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New Woman Magazine - Jan Sheehan January 1, 1999

It sounds like something your Mom once told you: “Eat what’s on your plate and you’ll be beautiful.” Well, Mom was right – sort of. If you look radiant, that’s partly a reflection of the fact that you’ve been making wise food choices. (Good genes have a lot to do with it, of course, not to mention staying generally healthy and getting enough sleep and exercise.) If, on the other hand, you’ve been avoiding certain foods, you may be sabotaging your elaborate beauty regimens- and all the lipstick and blush in the world won’t help.

“Beauty begins with healthy eating,” says Ann Louise Gittleman, a certified nutritionist and author of Super Nutrition for Women. “So many women focus on the outside, but without proper nutrition you won’t look your best.” Dry skin, lackluster hair, and brittle nails – these are just few red flags that may let you know you aren’t eating right.

Happily, small diet changes can bring about big cosmetic benefits. Here are some strategies to nourish the inner and outer you:

-You’ve got more wrinkles than a shar-pei

What you need: Vitamin A

What it does: Vitamin A maintains your outer layer of skin, thereby helping prevent premature aging. “It’s the same thing that’s in Retin A,’ says Robert Skidmore, M.D., an assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Florida School of Medicine, who warns against taking high doses (by taking vitamins that exceed the RDA, for instance), because A is stored In the body.

-What you should eat: Carrots, sweet potatoes, leafy green vegetables, peaches, apricots

-Your body is black and blue (you bruise easily)

What you need: Vitamin C

What it does: it forms collagen, which holds cells together (this helps prevent bruising) and may speed the healing of skin wounds. (Bruising can be a sign of  deficiency, or it may be hormonal.)

What you should eat: Citrus fruits, strawberries, tomatoes, broccoli, squash. “Drinking a glass of citrus juice every day should help,” says Gittleman.

-Your face is as puffy as Marlon Brando’s

What you need: is time, it’s what you need to avoid: excess sodium.

What it does: Sodium pulls water out of your body’s cells and into the spaces between them.

What you should eat: Herbs and spices on your food - before using salt – says Jackie Newgent, a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. Plus, you should choose natural foods in place of processed foods, which tend to contain buckets of sodium. The worst offenders: canned soup and crackers.

-You have creeper spider veins

What you need: Water

What it does: it keeps you skin cool by allowing it to sweat; this prevents the eruption of tiny capillaries, which occurs when the face is overheated and flushed, says Dr. Skidmore.

What you should drink: Uh…water (or plenty of caffeine-free beverages).

-You’re as pale as a plate of tofu

What you need: Iron

What it does: Iron prevents anemia, which causes a pale, drawn complexion.

What you should eat: Red meat- “the darker the color, the greater the iron content,” advises Newgent – liver, beans, eggs, spinach, and broccoli.

-Your skin is a scaly as Godzilla’s

What you need: Zinc

What it does: it helps dead skin cells slough off normally. (Think of it as a loofah you swallow.) “Dry, scaly skin can often be remedied by adding zinc to the diet,” says Dr. Skidmore.

What you should eat: Oysters, red meat, crabmeat, turkey, whole grains, nuts, beans, and pumpkins seeds.