 Number one, on my favorite foods for healthy skin are foods that contain probiotics. Now, good health begins in the gut. Believe it or not, your gut, the lining of your gut is your skin turned inside out. And what happens in your gut is not like Las Vegas. What happens in your gut doesn't stay in your gut. And it's reflected on your skin. So your gut health has a direct impact on your skin. So probiotics are the good gut buddies. So you really want good gut buddies to outweigh the bad guys. Now there are lots of foods that provide either probiotics, probiotics, which are living bacteria, or postbiotics. And postbiotics are the fermentation products that bacteria make. And interestingly enough, as you'll learn in gut check when you book, dead bacteria, dead probiotics, actually are incredibly useful for fostering good skin health. So fermented foods like vinegar, kimchi, goat and sheep kefir that are plain, goat and sheep yogurts, coconut yogurts, miso, sauerkraut, and various probiotic supplements are a great way to improve your skin health. There are some specific probiotic bacteria that have been shown to enhance skin thickness, skin health, hair growth, hair health. And that's exciting new information that a number of us have been talking about recently. Number two, prebiotics. Now it goes without saying that prebiotics are important for skin health, in that they support a healthy gut microbiome. Remember, think about probiotics as basically grass seed. The problem with grass seed is I tell my patients in the desert that if I give them grass seed and tell them to go plant it, unless they fertilize and water the grass seed, it's never going to grow. And so many of us make the mistake that all we have to do is swallow probiotics and everything else takes care of itself. And unfortunately that's not true. You've got to feed the friendly bacteria what they want to eat. And we're beginning to know exactly what these guys like to eat. And these are called prebiotics. Prebiotics primarily with soluble fiber. Now people say, oh, fiber is really good for you and you need lots of fiber, but don't make them a mistake. There are soluble fibers and there are insoluble fibers. The problem with insoluble fibers like ingrains is these are literally like swallowing razor blades, which will damage the wall of your gut and that damage will be reflected in your skin. So soluble fiber on the other hand is what your gut buddies want to eat and soluble fiber will not damage the wall of your gut. Quite the contrary, it will help repair the wall of your gut. And as the wall of your gut gets happier and happier, that'll be reflected on your skin. So flax seeds. Flax seeds are a great source of soluble fiber. They're great sources of a short chain omega-3 fat, which is called alpha linolenic acid, ALA. And it's also a great source of protein. There's a recent study showing that the lignans in flaxseed or hive lignan flaxseed oil actually change the microbiome in a positive way that suppresses breast cancer growth. Sounds good to me. Artichokes. You know, artichokes get a bad rap for being hard to prepare. Get the frozen artichokes and eliminate all the hard work or get them in a can. I particularly like them frozen because then I can do anything I want with them. They're available in most grocery stores in the freezer section. They're available at Trader Joe's. Incorporate them into the meals you're cooking. Put them in soups, cook them in stews. I like to saute them with olive oil. I like to bake them with olive oil and salt and pepper. They're great with garlic sprinkled on them. It's really easy to do and they're just an amazing source of soluble fiber. Leeks. I just got back from England and France and I can tell you that almost every meal I had there had some form of leek either as a part of the dish or in a soup or in a stew. And it always reminds me how we really have never appreciated the ability of leeks as a great source of prebiotic fiber. They're a cousin and they're part of the onion family. And again, it was just amazing how many times I had leeks in a week in London and Paris. It should be part of our diet. And they're really easy to prepare. Make sure you slice them in half the long way and rinse thoroughly before you cook them because they can contain some grip. But that's the easy way to fix them and then just treat them like you would treat onions. They don't have the pungency of onions so people who don't like onions can actually do great with leeks. Now, okra is one of my all-time favorites. Okra, believe it or not, absorbs lactons. But more important than that, okra is loaded with muco polysaccharides, with polysaccharides. Now, a lot of people don't like the slimy effect of okra. That's okay. Buy it frozen, slice them in half, put them in a bag with olive oil, salt and pepper, some seasonings, throw them on a baking sheet, bake them at 400, 425 degrees, flip them over in about 10 minutes. You will have the tastiest okra potato chips. We have yet to get a batch to the dinner table because they're gone the minute they come out of the oven. It's here on my YouTube channel. Try it out. Hikama, hikama is another great root vegetable that tastes like a cross between an apple and a potato. You can actually roast it or eat it raw. You can put it in a salad. I like to use it as a dipping chip for my guacamole. And reminder, please don't put tomatoes in your guacamole. It's not supposed to be in there. You can also supplement with prebiotic fiber. I like anacetol, myoanacetol and inulin, and they're readily available as supplements. All right, the number three food, foods that are high in silica. Now, silica is basically sand. Dark leafy greens are full of silica, arugula, swiss chard, bok choy, radicchio. They also pack a powerhouse of polyphenols and antioxidants that your skin needs. They all provide the body with vitamin A, which works against dry, flaky skin. They provide vitamin C, which undoes the sun's damage to collagen and elastin. And they have vitamin E, which helps keep your skin calm and comfortable. But what most important in these greens is it's high in the content of silica in dark leafy greens. What else is high in silica? Artichokes. So there's a double good reason to get these little guys into your diet. And again, it could be easier now that we have frozen artichoke hearts. Number four, mushrooms. Mushrooms are loaded with biotin, but perhaps more importantly, they're loaded with these polysaccharides, which are one of the favorite foods of your gut microbiome. And the happier and more diverse your gut microbiome is, the happier the wall of your gut is, and that'll be reflected once again in how great your skin looks. Number five, olive oil. High quality, organic extra virgin olive oil is brimming with nutrients that benefit your skin, including essential fatty acids and vitamin E. But more importantly, it's loaded with polyphenols like hydroxy tyrosol and tyrosol that have been shown to improve skin quality by improving the wall of your gut. There's an exciting new paper that shows it even improves the ability of your blood vessels to expand and contract properly, and more blood flow to your skin means your skin looks more radiant. And don't forget, you don't have to just drink olive oil. So feel Lauren credited her incredible beauty to putting olive oil on her skin daily, and I recommend you do the same thing. Number seven, sweet potatoes. It's rich in beta carotene, which is the precursor of vitamin A, vitamin E and antioxidants. Vitamin A fights skin discoloration. I bet you a lot of you are putting retinoic acid on your skin. That's vitamin A, and retinoic acid is also, by the way, an interesting mitochondrial uncoupler. Vitamin E supports the collagen production in your skin. Finally, walnuts. One ounce of walnuts contains 8% of the daily recommended value for zinc, and zinc is incredibly important for skin function. Walnuts are also an excellent source of short chain omega-3 fats like alpha-linolenic acid. Avocados, before I go. Avocados are a fantastic source of oleic acid, the same fat in olive oil, but they contain vitamin E and a ton of fiber, prebiotic fiber that your gut buddies are gonna love. Turmeric, let's not forget turmeric. Turmeric is also shown to fight fine lines and wrinkles. There's an abstract in a dual study, or random clinical trial, that the application of topical turmeric extract reduced the appearance of facial hyperpigmentation and fine lines and wrinkles. And it was actually a split-faced study among Caucasian women. Turmeric was combined with niacinamide. Women put it on one side of the face and a placebo on the other. And the combination product was significantly better at improving fine lines and wrinkles than just alone. So tell you what, why not try a turmeric mask at home and let me know the results. If you found this video helpful, I think you're gonna love this one. Now, there are plenty of people out there who love their morning smoothies. Now, sorry folks, smoothies are just not healthy. And they're not gonna help with bloating.