Beauty foods: What to eat to look great

Eat to be beautiful

Your makeup bag may be overflowing with products, but your most reliable beauty tool is the food you eat every day. A healthy diet rich in nutrients will have you looking and feeling your best.

Riboflavin

Needed for healthy skin, it’s in milk, eggs, enriched cereals and grains, liver and green vegetables.

Try: Warm Sweet Potato and Kale Salad

Essential amino acids, protein and folic acid

All keep hair healthy. Get amino acids from eggs and fish; protein from lean meats, legumes, soy, nuts and seeds; and folic acid from leafy greens, oranges and whole grains.

Try: Crumbed Fish with Parsley and Lemon

Dark chocolate

It may be good for your skin. Researchers exposed chocolate eaters to ultraviolet light, and found that after six weeks, they had 15 percent less skin reddening than those who didn’t eat it. It’s believed the compounds in chocolate act as UV filters. But make sure to limit your chocolate intake-it still conatins lots of fat and sugar.

Try: Rich Chololate Torte

Iron

Deficiency can cause weak, thinning hair. Combining iron-rich beans and lentils with good sources of vitamin C increases the body’s ability to absorb the iron. Lentils are a great source of iron; one cup (250 mL) provides 37 percent of the daily value. Red meat and poultry are also major sources.

Try: Indian Lamb with Spiced Lentils

Lycopene

It may protect you from skin cancer. Apricots, pink grapefruit, watermelon and tomatoes all contain lycopene.

Try: Slow-roasted Tomato Pesto

Related:
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• How to eat well without spending big
• What athletes eat