More about foods for natural beauty

The three basic health and beauty building foods mentioned in previous posts should be supplemented with certain special foods such as milk, vegetable oils, and honey. Milk is an excellent food. It is considered ‘nature’s nearly perfect food’. They best way to have milk is in its sourced form, which is yoghurt and cottage cheese. Sourced milk is superior to sweet milk as it is in a pre-digested form and more easily assimilated. Yoghurt helps to maintain a healthy intestinal flora and prevents intestinal putrefaction and constipation. It is known for its health-building and beauty-enhancing properties.

High quantity unrefined vegetable oils should be added to the diet. They are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins C and F and lecithin. The average daily amount should not exceeded two table spoons. Honey too, is an ideal food. It helps increase calcium retention in the system, prevents nutritional anemia, besides being beneficial in kidney and liver disorders, colds, poor circulation, and complexion problems.

A diet of the three basic food groups, supplemented with the special foods mentioned above, will ensure a complete and adequate supply of all the vital nutrients needed for health, vitality and beauty. It is not necessary to include animal protein like egg, fish or meat in this basic diet, as animal protein, especially meat, always has a detrimental effect on the healing processes.

Sugar in any form is not good for health and beauty of the body. A high sugar intake is linked with diabetes and heart disease. One should, therefore cut down on sugar in all forms and use jaggery and other natural sweeteners like honey and molasses all of which provide valuable nutrients.

Apart from the quality of food which requires careful selection, the quantity of food we eat also has an important bearing on our appearance. Over-feeding puts pressure on the liver and renders the whole system inactive. It also adversely affects the circulation of blood. When the circulation is poor, the skin suffers from many disorders. Therefore, one should also limit the quantity of food one eats. At the same time, insufficient food intake can lead to many deficiencies, which may affect out health and beauty.

Proper cooking – careful preparation and cooking of foods is also essential for health and natural beauty. Foods should be cooked in such a manner as to avoid unnecessary destruction of nutrients. It is healthier to roast or grill foods than to fry them and to cook at low temperature for the shortest possible time. They should also be served immediately after cooking.