GETTING ready for summer can feel like a full time job.
Between booking a bikini wax before you hit the pool and stocking up on sun cream, there’s also the worry of being “beach body ready”.
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Of course, whatever your shape or size, all our bodies a ready for the beach regardless – the sun, sea and sand don’t care what you look like in your cozzie.
But wanting to feel lighter, brighter and healthier over the summer months (and beyond) is no bad plan.
While there’s no quick fix, we asked Dr Carrie Ruxton, of the Health and Food Supplements Information Service, for some easy diet related tips that will help you get in shape for summer and stick to new healthy habits – even once the sun goes back in.
1. Protect your skin with carrots
The rich colour of carrots and other yellow/orange fruit and vegetables comes from plant bioactive compounds, called carotenoids.
Studies show that including these foods in your diet helps protect your skin against sunburn and other damage caused by ultraviolet B light.
Carotenoids are thought to help by absorbing some types of UV light, directly shielding skin cells, and mopping up free radicals – damaging forms of oxygen that zap around the body damaging cells.
Boost your intake of carotenoids by aiming for five daily servings of fruit and vegetables and making sure you include carrots, peppers, cantaloupe melon and mangoes.
2. Lose a few pounds with intermittent fasting
Nearly everyone wants to lose weight for summer but, somehow, time passes and suddenly it’s two weeks until your holiday.
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Crash diets are not worth the pain – and inevitable weight gain – so why not try intermittent fasting?
The 16:8 plan consists of eight hours of normal eating and 16 hours of fasting (water or herbal tea only) and is a gentler method than 5:2, where you need to stick to 500-600 calories on your ‘fasting’ days.
Remember to top up with an A-Z multivitamin and multimineral supplement when dieting as you’ll be missing out on important nutrients otherwise.
3. Boost hair with biotin and zinc
Hair often becomes dry and unmanageable in the summer due to the effects of the sun and frequent dips in the swimming pool or sea.
Eating the right nutrients helps to nourish your hair follicles, prevent breakages, and provide natural oils to make your hair glossy.
The key nutrients for hair are biotin and vitamin B5, as well as zinc.
Good sources of these are fish, eggs, seeds, nuts, sweet potatoes, beans and organ meats, such as liver and kidneys.
Allowing your hair to dry naturally and keeping the use of straighteners to a minimum will also help.
4. Eat salmon for summer immunity
Nothing ruins a summer like a runny nose or flu, and no-one wants to get a positive PCR just before stepping on a plane.
While diet can’t stop you getting infected with viruses, having a healthy diet puts your immune system in a better place to get to work.
We’re all advised to take vitamin D in winter but, considering what we’ve been through with lockdowns, it’s worth topping up your vitamin D with a supplement all year round.
Vitamin C and omega-3s are other important nutrients for immunity so try to eat salmon once a week and drink a daily glass of orange juice.
5. Use citrus to ace your skin routine
Moisturising comes from within as well as that expensive cream you slap on your face, legs and arms in summer.
Vitamin C is an important nutrient for skin barrier function and helping to reduce water loss.
Vitamin C is a key building block for making collagen, which plumps up your skin naturally from within.
Berries and citrus fruits are great choices for vitamin C – why not whizz up a morning smoothie or add a handful of berries to your breakfast cereal?
Vitamin A and E are also needed for normal skin and you can get these in kale, broccoli, dairy foods, tomatoes and cold pressed rapeseed oil.
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6. Guard your eyes with egg yolks
Lutein is a plant bioactive found in parts of the human eye, especially the macula and retina.
It’s thought to function as a light filter, protecting eye tissues from sunlight damage.
Lutein is commonly taken by mouth to prevent eye diseases, including cataracts and a disease that leads to vision loss in older adults (age-related macular degeneration).
Several studies have reported lutein’s beneficial effects in protecting against these eye diseases.
Foods rich in lutein include egg yolks, spinach, kale, corn, orange pepper, kiwi fruit, grapes, zucchini, squash and parsley.
For a quick lunch make an omelette with a couple of eggs and a handful of spinach.
7. Fix bloating with fermented foods
Bloating is commonly caused by gas, particularly after eating and drinking too fast, or having fizzy drinks – and doesn’t feel great, let alone when it’s hot and humid.
Constipation, food intolerances or irritable bowel can lead to too much gas in the gut.
Other contributors include an imbalance between heathy and less healthy bacteria in the gut.
Probiotic foods and drinks can boost numbers and types of healthy gut bacteria.
Eat live yoghurt or drink kefir daily to help restore the balance.
Add yoghurt to fruit at breakfast or use it as a basis for a salad dressing as a mayonnaise substitute and add things like olive oil and half a teaspoon of horseradish sauce or paprika for a real zing.
Whizz up kefir with a frozen banana, a cup of fresh pineapple or an apple with a tablespoon of seeds for a refreshing probiotic drink.
Alternatively you could take a quality multi strain probiotic supplement.
8. Scoff nuts for bone health
We’re often more active in summer, but there’s no reason to wait until then – and you’ll feel better in your cozzie come pool-time if you start now.
Daily weight bearing exercise like walking and running helps to keep your bones strong.
Bones rely on several different nutrients for their structure and strength, including calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, copper, zinc and manganese.
High quality protein is also important for bone health.
Eat dairy foods, nuts and seeds for calcium and protein.
Make sure to get your daily recommended dose of vitamin D (10 micrograms daily) from a supplement.
Take a multivitamin and multimineral supplement to top up on the rest of the micronutrients needed for bone health.
Pre- and post-menopausal women can benefit from targeted higher dose calcium and vitamin D combined supplements to prevent bone loss linked to ageing.
9. Help combat hay fever with honey
Symptoms of hay fever can be debilitating as spring and summer get underway.
Talk to your pharmacist about effective over the counter remedies, like corticosteroid nasal sprays, antihistamine tablets and eye drops.
Try Golden Eye Drops and/or ointment if you suffer from red eye during the hayfever season.
Many people swear by a teaspoon of local honey too.
The theory goes that by eating local honey you are consuming local pollen.
Many believe this allows your body to build up a resistance to pollen, thereby reducing your reaction to it and relieving hay fever that’s caused by pollen.
There are no definitive studies that show local honey can help with hay fever symptoms. Honey does contain a little pollen but bees tend to collect pollen from flowers rather than grass, which is the biggest contributor to hay fever.
10. Strong nails – don’t forget selenium
We all like our nails to look good and a broken nail is never good news.
Cracked nails can be due to poor nutrition, like a lack of iron, zinc, selenium and B vitamins.
Biotin deficiency which is often described as a cause of weak nails is quite rare.
It is best to stick to a healthy diet, including meat (for iron and zinc), eggs and wholegrains.
Selenium intake in the UK diet is low due to lack of selenium in the soil, so make sure to take a supplement containing the recommended intake (NRV) for selenium.
Protect your nails from cleaning chemicals as much as you can by wearing rubber gloves.
Take care of your cuticles and keep them moisturised, particularly if you frequently have your hands in water and are planning to spend the summer in and out of the sea or swimming pool.
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