Benefits of a Healthy Diet—Hair, Skin, and Nails Edition

By ICON Meals

In the fitness community, it’s said that you can’t out-train a bad diet. The same notion applies to seeing positive results with your hair, skin, and nails. While treatments and products are helpful additions (which we’ll highlight later), they are just one part of the larger picture. 

If you are someone who regularly experiences dry skin, weak nails, or thin hair, this may indicate that it’s time to make some changes to what you’re eating. Ultimately, your diet can fix a lot of the problems that you’re facing. Many essential vitamins and nutrients that you need, like Vitamin C and Zinc, are in fruits and vegetables.

However, the easy part is acknowledging that you need to make some dietary changes. The difficult part is making those changes. Good news for you, we’re going to go over some common hurdles people face when trying to eat better and how to overcome them.

Problem - Too busy to make meals

People have busy lives. Between work, family, and school, it can often feel as if we don’t have enough time in the day as it is, especially to make healthy meals. Constantly going to the grocery store for ingredients and preparing meals every day from scratch is exhausting. So, it’s understandable that it can feel almost impossible to upkeep a healthy eating regimen. 

Solution - Meal prep delivery 

If you're struggling to maintain eating healthy due to a busy schedule, consider a meal prep company like ICON Meals. Using a meal service will make things easier for you in a few different ways. One: you won’t have to worry about figuring out what to eat since you should’ve already picked your meals from the signature menu provided. Two: you’ll have fresh meals delivered right to your door that you can easily pop into your microwave.

Problem - Healthy meals are lackluster

There’s a common misconception that healthy meals have to be boring. The thing is, what you eat is what you make it. There’s more to it than having salads every day (although salads are good occasionally). It’s just a matter of expanding your horizons and going outside the box.

Solution - Cookbooks and online resources

To help give you some more ideas on what to make for yourself, browse for recipes online. There are various recipes available that will help you elevate a lackluster meal into a spectacular one. You can also find recipe ideas from social media platforms like TikTok, Pinterest, and Instagram. You’ll be surprised by the kind of ideas that you can get from these sites. 

Foods to include in your diet

Seeing as this is about making your hair, skin, and nails stronger, you may be wondering about specific foods to incorporate into your diet. Understanding what foods you should try to consume frequently can help you make conscious decisions on meal delivery services and recipes to follow.

#1) Protein - Protein is a great addition to your diet as it is essential in repairing damage and producing other proteins like collagen. Collagen is what helps to maintain your skin's elasticity and hydration. So load up on protein-rich foods if you can.

#2) Broccoli - Broccoli contains Zinc which protects your skin from sun damage and your nails from nail dystrophy. Zinc promotes hydration and decreases the chances of brittleness which is why it’s often found in over-the-counter vitamins and sunscreen. 

#3) Salmon - Omega threes are a fatty acid found commonly in salmon that makes it a wonderful addition to your diet. Omega threes improve hydration and oil production, two crucial components of healthy hair, skin, and nails.

#4) Strawberries - Strawberries are nice to include in your meals, as they contain Vitamin C, the elite vitamin. Vitamin C can help with most problems that occur with your hair, skin, and nails. It helps to fight inflammation, the production of collagen, and tissue repair.

Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list of fruits and veggies to include, but it’s a great place to start. 

Additional help

There’s nothing wrong with changing your diet in tandem with adding other helpful tips to your hair, skin, and nail aids. To maximize your results, also consider the possible solutions below.

Incorporate specialized products

You may consider incorporating a medication like finasteride pills if you are someone who has been seeing the signs of hair thinning. Or if acne is a struggle, a benzoyl peroxide treatment can help clear up problem spots. Let’s face it, a lot of components go into making sure you are healthy inside out, and it doesn’t hurt to include some products that help things along.

Contact a medical professional

You may need to talk to a doctor if treatments plus a diet change haven’t given you the results that you want. Your problems can stem from certain medical conditions like Alopecia or Psoriasis and can need a professional diagnosis. 

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