What to Eat for Glowing Skin: A Simple 5-Day Meal Plan
Why what we eat shows up on our skin.
For the last 2 years, I’ve been using and helping others experience waterless skincare and internals for glowing, healthy skin…and recently I decided it was about time I also prioritize my meals throughout the day and eat more foods that promote the glowing, healthy skin I was focusing on.
Because here’s the thing.
It’s really easy to just associate glowing skin with the right serum or lotion. And don’t get me wrong - good skincare REALLY matters!! And I help people every day with that and talk about that in a blog post here. But another thing I’ve learned over the years is that our skin often reflects what’s happening inside our bodies - especially in our gut.
Inside our gut lives a huge community of bacteria and microorganisms that help digest food, regulate inflammation, and support our immune system. When that is out of wack - it shows up on our skin with things like dullness, breakouts, redness, irritation…
But don’t worry, there is really great news!! And we don’t need to do anything extreme!! It oftentimes comes down to this:
Eating more foods that help our gut and skin health.
However - this very simple concept has kind of escaped me over the years! Me - who was taking olive oil shots, collagen and using bioactive skincare - was eating chips and salsa and calling it lunch. As a mom of three, my meals kind of went on the wayside and it was another thing in my mental load I couldn’t keep up with.
Now, I am ALL about moderation and I’m not saying we have to eat a perfect meal plan to have glowing skin - because to me, that is just not going to be sustainable. But, I do think (i am talking about myself here LOL), we could aim to eat more foods in our everyday diet that promote a healthy gut and are nutrient dense - which is turn helps our skin!!!
So that is what this blog post is about. My own quest to eat more foods that support my gut and in turn promote healthy glowing skin.
Our family of 5 already buys a lot of groceries, so I also don’t want to add a lot of extra things to our cart. Which also inspired this blog post. I wanted to share a meal plan with simple foods and things I have been repeating over and over in different ways. We also eat out, have busy schedules, etc - so this plan is fluid and doesn’t have to be rigid. I get the groceries and then aim to have as many meals as possible on this plan but don’t stress if I go off it for a day or two.
Doing this meal plan has also made me in a better habit about nourishing my body with whole foods. And knowing that what I am eating is also helping my gut and skin… and it tastes good… that has made me feel really good about it. It’s been empowering! And I’ve been looking forward to eating these foods!!
To make it easy and realistic - I want to share my grocery list and also a simple meal plan idea for glowing skin. I need simple and duplicable because that is the only way it’ll be sustainable for me!
If you use any of these ideas and do this too, I would love to hear about it. Connect with me on Instagram!
Your Glowing Skin Grocery List
Cold Pressed Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (consume daily! I use this one from Spain on every meal)
Avocado
Blueberries
Strawberries
Oranges
Red Bell Peppers
Sweet Potatoes
Cucumbers
Cherry tomatoes
Eggs
Greek Yogurt
Chicken (rotisserie to make easy)
Salmon
Pumpkin Seeds
Brazil Nuts (all you need is 1-2 a day!)
Spinach
Mixed Greens/Kale/Arugula
Chia Seeds
Quinoa
Raw Honey (I’ve been really into this raw bioactive honey from New Zealand and you can take a spoonful every morning or mix into your yogurt. For gut health!)
Weekly Meal Plan for Glowing Skin
Here are meal ideas of breakfast - lunch - dinner - snacks, and then you can mix and match each day! In real life I don’t follow a rigid meal plan (because I have to be in the mood for something that day, ya know), so I wanted a plan that I could rotate throughout the week. These meals are repeatable and easy to make. And highly customizable. The recipes are more of a method.
Remember - consistency matters more than variety!!
Breakfast
Yogurt Bowl
Ingredients: Greek Yogurt (or fav non-dairy yogurt), Chia Seeds, Berries, Honey, EVOO, pumpkin seeds
Directions: In a bowl combine the following: Yogurt, chia seeds, honey, berries, and drizzle with EVOO. Top with pumpkin seeds.
Eggs + Spinach
Ingredients: Eggs, Spinach, EVOO, Avocado. Oranges or berries on the side.
Directions: Fry 2 eggs in olive oil on the stove. Add some spinach at the end to wilt. Add salt + pepper to taste. Serve with diced avocado and an orange or berries on the side.
Lunch
Salmon Quinoa Salad
Ingredients: Salmon, Spinach, Quinoa, Cucumber, Avocado, Tomatoes, EVOO
Directions: Roast salmon in the oven at 375 degrees with EVOO + salt + pepper.
Make a batch Quinoa according to the package instructions. (refrigerate extra for future meals)
In a bowl or on a plate, mix quinoa with spinach, diced cucumbers, tomatoes, diced avocado, EVOO, salt + pepper. Add the salmon on top.
Note: In place of salmon, you could do chickpeas, chicken, hard boiled eggs…
This is more of a method than a recipe and is highly flexible with veggies and protein you have!
Eggs + Spinach
Do the same recipe mentioned above at breakfast. It can be repeated and used for lunch!!!
Dinner
Sheet Pan Dinner
Ingredients: Salmon, Sweet Potatoes, Red Bell Peppers, EVOO
Directions: Roast Salmon (or Chicken) in the oven with diced sweet potatoes and red bell peppers. Drizzle with EVOO and salt + Pepper before roasting at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.
Salad with Salmon or Chicken
Ingredients: Salmon/Chicken, Mixed Greens, Cucumbers/red peppers/tomatoes/avocado, Quinoa, EVOO, pumpkin seeds
Directions: Put mixed greens and quinoa in a bowl. Add cucumbers, tomatoes, chickpeas, red bell peppers. Top with roasted salmon. Drizzle with EVOO and salt and pepper. Add a dressing of choice, if desired. Can also top with pumpkin seeds.
Snack IDEAS
1-2 Brazil Nuts a day
Oranges
Apple with almond butter
Yogurt + chia seeds + berries
Dark Chocolate
Cheers to glowing, healthy skin - both inside and out!!!
xx,
Anna
