Why Your Protein Choices Matter If You Want to See a Rebirth of Your Complexion!

Beautiful skin starts within so learn how to best feed your complexion instead of starving it with this helpful post. 

Diet is very important in relationship to the health of your skin.  Changing what you put into your body is the first step to seeing a significant transformation in how your complexion will look.  Even though you think that you may be eating right, you may find altering some of your food choices with the suggestions that I’m sharing will pay off for far more beautiful skin than you ever thought possible.

If you want to repair and rebuild the skin, hair, nails, muscles, bones, and organs, then you need protein. After all, protein is the source of amino acids L-lysine and L-proline that are necessary for stimulating collagen to grow new, younger cells. Without the eight essential amino acids that your body can’t manufacture on its own, your complexion and overall body will suffer, aging more rapidly than it has too as well as negatively affect your health.


Thus, the best proteins that you want to concentrate on are lean meats, egg whites, beans and especially lentils, nuts, whole grains, skinless poultry, chicken, and turkey that are preferably organic.  

The reason too chose organic meats or dairy is because of all the use of hormones and steroids to make the animals fatter or able to produce more milk like with all the estrogen fed to cows along with all the antibiotics to keep them healthier and stronger. The only problem is those hormones and antibiotics can bring on inflammation and other health concerns such as playing havoc with your own hormone levels so the body will be unable to renew cells.  

Fish is another highly regarded protein to help transform your skin since they contain omega-3 fatty acids. Yet, all fish are not created equally.  The best ones to shop for are salmon, mackerel, tuna and halibut. However, our oceans are not the same for our fish with all the chemical spills, nuclear accidents and global warming as they were centuries before.  These days there is plenty of mercury in our seafood that needs to be taken into consideration.  

Mackerel, tuna steaks, and orange roughy happen to have the highest mercury levels according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Next, on the watch list for high mercury levels are bluefish, canned Albacore tuna, grouper, sea bass, and mackerel.  

Fish such as Alaskan cod, halibut, monkfish, tuna (canned chunk light), snapper and perch among others have moderate mercury levels.  

The fish with the lowest concentrations of mercury are flounder, haddock, herring, salmon, sardines, scallops, whitefish, sole, catfish, Tilapia, and oysters.  Here is a printable card from the NRDC with their recommendations on fish and their mercury levels that you may want to take with you when you go shopping as a handy reference.

Therefore, eat fish no more than three times a week and you might want to avoid it totally if you’re pregnant to be on the safe side.

Interestingly enough is what to look for if you suspect mercury poisoning because the signs will show up on your skin.  This is not a diagnosis, but if you are a big fish eater that consumes a fish meal nearly most days of the week then brown spots suddenly on your skin, droopy eyelids, bags under the eyes, hair loss, tingling, hyperpigmentation and other skin issues like tingling, burning, itching might be due to mercury.  However, only your doctor with proper testing can determine the exact cause for sure.

As far as protein portions go, the amount will vary depending on own body and weight. Nonetheless, you should allot 40 percent of all your normal daily calories to protein for optimal skin beauty.

There is more to feeding your complexion than just protein and I will expand in a future post.  Still, the information on remodeling your diet with the right sources of protein can help take your dull, aging complexion in a younger, fresher direction!