Foods for a gorgeous suntan

While longing for summer holidays, here are a few tips to chose the right foods for a perfect suntan.

Suntanning for a long time during the summer can cause skin damage. Solar radiations can accelerate skin ageing, especially during the hottest hours, because they induce free radicals in the skin.

 

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Hot temperatures don’t help either: the skin loses moisture too fast through the sweat and, without appropriate hydration it loses turgidity and it looks rough and dry. To put it simply, too much sun causes wrinkles, as sunbathers’ wizened faces prove.

 

But there are many foods that help your skin to get prepared to sun exposure, triggering the synthesis of melanin, a dark pigment that is the primary determinant of skin colour and that protects the skin from excessive radiation exposure. These include orange foods rich in beta carotene (such as carrots), which is not absorbed by our body if we don’t add fatty foods to it. This is why it is good practice to season raw carrots with olive oil or to eat it with walnuts or other oily seeds.

 

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An easy and riskless way of doing a “carrot therapy” is to drink half a glass of fresh carrot juice seasoned with a teaspoonful of extra virgin olive oil every day, starting to do it at least one month before the holidays.

 

Foods that can prevent skin ageing. These are foods high in antioxidants such as vitamin C and E and flavonoids. Fruits and vegetables are the best way to take in vitamin C. These should be consumed fresh and raw becuase this type of vitamins is time and heat sensitive.

 

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When choosing vegetables rich in active ingredients, opt for the colourful ones: orange, yellow, red, violet, bright green vegetables are generally rich in antioxidant flavonoids.

 

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Great sources of vitamin E are cold-extracted plant oils that must be eaten raw and the avocado that is very rich in antioxidant and heart-protective fats.

 

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The best remedy? A colourful vegetable salad (tomatoes, red peppers, broccoli, carrots, red cabbage) garnished with avocado slices and seasoned with dressing made with lemon, extra virgin olive oil, whole sea salt and green pepper, which is rich in flavonoids.

 

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To restore the right water and salt balance you should provide your body with water and mineral salts: juices as well as vegetable and fruit extracts, shakes and sorbets prepared with honey or brown sugar (rich in salts and trace minerals) are perfect for this purpose.

 

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Cold green tea is also good to restore this balance. With its precious concentration of minerals and antioxidant catechins it is the perfect drink for the summer. We suggest to preparing it at home aromatizing it with slices of yellow peach, fresh mint leaves and sweeten it with Acacia honey. It can be preserved in the fridge for two days.

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