Anyway, I got to thinking of ways I can protect my skin from the inside. There is lots of advice to make sure you get your "anti-oxidants" to protect your skin from sun damage. Many forms of anti-oxidants exist, and all are important, but there is one that I wanted to emphasize – tocopherols (aka vitamin E). It is usually recommended in topical form to protect the skin but it also works from the inside out. Through its free-radical scavenging activity, it protects the skin from damage caused by ultraviolet light AND also helps protect the eyes from light-induced diseases including cataracts and macular degeneration.
What a fantastic excuse to eat NUTS! Nuts and nut butters are rich sources of vitamin E, especially almonds. Olive, canola and sunflower oils are also good sources. I personally think the best way to eat your almonds is raw (since roasting them can dry out their oils), but apparently studies don’t show a difference between the effects of raw vs. roasted nuts. Just avoid the ones that are roasted with hydrogenated oils. (Worried about the fat content? Just don’t eat them by the pound and you’ll be fine. How many people do you know are overweight because they ate too many almonds?).
Since almonds are my favorite, I am including "quick serving ideas" that I got from The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods by Michael Murray:
- Almonds provide a little crunch to plain yogurt
- Enhance your next vegetable stir-fry with ½ cup sliced almonds
- Add two tablespoons of almonds to your morning bowl of oatmeal
- Make an open-faced sandwich of almond butter and bananas drizzled with a little honey
- As a side dish, saute 1 ½ cups blanced almonds with 2 Tbs. olive oil (more vit E!), 1 tsp. coriander powder, ½ tsp crushed cayenne pepper, and a dash of salt.
- Or just eat them.
I am going to continue eating my vitamin E rich foods and I’ll post an update in about 10 years to let you how they did in preventing the aging process!
