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MagazineMadame.ca

Soak your skin with a vitamin-rich summer diet

Sunscreen can protect against sun damage, but a healthy, nutritious diet plays a role too. Fill your grocery basket this season with foods that are good for your complexion and feed your skin from the inside out.

Vitamin A-rich foods – found in sweet potato, carrots, etc – promote healthier skin, not to mention offering benefits to your eyes and teeth. Vitamin A is needed for repairing and maintaining healthy skin, including healing and constructing new skin tissue. It also protects against wrinkling.

Antioxidants, primarily vitamins E and C, can protect skin cells from the ravages of free radicals, a harmful byproduct of sunlight. Antioxidants are also important in the formation of the protein collagen which, along with elastin, helps to reduce skin aging. B vitamins, including biotin – found in bananas, potatoes, etc – help to ensure healthy development of skin cells, and fight stress and aging.

And then there are the essential fatty acids or “omegas",whose effectiveness against various inflammations are just beginning to be fully understood. For skin irritations, omega 6 — found in evening primrose oil or flax oil — may be beneficial. These oils have been shown to reduce inflammatory skin conditions like eczema. Omega 6 oils in a diet can act as moisturizers for people who suffer from dry and itchy skin, keeping cell walls supple

The effects of a nutrient-dense diet rich with vitamins should become evident within a period of three months.

Samara Felesky-Hunt is a registered dietitian in Calgary and can be found online at dietitian-online.com.

Summer sun and eczema relief:
Is phototherapy right for you?

As summer approaches, many people look forward to spending more time outdoors and enjoying the warm, sunny weather at the beach or pool. For some people, exposure to sunlight actually provides much-needed relief of eczema symptoms.

Sunlight has proven to be beneficial for certain skin diseases; in fact, it has been discovered that ultraviolet rays are responsible for this therapeutic effect. In phototherapy (or light therapy), these UV rays are used to treat eczema.

Most short-course phototherapies like ultraviolet A (UVA), ultraviolet B (UVB) and psoralen plus UVA (PUVA) were shown to have a beneficial effect in adults suffering from severe atopic dermatitis. Narrow band and PUVA therapies appear to be most effective. It should be noted, though, that excessive exposure to UV rays may be harmful to the skin. For more information, talk to your dermatologist.

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Massage: not just for grown-ups!

Help your child start the school year on the right foot, reducing stress and discomfort due to eczema flare-ups

Did you know that giving your child a massage — and spending some quality time together — could actually improve their eczema? A daily 20-minute massage, for one month, may help relieve your child’s eczema symptoms and reduce their stress levels. In fact, this exercise can also do wonders for managing your own stress!

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