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Ingredients
1 banana
200ml low fat strawberry yoghurt
120ml low fat milk
120ml crushed ice
Method
Golden rules to keep your skin looking youthful – the best way to do this is by choosing the right di
et.
Eat your 5-a-day
Fruit and vegetables contain powerful antioxidants that help to protect against the cell damage caused by free radicals, which include smoking, pollution and sunlight. Vitamin C is one of the most powerful antioxidants. It is found in all fruit and vegetables but especially in citrus fruits, red peppers and kiwi fruit. Betacarotene, found in pumpkin, carrots, and sweet potatoes, and lutein, found in kale, papaya and spinach are also antioxidants.
Cut out crash diets
Repeatedly losing and regaining weight can take its toll on your skin, causing sagging, wrinkles and stretch marks. Crash diets are often short in essential vitamins, too.
Stock up on selenium
This is also a powerful antioxidant – studies suggest that a selenium-rich diet can help to protect against skin cancer, sun damage and age spots. One way to boost your intake is to eat brazil nuts, fish, shellfish and eggs.
Drink up
Even mild dehydration will cause your skin to look dry, tired and slightly grey. Drink at least six glasses of water a day – all fluids count towards your daily allowance, but water is the healthiest.
Don’t be afraid of fat
Good fats – the type found in avocados, nuts and seeds – provide essential fatty acids, which act as a natural moisturiser for your skin, keeping it supple.
Zap up your zinc
Zinc is involved in the normal functioning of the oil-producing glands in the skin, and also promotes skin healing. Zinc-rich foods include red meat, wholegrains, wheatgerm and shellfish.
Fibre is found in foods which originate from plants, such as cereals, grains, seeds, pulses, fruit and vegetables. To increase the amount of fibre you eat, you need to have more of these types of food as part of your diet.
There are two types of fibre: soluble and insoluble. Most foods contain a mixture of both.
It is a good idea to try to eat more fibre because most people in Ireland don’t have enough fibre in their diets. Insoluble fibre helps prevent constipation, and soluble fibre may help to reduce the amount of cholesterol in the blood.
Wholegrain varieties of starchy foods, such as wholemeal bread, wholegrain breakfast cereals, brown rice and wholegrain pasta, are particularly good sources of insoluble fibre.
Brussels sprouts, potatoes, cabbage, and carrots are all good sources of fibre, and so are beans and pulses, such as red kidney beans, baked beans, broad beans, butter beans, green beans, chickpeas, green lentils and black-eyed beans. Dried fruit – such as figs, apricots, prunes and dates – are also a good choice. Or try eating pears, apples, cranberries, avocados, pomegranates and blackberries.
When you have plenty of fibre in your diet, you need to make sure that you drink plenty of fluids – at least six to eight glasses a day. It is especially important to have plenty of water if you are constipated because fluids will help to keep things moving! If you get constipated a lot, talk to your GP.
Water makes up about two-thirds of our body weight. Water is essential for the body to grow and maintain itself, as well as being involved in a number of bodily processes e.g. it helps get rid of waste and regulates temperature.
Water is lost from the body through urine and sweat. To stay healthy, you need to replace the fluids you lose by consuming them through your diet. If you don’t consume enough you can become dehydrated.
One of the first signs of dehydration is feeling thirsty. If you think you might not be getting enough fluids, check if you are showing any of these other common signs of dehydration:
In climates such as Ireland, we should drink approximately 6 to 8 glasses of fluid every day to stop us getting dehydrated. In hotter climates the body needs more than this.
How to maintain fluid levels –
Dietitians may well encourage you to drink as little as possible, after all alcoholic drinks are usually full of calories, once you have one you tend to drink another and you can very quickly pile on the pounds!
However the official guidelines are -
Men are advised to drink no more than 3 to 4 units a day.
Women are advised to drink no more than 2 to 3 units a day.
The list below shows the number of units of alcohol in common drinks –
How do you change your drinking habits?
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