Having spent almost 20 years as a beauty editor, being fastidious about my skincare routine is par for the course: there’s the cleansing, the vitamin C, the retinol, the ceramides, the peptides, the layers and layers of moisture. The topical part, I’ve got down. But somewhere along the way (probably when I hit my fourth decade), I became convinced that once your routine is locked, it’s time to tackle what’s on your plate.
In fairness, I had a head start. My mother is French, and I was raised on a Mediterranean diet that considered olive oil a sacrament and treated avocado, fish and a generous spread of vegetables as the foundation of any meal. Both she and my grandmother have genuinely enviable skin – genetic, yes, but also down to several generations of eating very, very well.
I’m a pescatarian, and on any given day I can be found eating salmon or a piece of white fish, snacking on nuts, or defaulting to half an avocado with a sharp vinaigrette as a side. A tin of anchovies in good olive oil is one of my all-time favourite things to snack on. Worthy, maybe, but it’s just how I ate growing up.
The wisdom of my mother’s approach is confirmed by two women I trust completely on the subject, and whose recipes I cook daily. Nutritionist Rosemary Ferguson is unequivocal: “Your skin is a barrier organ, not a blank canvas. You cannot moisturise your way out of a poor diet.” Chef and nutritionist Emily English puts it perfectly. “I always say I eat for two: me and my microbes.” English says the gut-skin axis matters every bit as much as the skin barrier we all spend so much time talking about. Below are the skin-loving foods we all swear by:
Oily fish
The non-negotiable category. I genuinely eat salmon, sardines or anchovies several times a week and get both the protein and omega-3 hit I need. Both Ferguson and English put oily fish at the top of their lists for skin superfoods.
“Omega-3s from oily fish are anti-inflammatory and critical for maintaining the lipid barrier, which is what keeps skin plump,” says Ferguson. “If your skin is dry, reactive or looking dull, this is where I would start.”
English, meanwhile, is on a one-woman mission to convert sardine sceptics. “Sardines are the food people think they hate until they have them in the right recipe,” she says, pointing me towards the sardine bolognese in her new cookbook, So Good Express, as a good gateway meal.
Good fats beyond fish
Olive oil is the single most important thing in my kitchen. I drizzle it on virtually everything, snack on nuts most days, and, as mentioned before, eating avocado with vinaigrette has become a personality trait.
Ferguson nods at all of this: “Monounsaturated fats from avocados, virgin olive oil, nuts and seeds are anti-inflammatory and critical for maintaining the lipid barrier.” (The lipid barrier is the layer of ceramides, fatty acids and cholesterol that acts as a protective layer between the skin and the environmental damage, pollutants and bacteria.)
For anyone who doesn’t eat fish, English flags flaxseed oil as the workaround. “It contains alpha-linolenic acid, a plant-based omega-3,” she explains. “One 12-week study in women found flaxseed oil improved skin hydration and smoothness while reducing sensitivity and roughness.”
Remember to look for cold-pressed oil that’s never been heated. It’s best to eat it cold, too – this is what protects the precious compounds inside the oil.
Eggs
“I think eggs are a very underrated skin food,” Ferguson says. “A whole egg delivers complete protein, which is your collagen raw material, plus biotin, choline and lutein. The whole egg, not just the white.” Her case for them is partly nutritional and partly practical. “Eggs are easy, and a good ‘fast food’.” A soft-boiled egg with anchovies and olive oil, for what it’s worth, is one of my favourite quick lunches.
Colourful plants
“Polyphenols, carotenoids, lycopene and anthocyanin all help to reduce oxidative stress, one of the primary drivers of accelerated skin ageing,” explains Ferguson. “[Think] berries, tomatoes, leafy greens, beetroot. Colour variety across the week is the goal.”
English is evangelical about red peppers in particular, which contain “around 126mg of vitamin C per 100g, so even half a pepper gives you more than your daily needs, and vitamin C is essential for collagen synthesis”. The phrase “taste the rainbow” comes to mind.
Fermented foods
The gut-skin axis is one of the biggest conversations in wellness at the moment. “When the gut microbiome is disrupted, you can often see it in the skin,” Ferguson says. “Prioritise fermented foods like kefir, live yoghurt, kimchi, sauerkraut.”
She practises what she preaches, too. “My favourite breakfast is kefir yoghurt, almond butter, hemp seeds and berries. Ferments, fats, protein and colourful plants. Easy, and a daily low-effort skin-supporting start to the day.” As a longtime follower of her recipes, I can confirm that this breakfast is one that sticks.
Legumes and lentils
Not the most glamorous food group, but English is emphatic that they need a place in any skin-supporting diet. “Beans and lentils are one of my favourite skin foods, because they support the gut-skin axis. Their fibre feeds gut bacteria, which produce short-chain fatty acids like butyrate. Butyrate helps maintain the gut barrier and regulate inflammation, which is why gut health can be so visible in the skin.”
Her advice for the legume-averse is reassuringly practical: “Start small. A few tablespoons at a time, rinse tinned beans well, and build up gradually so your gut has time to adapt.”
Emily English’s new cookbook, So Good Express, is out 7 May
Rose Ferguson’s first book, The Reset, is available to pre-order now
