As the holiday season gets underway, your diary is probably cram packed full of Christmas parties, long overdue catch-ups, and family events. As well as plenty of fun and festivities, this inevitably means a long month of not enough sleep, too much alcohol, and all the wrong foods. And this can mean cause havoc for your skin.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! There are plenty of delicious yet healthy Christmas meals and snacks that will help you to maintain healthy glowing skin throughout the festive period. After all, nourishment starts from within and eating the correct balance of foods will feed your skin the vital nutrients it needs to stay soft, supple, and blemish-free.

So, to keep your skin healthy and glowing this Christmas, make sure your menu is packed full of these nutritious ingredients:

Blueberries

A great addition to a festive fruit salad or mixed with yoghurt for a light, pick-me-up breakfast after the Christmas party, blueberries might be small but they can have a huge impact on your skin. Rich in antioxidants, blueberries can help to detoxify the body (essential after over-indulging!) and protect the skin from premature aging.

Spinach

Whether you’re making up a quick salad for unexpected guests or you’re preparing vegetable sides for a family meal, Spinach makes a great, glow-giving addition to the menu.

Made up of a huge range of vitamins, this leafy green boasts high levels of folate, which aids DNA repair and can help reduce wrinkles. As with all green leafy vegetables, spinach is incredible for improving skin tone so including plenty of it in your festive diet will keep your skin looking and feeling its best.

Brazil Nuts

The festive period is all about snacks, nibbles, and treats, right?

When you’re preparing snacks or nibbles for a Christmas party or gathering, make sure Brazil nuts are on your shopping list! These tasty nuts are packed full of selenium – a powerful antioxidant that works alongside other antioxidants such as vitamins E and C. Not only is selenium essential for supporting the immune system, studies have also shown that a diet that’s rich in selenium can help to protect against sun damage, age spots, and even skin cancer.

Tofu

Christmas is typically about rich, hearty, and warming meat-based dishes. But swapping just some of your meat out for tofu can make a huge difference to your skin.

Made from soya beans, tofu is a great source of healing vegetable protein, calcium, and healthy unsaturated fats – a great combination for your skin. It’s also a rich source of antioxidants, as well as minerals such as iron, copper, and manganese.

Avocados

Eat them for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! Avocados are currently enjoying a huge surge in popularity, and it’s easy to see why. Full of Omega 9 fatty acids, which are part of the foundations of healthy skin, these little green pockets of goodness encourage skin regeneration whilst reducing irritation and redness.

Oily Fish

If you’re looking for a healthy alternative to the traditional Christmas turkey, opt for oily fish such as salmon. Not only does salmon provide a delicious addition to any meal, it also contains lots of Omega 3, which helps to reduce inflammation in the body and calm skin irritations such as acne.