Lotions, serums, and daily sunscreen are vital for keeping your skin happy. But diet and lifestyle have just as great an effect on your glow as topicals do—if not greater. To preserve, protect, detoxify, and even enhance your skin, step away from the bathroom vanity and head to your kitchen cupboards.
Skin concerns like acne may respond to a low-glycemic diet, while a diet to slow skin aging should go heavy on the cinnamon, garlic, and ginger. And for overall skin health? Look to healthy fats and whole foods like berries, oats, flaxseed, sweet potatoes, kale, beans, almonds, and olive oil—all of which are featured prominently in these recipes. Grab a fork, gorgeous!
Fruit and Flax Breakfast CrumbleDetox Chickpea TagineRaw Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Blueberry ‘Caviar’Hasselback Butternut Squash with Pickled Red Onion and Herbed Salsa

Quick Skincare Tricks

All the ingredients are hiding in your kitchen!

One-ingredient coffee hand scrub.

Massage brewed and cooled coffee grinds into your hands. Rinse hands with water.

Coconut lip scrub

Mash a small amount of coconut oil with coconut sugar until a paste forms, and massage onto lips. Rinse lips with water.

Basil facial toner

Add a handful of basil leaves to a large measuring cup and pour in 1 cup boiling water, mashing leaves with a fork to extract the oils. Mix in a splash of witch hazel and strain into a jar. Cool well and store for up to
1 week in the refrigerator. Apply to your face with a cotton pad after cleansing and before moisturizing.

Allison Day is the cookbook author of Modern Lunch, Whole Bowls, and Purely Pumpkin and the creator of Yummy Beet (yummybeet.com).
Irene McGuinness is a passionate food writer, editor, and food stylist.
Her work appears in a variety of Canadian, US, and Australian magazines.
This article was originally published in the May/June 2020 issue of alive US, under the title \”Skin Detoxifying Recipes.\”