Beauty elixirs provide beauty from the inside out
By Carla Snuggs
Lately, I've been learning to approach beauty and skincare from a holistic approach. There is one thing I know for sure: skin is thirsty for beauty. So, while makeup can make your skin look flawless, you should also think about skincare from the inside out.
One way to do so is through beauty elixirs which contain key vitamins and minerals that are important for healthy skin. Taut Premium Collagen, Oxylent, and Tsubaki Perfect Beauty Drink are some of the more popular daily multivitamin skincare drinks and drink mixes.
To learn more, Posh Beauty Blog spoke to Dr. Audra Foster, licensed, board-certified doctor of Naturopathic Medicine. Read on to find out which vitamins and minerals are best for healthy skin plus we’ve provided a delicious beauty elixir recipe for great skin.
Ensuring adequate intake of essential vitamins and minerals can complement the topical skin care, promoting healthier, more beautiful skin from within. “Often times, I will suggest that my patients take vitamins for certain health conditions and they end up noticing improvements in skin quality. Here are some important nutrients that I have found that are useful,” says Dr. Foster.
According to Dr. Foster, the key nutrients needed for healthy skin care are Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Zinc, Selenium and S.O.D. More details on each nutrient and how they promote healthy skin are below.
Now, try this beauty elixir made with Oxylent, an effervescent drink that makes an ideal addition to your skin care routine. Just add a packet to water and you’ll have a tasty sparkling beverage that delivers a full panel of vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, amino acids, and antioxidants. It’s refreshing, has zero calories and perfect for when you want a slushie drink, but don’t want the extra calories. You can buy Oxylent online or at Vitamin Shoppe.
Beauty Elixir Recipe
1 bottle of pure mineral or spring water
1 package of Sparkling Blackberry Pomegranate Oxylent
Crushed ice
Twist of lemon and lime or fresh mint
Instructions: Pour 4 ounces of high quality mineral or spring water into a chilled glass (or you can use crushed ice), stir in one packet of Oxylent and add lemon and or lime slices or fresh mint and sip leisurely through a straw. That’s it!
Key Vitamins and Minerals for Healthy Skin
Dr. Foster provides the following details on key vitamins and minerals for healthy skin:
Vitamin C
Due to its role in collagen synthesis and its antioxidant properties, vitamin C is a crucial nutrient for healthy skin. Vitamin C’s functions in skin health include limiting the photodamage caused by UV exposure by providing antioxidant protection against the free radicals caused by UV light. Vitamin C also supports wound healing by promoting collagen synthesis and a healthy anti-inflammatory response at the site of the wound. Higher intakes of vitamin C have also been associated with less dry skin.
Studies show that oral supplementation with vitamin C increases levels in the skin. It’s important to remember that unlike other mammals, humans cannot synthesize the vitamin C they need—we need a regular adequate intake from diet and/or supplementation. As a water-soluble vitamin, vitamin C cannot be stored by our bodies, and it is rapidly depleted whenever we are under stress, traveling, or short on sleep, etc.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D’s functions in skin health include regulating the process by which your skin constantly renews itself, whereby new cells from underneath the epidermis replacing the outer layer of skin cells that are shed over time. This process of epidermal proliferation and differentiation is essential to maintaining healthy cell growth, wound healing, and healthy skin function.
Zinc
About six percent of all of the zinc in your body is found in your skin, where it plays a number of important roles in healthy skin, including stabilizing cell membranes, participating in skin cell differentiation, and serves as an essential cofactor for several enzymes. Ensuring adequate intake of zinc and other minerals is crucial to skin health, as mineral deficiencies often manifest as skin issues.
Selenium
Selenium is found in skin cells as an essential component of antioxidant enzymes that protect skin cells from harmful free radicals and the damage they cause. Making sure you get enough selenium can thus help protect your skin from UV damage and free radical damage by boosting the antioxidant defenses of your skin.
S.O.D.
S.O.D (superoxide dismutase) is a powerful antioxidant enzyme. Our bodies have evolved to produce S.O.D. as our primary protection against the constant onslaught of free radicals and the oxidative damage to our cells and tissues that free radicals cause. Free radicals are produced both internally—during necessary biochemical processes like respiration and metabolism—as well as from exposure to external factors like stress, travel, aging, pollution, chemicals, poor diet, injury, illness, or overexertion. S.O.D. neutralizes the most common free radicals in the body (called superoxide radicals). In fact, each I.U. of S.O.D. neutralizes billions of free radicals.
S.O.D. is found throughout the epidermis and the dermis, but studies show that our S.O.D. levels decrease with age, which been theorized to contribute to the aging process of our skin. Since skin is our largest, most readily-exposed organ to the environment, it is highly susceptible to free radical damage. Supplementing with S.O.D. may help protect our skin from that damage as we age.
Image courtesy of Beautyhaven.com.au
Have you ever tried a beauty drink mix or beauty elixir? Leave your comments below and let us know if it worked for you!
