You know that your skin needs enough water to look its best. Without enough water, the skin looks dry, tight, and flaky, and is more prone to fine lines and wrinkling.
Large quantities of water are lost every day, so you have to replace it if you want to maintain healthy looking skin. You can do that by drinking enough water, but is that the only way?
How Drinking Water Benefits Skin
When you drink water, it goes to all the cells in your body, including those in your skin, helping them to appear more plump and soft. Regular intake of water also improves circulation and digestion, and helps flush away toxins, all of which benefit the skin.
Everyday you lose water through perspiration, urine and bowel movements, and from dry air that steals it away from your skin. That means you need to be consistently replacing that water as you go about your day. Even slight dehydration can show up on your skin as dryness and dullness, particularly on your lips!
It’s best to get at least eight glasses of water a day for optimal skin health, but if you really want your skin to glow, it’s important to eat your water, too!
How Eating Water-Filled Foods Benefits Skin
We get water from what we drink, but we can also get it from the foods we eat. In fact, the moisture in foods may be even more beneficial for skin than the water in your glass (though both are necessary), because it tends to stick around in the body a little longer.
When you drink water, it has a healthy flushing effect that takes toxins out of the body. It replenishes cells in the body, but because the body puts a higher priority on critical organs like the heart and lungs, these get the water first, before your skin does. That’s why if you’re not drinking enough water, your skin can look dry, because while other parts of the body are hydrated, the skin is not.
Drinking enough water helps, but if you eat water-rich foods, too, your skin has a better chance of staying hydrated. The water in food is surrounded by other molecules that help your cells easily absorb it, and that also keep the water in your system a little longer.
Dr. Howard Murad, author of The Water Secret, told the Daily Mail that the water we eat is different from the water we drink. “When we eat water-rich foods,” he said, “we absorb water more slowly because it is trapped in the structure of these foods. That slow absorption means the water in food stays in our bodies longer, and brings a multitude of additional benefits.”
In one 2009 study, for example, researchers found that some fruits and vegetables may hydrate the body twice as effectively as a glass of water. Another study from the University of Naples found that some plant chemicals, like lutein and zeaxanthin, also help increase hydration.
That means that if you want to truly hydrate your skin, you should probably add the following water-rich foods to your diet as often as possible!
10 Water-Rich Foods to Hydrate Your Skin
The following are foods that are not only great sources of water, but that also contain nutrients believed to be important for hydration. Even better news—all of these water-rich foods are low in calories!
- Watermelon: It’s about 92 percent water, and also contains calcium, magnesium, potassium, and sodium, which help rehydrate cells.
- Cucumber: It’s 96 percent water and also has hydrating minerals.
- Lettuce: It’s 96 percent water and only four calories per shredded cup.
- Celery: It’s 95 percent water and only 16 calories per cup (raw).
- Zucchini: It’s 95 percent water and only 27 calories per cooked cup.
- Tomato: It’s 95 percent water and only 32 percent calories per cooked cup.
- Green bell pepper: It’s 94 percent water and only 18 calories per cup.
- Asparagus: It’s 93 percent water and only 27 calories per cup.
- Portobello mushroom: It’s 93 percent water and only 19 calories per cup.
- Cauliflower: It’s 92 percent water and only 27 calories per cup.
How often do you eat water-rich foods?
Sources
Atkinson, L. (2016, February 18). Why you should EAT water, not drink it. Retrieved from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3451899/Why-EAT-water-not-drink-obsessed-rehydrating-drop-bottle-reach-fruit-veg.html
Investor Relations Group. (2012, January 4). Fruits and Veggies Can Hydrate Better than Water. Retrieved from http://news.cision.com/the-investor-relations-group/r/fruits-and-veggies-can-hydrate-better-than-water,c9204428
Whitbread, D. (2018, November 19). 17 Vegetables Highest in Water. Retrieved from https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/vegetables-high-in-water.php
