides the essential amino acids to heal skin and boost outward glow. Its the main protein in the connective tissues. 70% of the protein in our skin is collagen. Without Vitamin C there is no collagen.
• Good fats – like avocado, coconut oil, ghee, olives. Avocados are rich in Vitamin E. Good healthy fats keep the skin supple.
• Omega – 3 fatty acid rich foods like salmon, chia seeds, flax seeds – to help combat inflammation.
• Vitamin and Mineral rich fruits and vegetables – Vitamin A rich foods help to prevent premature wrinkles, bumpy skin and reduces dark spots. Vitamin C rich foods have ascorbic acid that helps to block and reverse UV light induced photo damage to the skin and boost collagen production. Selenium that’s present in nuts helps to neutralize free radicals that are harmful to the skin. Zinc helps to rejuvenate the skin and heal it too. As it has anti inflammatory properties it helps to reduce acne and scarring.
• Oatmeal – packed with protein, essential minerals and vitamins helps in the overall health of the skin.
• Seeds and Nuts – rich in Omega -3 fatty acids, have natural oils, rich in minerals and Vitamin E, all beneficial for good skin.

Some of the foods that are bad for your skin:

• Junk Food – too much greasy food leads to pimples and acne
• Sugar – too much daily intake of sugar robs you of energy which in turn makes your skin appear tired.
• Canned/Packaged Foods – simply because they contain preservatives, colors and chemicals which are harmful.
• Alcohol – while a glass of wine keeps the skin supple and glowing, excessive drinking dehydrates the skin and makes it less elastic.

For today’s theme I decided to make papaya or paw paw as the main star. Papaya, a tropical fruit (aren’t we blessed to get it the whole year round?) is rich in antioxidants, enzymes and phytochemical.  The beauty ingredient in papaya is papain, an enzyme that provides anti aging and skin lightening benefits. It also helps to regenerate the skin, soothes inflammation, decreases hyper pigmentation, softens the skin and reduces acne. 

Papaya is rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Alpha Hydroxy Acids that help to exfoliate dead skin, potassium that helps to keep the skin hydrated and moisturized.

Adding other ingredients along with papaya in this smoothie is truly a skin glowing drink. I’ve written down the ingredients that I use to make this smoothie but you can add whatever other healthy skin foods that you want.

GLOWING SKIN SMOOTHIE

Serves 1

1 cup chopped ripe papaya

2 tbsp oatmeal

1 cup chilled coconut water or normal water

2 oranges/tangerine, peeled

1 tbsp soaked chia seeds

1 tbsp almond powder

1 tsp collagen powder (optional)

1 tbsp grated fresh turmeric

1 tbsp grated dark chocolate

a few ice cubes

1. Peel the oranges or tangerines. If possible don’t remove the white skin or pith as that is full of Vitamin C and rich in fiber. Separate the segments.
2. Add the orange segments, papaya, coconut water, oatmeal, almond powder, collagen powder and turmeric to the blender along with some ice cubes.
3. Process till all the ingredients become smooth.
4. Pour the smoothie into a serving glass. Add chia seeds and grated chocolate.
5. Serve immediately.

Tips:

• Add lemon juice or some fresh pineapple cubes instead of oranges or tangerine for Vitamin C.
• Vegetarian collagen is available as an alternate to the bovine collagen.
• Use seeds like pumpkin, hemp, sunflower, squash seeds for zinc. I’ve used dark chocolate instead.
• Can use selenium rich Brazil nuts instead of almonds.

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A little request:

If you do try this recipe then please either

• add a comment below,
• send a picture to my email mayuri.ajay.patel62@gmail.com
•  tag me as #mayuri_jikoni on Instagram
• or tag me on Twitter as #Mayuri1962

You may want to check out other healthy recipes for the skin:

detox water

carrot cake smoothie

beetroot carrot salad

Turmeric Tea Latte/Haldi ka Doodh

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