Love Tanning? Eat These Skin-Healthy Foods Instead

For skin that's healthy (an attractive color), wealthy (nicely plumped up) and wise (flexible, with a good memory), you have to do more than splurge on not-so-magical but oh-so-expensive cosmetics and sunless tanning sprays. You need to nourish your skin with -- you guessed it -- healthy fruits and vegetables. As Eve could have said to Adam, "The good news is that when you finish that apple, you'll look like you've been living in paradise."

The list of good things healthy foods do for skin is long, and starts with intriguing new research about tanning: Eating lots of fruits and vegetables gives your skin a healthier, golden glow, compared to people who don't eat enough. What's "lots"? Our answer: at least five servings a day, but nine is ideal. Go for it!

To get a really golden glow, scoop up fruits and veggies high in vitamin C and beta carotene -- the carotenoid that gives foods, such as carrots, sweet potatoes, red chili peppers, cantaloupe, winter squash, apricots, and cherries, their orange-red hue. Apples, too (Eve was right). Carotenoids add a 14-karat burnish to dark skin and a light "tan" to fair skin. Bonus: They also ease inflammation and protect vision. Find out why vitamin C is sooooo good for your skin.

There are many other fruits and veggies that give your skin a healthy inside-out makeover. Three examples:

• Avocados, lentils and beans (including soybeans) are rich in biotin, which is essential for good skin -- and strong nails, too.
• Spinach and kale are also super -- if not surprising -- sources of beneficial carotenoids, although not necessarily yellow-orange ones. Cucumbers do great things for skin, too. Check out these benefits.
• Pomegranates have polyphenols that help your skin stay thick, firm, and elastic. They also fend off aging "sun spots," too. Here's how.

So, dish up a big plateful. Ready, set, glow!

For extra help in making your skin look younger and healthier, try these 3 tips.