Get Your Glow Back With Skin Foods For Peri-menopause And The Menopause
‘What do I need to use to get glowing healthy skin?’ As an esthetician it’s something I am asked often. But as a nutritionist I know that topical skincare is only part of the story. You also need to be nourishing your skin from within.
There are foods for skin that also help you get that glow and are equally as important as what you put on it.
When you reach peri-menopause and menopause this becomes doubly important.
What happens to the skin during perimenopause and menopause?
During this time your hormones change, particularly a decline in oestrogen. Since your skin has oestrogen receptors this has a direct impact on your skin. The other change is the sudden reduction in collagen, the protein that provides structure strength and elasticity to your skin.
The following skin changes are pretty common in perimenopause and menopause:
- Dry and itchy skin
- Acne and spots
- Red and flushed skin
- Skin that bruises easily
- Wrinkles
But before you panic and think all is lost, you can use what you eat to nourish your skin from within, food for skincare is key to achieving healthy glowing skin.
Eating foods rich in nutritional value and avoiding processed foods is the most beneficial way to eat for glowing skin (and health in general). Just as you can eat your way to glowing skin, you can also make your skin conditions worse depending on what you eat.
So, what are the best foods for skin and why?
1. AVOCADOS
Rich in healthy fats, avocados are one of the best foods for skin.
A study from 2022 monitored women who ate one avocado every day for 8 weeks. The results suggested that consuming avocados lead to better skin elasticity and firmness.
Packed with Vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant that does wonders at reversing damage and protecting your skin.
Avocados are also rich in Vitamin C (another antioxidant) necessary for the production of collagen, which helps to keep your skin strong, plump and elastic. It also helps protect your skin against damage from the sun and protecting from pollution and other environmental damage. It’s powerhouse ingredient for achieving a natural glow.
Recipe Inspiration
Avocados for breakfast
Simple smashed avocado on wholegrain toast (add a few dried chilli flakes or chilli infused olive oil if you like a kick!) with a poached or boiled egg on top. Cherry tomatoes & fresh basil on the side is yummy!
Smashed avocado with haricot beans, cooked with some cherry tomatoes and oregano, serve topped with a little feta (view easy recipe)
For lunch try an avocado and chicken or salmon salad!
Perfect for summertime and nutritious for your skin and body.
Your avocado salad can include:
Diced and cooked chicken breasts or hot smoked poached salmon
Celery
Lettuce
Radish
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Peppers
An avocado roughly chopped or sliced and fanned over the top.
You can make a dressing with olive oil and lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, adding some fresh or dried herbs
Try making a simple guacamole to have with Fajitas (or spread on oatcakes as a snack)
Smash an avocado with lime juice, smoked paprika, red onion (or not!!) and black pepper.
2. OILY FISH
Oily fish are among the some of the best foods for skin health. Examples of oily fish include:
- Salmon
- Mackerel
- Trout
- Herring
- Sardines
- Tuna
So, why is oily fish so fabulous for our skin? The answer is simple: omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for skin cell membranes, they ensure your skin remains thick, hydrated and supple. If you’re experiencing dry skin, there’s a chance it’s down to not getting enough omega-3 fatty acids in your diet.
Oily fish also contains a good source of Vitamin E, which is one of your skin’s favourite antioxidants, protecting the skin against damage from free radicals and reducing inflammation a major contributor to skin ageing.
Recipe Inspiration
Favourite dishes with oily fish
Oily fish for breakfast
Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, I love to add spinach and tomatoes too. Get creative, add fresh herbs like dill, parsley or chives.
I love smoked mackerel with a mixed salad and tangy lemon dressing simple made with equal parts olive oil to lemon juice and a good sprinkling of dried thyme or oregano.
Or
Mackerel pate - simply smash up smoked mackerel fillets with some greek yoghurt, lemon juice, a good grind of black pepper and plenty of fresh chopped parsley or fresh dill, delicious with salad, on oatcakes or some good quality sourdough bread.
Oily fish for dinner
I’ve two of my family’s favourite salmon dishes in the recipe section, take a look
3. YELLOW AND RED BELL PEPPERS
Yellow and red bell peppers are excellent sources of beta carotene, which when eaten, is transformed into Vitamin A. This powerful antioxidant not only provides protection against damage from free radical but it also provides our skin with protection from UV rays. It plays a role in cell regeneration, collagen and elastin production to keep skin firm and plump and help maintain a healthy skin barrier.
They are such a great source that only 100g of diced red bell pepper has over 100% of the daily required amount of Vitamin A!
Yellow and red bell peppers are among the best food sources of Vitamin C (another antioxidant). You need Vitamin C to produce collagen, the protein that provides structure strength and elasticity to your skin.
Recipe Inspiration
Bell peppers are super versatile, they are an absolute staple in my fridge and can be used in so many different recipes.
One of my favourite breakfasts is Shakshouka (click for the link to the recipe)
Soup is always warming and comforting! Easy to transport to work and freezable for batch cooking.
Ingredients
Olive oil
Shallots or onions
Garlic
carrot
Red bell peppers
Vegetable or chicken stock
Basil
Cut peppers into small chunks, drizzle with olive oil, and slow roast them in the oven. Roasted peppers have a deeper flavour than raw ones and it’ll make a huge difference to your soup.
Sauté the onions, garlic and carrots, put the lid on to 'sweat' them, but be careful not to burn them, add a little water or stock if necessary and cook until starting to soften. Add your stock (chicken or vegetable) and cook until veggies are soft.
Add your peppers (reserving some pieces if you like a chunkier soup), and blend it all together. Season with salt and pepper and preferably fresh basil but dried is fine, too.
Stir through crème fraîche (optional) to make your soup creamier if desired.
Add Chillies (optional) to your soup for a little spice if desired.
4. SWEET POTATOES
Just like bell peppers, sweet potatoes also provide your body with beta carotene, making sweet potatoes excellent foods for skin helping with UV protection, skin hydration and wrinkles.
They’re also a brilliant source of fibre supporting a healthy microbiome, which is crucial for skin health, providing a protective barrier, boosting the skin's immune system, fending off harmful pathogens, regulating the skin's immune response, and maintaining skin hydration and barrier function.
Recipe Inspiration
Sweet potatoes are versatile and can be included in lots of different meals. You can use sweet potatoes as a substitute for standard potatoes in almost every meal.
Mash with a little wholegrain mustard, or make sweet potato fries by roasting with olive oil, sprinkling with oregano and smoked paprika, these were always a favourite with my kids.
Aromatic Sweet Potato soup with coconut milk is delicious and so filling, try this recipe from BBC Good Food
One of my favourite ways to use sweet potatoes is to make them the star of the meal in a Sweet Potato, Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry
5. BROCCOLI
In my opinion broccoli is a an all round super food. It contains something called indole-3-carbinol which the body converts to DIM and uses to process and balance eostrogen. Research is also showing its cancer fighting potential, but it also happens to be one of the best foods for skin.
Broccoli is jam packed with so many different vitamins and minerals that help with overall health and your skin, includes Vitamin A, Vitamin C and zinc.
Broccoli also contains something called lutein which works a little bit like beta carotene. Lutein is excellent for skin protection against the environment, helping with dehydrated, itchy and wrinkled skin.
Recipe Inspiration
Boiling and steaming are both great methods, but roasted broccoli provides a new depth of flavour.
Break the broccoli into florets.
Pop your broccoli into a large bowl.
Use olive oil, salt and pepper to season your broccoli.
Sesame seeds make a great addition to roasted broccoli, too.
Toss so everything is covered evenly.
Transfer your broccoli onto a baking tray, making sure you spread them out in a single layer.
Slice the top of of a bulb of garlic pop it in the corner of your pan and drizzle with a little oil. (I do this a lot when the oven is on and store in the fridge once cooked, then you have ready made garlic paste to add to any dish)
Pop it into a pre-heated oven (180 degrees) and bake your broccoli for around 20 minutes. Half way through, give your tray a little shake.
Once cooked mash a couple of the garlic gloves and stir through the broccoli (store rest of garlic in box in the fridge)
Serve immediately.
Broccoli soup
1 onion
1 head of broccoli
3-4 carrots
1litre of stock
Salt and peper
Olive oil
Heat olive oil on a low to medium heat. Roughly chop onion and cook for 3-5 mins. Peel and roughly chop carrots and chop broccoli including stalk. Add to pan with onions, put the lid on and allow to cook gently for about 10 mins.
Add stock and season with salt and pepper, allow to simmer gently for 20 mins until veggies are soft.
Remove some of the broccoli pieces, blend soup in vitamin. Break reserved broccoli in to bite size pieces and add back into soup.
Broccoli Pasta
One head of broccoli
Wholemeal pasta
Garlic
pinch of chilli flakes (optional)
Roughly chopped up walnuts
Half a lemon, zest and juice.
Cut into florets and cut the stalk into smaller pieces.
Pop your broccoli on a baking tray before lightly sprinkling on some olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss so they are evenly covered, place on a baking tray, slice the top of a bulb of rarlic pop it in the corner of the tray and drizzle with oil. Pop in the oven for 15 mins. For the last 5 mins stir through the walnuts and the chilli.
Cook your pasta as normal. When draining, make sure you keep one cup of pasta water for later.
Tip in your drained pasta back into the pan and add the broccoli mix, or if your oven dish is deep enough add pasta to it. Add some of your pasta water and toss everything together to coat your pasta properly. Then, transfer to a bowl and sprinkle over a little parmesan or even gorgonzola if you like.
6. SEEDS
Nuts and seeds as a whole are great foods for skin health. But a special mention for sunflower and flax seeds in particular.
Both contain phytoestrogens helping to offset the decline in oestrogen, this can improve elasticity and hydration potentially reducing the appearance of wrinkles and other signs of ageing.
Sunflower seeds are rich in vitamin E a powerful antioxidant that protects skin cells from damage, supports the skins natural barrier and helps to reduce lines.There also great for reducing bloating, inflammation and lowering your cholesterol.
Flax seeds are rich in omega 3 fatty acids, improving hydration and elasticity and combat dryness and flakiness often experienced during menopause. Some studies suggest that flaxseed may help reduce the frequency and severity of hot flushes. Always grind flaxseed, the body isn’t able to digest it otherwise and store ground flax seed in the freezer.
Recipe Inspiration
Sunflower seeds are great raw as a snack, but you can add them to lots of dishes/ foods to add some extra nutritious benefits.
Sprinkle sunflower seeds on your Museli or your overnight oats.
Add sunflower seeds when making home made pesto or some try grinding up some seeds and adding it to your existing pesto mixture.
Add sunflower seeds to a smoothie
7. WALNUTS
Most nuts are great foods for skin, but walnuts are a little extra special.
Walnuts are full of skin supporting fatty acids, magnesium, and arginine. Strengthening cell membranes and protecting the skin barrier. If your skin feels puffy, walnuts can help to combat it and reduce inflammation.
This is also the case for bloating. Basically, walnuts are wonderful in perimenopause and menopause.
Recipe Inspiration
Of course, you can eat walnuts as a snack. But they’re great for adding into dishes.
Incorporate walnuts into a crumble for pudding. Simply scatter small pieces of walnuts into your crumble mix and combine thoroughly before baking.
Add to overnight oats or sprinkle chopped walnuts over museli or fruit and yogurt. Add in to salads for a delicious crunch. Or grind and sprinkle over casseroles.
Another swap for your pesto recipe is to include walnuts in place of pine nuts.
8. BERRIES & CHERRIES
These mighty little foods are nutrient powerhouses for the skin. They’re high antioxidant, vitamin C and polyphenol content, protect the skin from free radical damage, reduce inflammation, promote collagen production, keep the skin hydrated and protect from UV rays.
They taste delicious and are so versatile, and frozen berries and cherries are just as nutritious as fresh. Blend frozen berries in a smoothie, or make a summer crumble (with a walnut topping).
Fresh berries with overnight oats, greek yoghurt, mixed nuts and seeds is a favourite summer breakfast.
Skin Foods – Are Skincare!
Choosing the right Skincare products is important but they are the icing on the cake. What you are feeding your skin from within is vital for its health. That’s why it’s important to eat foods for skin health, especially during perimenopause and menopause when your hormone levels drop. Your food can and should be skincare!
So whether you’re struggling with itchy skin, acne, redness, irritation, inflammation, dryness, loss of moisture, lack of plumpness, fine lines, dull and dehydrated complexion, these super skin foods will help you get your glow back.
