Juicing for glowing skin? Join the club. Juicing is great for your overall health, but if I’m being totally honest – it’s vanity that inspires me most. As someone who spent her 20s struggling with acne and is now in her 30s and concerned about aging gracefully, I’ll be the first to admit that I intentionally choose juicing recipes for skin care purposes.
No shame in that. So if you’re juicing for skin perks as well – here’s everything I’ve learned over the years about how to use that juicer of yours as your best skincare tool.
Does Juicing for Glowing Skin Work?
Whether it’s youthful skin you’re after, a clearer complexion, a rosy glow or just healthier, more hydrated skin – juicing can get you there. How so, you ask?
It’s simple. Juicing gives you a condensed load of vitamins, minerals, and live enzymes directly from the most nutritious fruits, veggies and herbs. That means you get a whopping load of skin boosting goodies from every glass of fresh juice you drink.
Green Juice
Take, for example, green juices. Green juices are chockfull of chlorophyll, which has anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and wound-healing properties. It can help combat acne and other impurities and infections by aiding our body’s tissue in destroying germs.
Chlorophyll is also a gentle detoxifier, helping our body more efficiently remove toxins and other nasties that clog and slow our elimination pathways. And last but not least, chlorophyll is even an effective odor deodorizer – fighting bad breath and body odor from the inside out. It’s also been known to reduce urinary and fecal odors, in case you were wondering.
Vitamin A Juice
And it’s not just green juices. Let’s choose another color of juice, say, orange or red. Right from the color, you know that these vibrantly hued juices are bursting with beta carotene, which our bodies convert Vitamin A, another crucial skin vitamin.
What we know as Vitamin A is actually a group of antioxidant compounds that support not only vision, but bone growth, our immune system and skin health as well.
What exactly does it do? It helps our skin and mucous membranes form effective barriers to bacteria and viruses, it reduces the risk of eye infections, it boosts our immune system against respiratory problems and other infectious diseases. It even provides a great source of eye vitamins to protect against macular degeneration and cataracts.
The best part is that this everyday vitamin is something that’s found abundantly in fruits and veggies like carrots, sweet potato, kale, and spinach – all of which are delicious juicing ingredients.
Vitamin C Juice
And let’s not forget another heavy hitter for skin health – Vitamin C. This famous skincare vitamin is found in ample amounts in many juice recipes (think anything with lemons, limes, yellow peppers, cherries, guava, strawberries, thyme, parsley, kale, kiwis, broccoli and, well, you get the picture).
You don’t need us to tell you that’s great news for your skin, since vitamin C is essential in collagen production, which as you know, is what keeps your skin plump, supple and unlined. Yup, vitamin C is crucial for youthful skin.
It doesn’t even stop there – vitamin C is also a potent antioxidant, serving to protect skin cells from free radical damage.
5 Juicing Recipes for Skin Health
When it comes to juicing for glowing skin, there are some of my favorite picks. Try them out, they’re yummy (except for the last one – that one’s not for newbies).
Vitamin C Super Juice
What vitamin is more famous for skincare than Vitamin C? But you don’t just want to be sipping on orange juice all the time. Instead, you can brilliantly take advantage of the natural sweetness of oranges to sneak in a whole bunch of green goodness in the form of…broccoli.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 1 whole head broccoli
- 2 oranges, minus the peels
- 1 large apple
In case you’re thinking this makes for a funky combination – it actually tastes wonderful. The tart sweetness of the oranges and the natural sugar in the apple completely fades the broccoli out into the background. But you still get all of the broccoli’s sweet, sweet skin benefits of course. In case you didn’t know – broccoli is damn rich in Vitamin C as well as the other heavyweight skin vitamin, Vitamin A.
Spicy Sweet Potato Skin Care Juice Recipe
One thing I never understood about the world was…why the h*ll do potatoes get all the attention when their sweeter cousin is so much hotter in terms of nutritional content?
This delicious juice recipe is in celebration of the underrated sweet potato. Let us sing its glories for a bit…
Sweet potatoes = beta carotene! Just one medium sweet potato provides your body with the complete recommended daily allowance of vitamin A. If you’re juicing for acne – this is great news.
Potato’s sweeter cousin is also brimming with vitamin B6 to keep your artery walls flexible and healthy, potassium to regulate fluid balance and lower blood pressure, manganese to promote healthy blood sugar levels, and even more antioxidants – Vitamins C & E to top off its health benefit resume.
Now throw some carrots and ginger into the mix and you’ve got yourself a party!
Note: Just tried this recipe with pineapples – cores and all – instead of carrots and It. Is. Seriously. Good. Just thought you should know 😉
Skin Rejuvenator Juice Recipe
This is one gloriously nourishing skin care juice that’s chock full of skin goodness and complex flavor. Sure, it takes a bunch of ingredients to make but it is oh, so worth it.
If you find yourself grumbling as you wash and prep each of the veggies, just remember what each one is going to do for your skin. Like watercress, these peppery greens are chock full of antioxidants and are one of the best cleansing greens around. As for kale, you already know this is the Queen of Greens, hailed for its high nutrition content.
And the tiny, delicate herbs like mint? Great for your digestive system – just like the licorice-flavored fennel. And we all know that skin care (and health) begins in the gut.
So grab your ingredients and whip up a glass of this super skin saving juice! Here’s what you’ll need:
- 1 cup blackberries
- 4 sprigs mint
- ½ fennel bulb with greens
- 2 stalks kale
- 2 small green apples
- 1 cup broccoli
- 1 handful watercress
- 1 small cucumber
- 1 lemon, peeled
This juice recipe is wonderful to sip on throughout the day since it’s pretty low in sugar so feel free to replace your coffee or herbal tea with it!
Green Goddess Juice Recipe
Did you know that cucumber peels are made of silica, which is an important building block of the skin-plumping, wrinkle-preventing collagen? Just one cucumber with peel on gives you around five milligrams of silica.
Cucumbers are also incredibly hydrating – which is a simple but crucial antidote to wrinkles.
Spinach and cancer-fighting watercress are chock full of chlorophyll, which provides ample skin benefits and carrots, of course, are infamous for their beta-carotene (which converts to the more familiar vitamin A, an important antioxidant and acne-buster).
Green Juice Recipe for Youthful Skin
Here’s a delicious juice recipe to keep your skin supple and unlined. As you might’ve guessed, it’s yet another green juice – one that’s combined with anti-aging EGCG.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2 kiwi fruit
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 apple
- 1 lemon, peeled
- 1 glass of green tea (chilled)
- a handful of basil (holy basil, if you can find it)
As mentioned, the EGCG is the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound found in green tea that’s been shown to protect the skin from sun damage and even skin cancer. And of course, this juice recipe is packing tons of collagen-boosting antioxidants Vitamin C and Vitamin E.
But the real skin saver here is (holy) basil, which has antimicrobial properties that fight unwanted skin conditions like acne and eczema. More importantly, holy basil is known for its unique antioxidant compounds that can enhance the body’s natural response to stress. As an adaptogen, it’s effective for helping our bodies handle the stress hormone levels that pump through our bodies everyday we are stressed in traffic, at work, with our kids, and so on.
And as everyone knows, nothing ages the body and skin quite like stress can. So don’t skimp on that handful of holy basil, okay?
Last Note on Juicing for Glowing Skin
The above juice recipes are great if you’re after healthier, glowing skin, but it’s also important to remember that any skin boosting diet should also include healthy fats and probiotics.
Essential fatty acids, such as those found in nuts, seeds and avocados, as well as healthy oils are crucial when it comes to having healthy skin. They promote the strength and function of your cell membranes, helping to reduce breakouts and keep your skin supple, hydrated and youthful. This is one of the biggest reasons why we recommend juicing and blending – you get the best of both nutritional worlds.
Adding probiotics to your diet will also boost your digestive health, which is a crucial component in skin health. In other words, a good bacterial balance leaves you with good skin.
Yogurt with live cultures is probably the most well known food that includes these healthy bacteria. Make sure to include these items to your diet plan or add a great probiotic supplement, in addition to the nutrient-rich foods listed above, to pave the way to a beautiful, clear complexion and prevent breakouts from occurring.
An easy way to make the most potently skin boosting concoctions is to juice a great mix of beneficial fruits and veggies that can be juiced – like a juice recipe of sweet potato, bitter greens like dandelion greens, and garlic and then blend it real quick with some avocado, antioxidant-rich fruit (berries!) and coconut oil.
The result is a powerful combination of acne-fighting ingredients sourced from Mother Nature’s best foods. Best part? Rather than side effects, these fruits and veggies come with additional health perks.
Need even more input about skin health and juicing? Read about the benefits of juicing for your skin.
