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If you want a healthy skin, it is important for you to have a healthy diet - a diet which contains adequate amounts of vitamins, minerals and proteins. Balance is the key word. No single diet is responsible for building up or maintaining the skin - so fad diets, which overemphasize one food in preference to others, can actually deprive you of essential nutrients and so may even harm your body and skin. Moreover, there are a lot of misconceptions about the effect of certain foods on your skin. It is not true, for instance, that eating chocolates, sweets or rich cakes will give you spots (your waistline may, however widen!). Neither is it true that eating greasy, fried foods will give you a greasy skin or make your hair greasy. Nor can it be guaranteed, that if you fill yourself up with cucumbers, grapes, carrot juice or lettuce you will acquire a beautiful, flawless complexion. Some people have even come out with extraordinary claims, suggesting, for example, that salads will dramatically change your appearance and to develop a perfect skin you must take vitamin and mineral supplements. All this to my mind is humbug. Although there is no denying that you must take a varied and a balanced diet, it is equally important to remember that the single most important factor in determining the beauty of your complexion is heredity and that your eating habits play only a very small part in it.However, if your diet is grossly deficient in certain elements, then the skin can develop problems. In people taking normal balanced diets this does not happen. But after severe illness, surgery and in people who are on crash diets, problems might occur.With gross nutritional deficiencies, as occurs in severe illness of any type, the skin becomes dry and dark. The lips become sore, the hair falls, and the nails develop ridges and may even get discolored. The feet become swollen. Vitamin A is very important for the health of your skin and eyes. The richest sources of this vitamin are cod-liver oil, liver, carrots, spinach, milk, and egg-yolk. If the diet is lacking in this vitamin, the skin becomes excessively dry and develops pimples. Vision at night becomes defective. But remember, neither should you overdose yourself with Vitamin A, because this also can cause dryness and roughness of the skin, falling of the hair and soreness of lips. Cracking and soreness of lips also develop in vitamin B deficiencies. Liver, meat, milk, greens, pulses and cereals are rich sources of vitamin B. Vitamin C, found in all citrus fruits (lemons, oranges etc.), is also needed for the health of your skin. Vitamin E has been touted as panacea for several ills of the skin - this may well be an exaggeration. There is no denying that vitamin E is an antioxidant and reduces photodamage (damage of the skin when exposed to sun), both when taken orally and applied locally. It, however, has very little effect on stretch marks and sometimes, when incorporated in cosmetics, can actually cause allergic reactions. Apart from vitamins, your diet should also include minerals. Iron makes the blood healthy - consequently it imparts a healthy pink glow to your skin. Iron is found in several green vegetables, in fruits and in meats. Zinc is also very important for the health of your skin. | 
