3 beauty-boosting recipes

Looking after yourself and eating well gives you an inner confidence that radiates, becoming visible to others. But looking and feeling good doesn’t have to be a burden, involve complicated routines or cost a fortune: there are so many beneficial vitamins and minerals and antioxidants in everyday beauty-boosting foods.

If you eat a diet of fresh, unprocessed foods and steer clear of too much alcohol, sugar, processed foods and coffee, you’ll start to notice improvements in your appearance. That’s because eating real foods provides you with the right nutrients to improve your health and give you more energy and vitality, and this shows externally.

One precursor to ageing is inflammation. It’s the immune system’s self-protection mechanism, which aims to remove harmful stimuli, including damaged cells and irritants, from the body. It’s initially beneficial, but prolonged inflammation can cause a raft of problems.

Another key driver to having a healthy body and long-term beauty and longevity is normalising your levels of insulin and leptin, two fundamental hormones. If you consume too many inflammatory ingredients, such as sugar, receptor sensitivity for these hormones is decreased, which can lead to premature ageing and age-related chronic degenerative diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. That’s why modifying your diet and cutting down on sugar, too much fructose, low-quality carbohydrate foods such as pies, biscuits and sweets, and complex carbohydrates such as bread and pasta, which convert to glucose in your body, can help you to feel and look better from the inside out.

My favourite 10 beauty-boosting foods are inexpensive and accessible, and have a mountain of health benefits. Instead of coating your skin in toxic Beauty products, why not start to eat yourself beautiful from the inside out?

• Salmon is full of omega-3s, which make skin glowing and radiant.
• Almonds contain vitamin E and can help protect skin from UV.
• Flaxseed oil is high in fibre and omega-3s, and it keeps skin plump and smooth.
• Sardines are great for the skin and anti-inflammatory as they are high in omega-3s.
• Sweet potatoes, converting beta-carotene to vitamin A, can keep hair shiny.
• Kale is loaded with lutein for healthy eyes.
• Blueberries are abundant in powerful antioxidants and are a true beauty food.
• Grass-fed beef is rich in iron to beat dark circles under the eyes and a pale complexion.
• Eggs are a good source of iron.
• Water keeps everything hydrated and helps the kidneys function better.

Now for my next trick: three delicious recipes you can incorporate into your menus and will, I hope, become a permanent fixture.

Tamari Nibble Mix

Cooking time: 25 mins

This nibble mix is full of good fats and B vitamins to keep you in good spirits and it’s packed with essential good fats.

1 cup almonds
1 cup raw cashew nuts
½ cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
½ cup sunflower seeds
3 tbsp wheat-free tamari
90g additive-free brown rice crackers, broken into bite-sized pieces 

Preheat oven to 160°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Place nuts and seeds in a bowl and mix to combine. Pour over tamari and mix so seeds are well coated. Transfer to a baking tray and cook in oven for 25 minutes. Remove and cool. Add rice crackers before serving.

Note: Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks until ready to bag.

Keen-wah Burgers

Makes: 10
Cooking time: 35 mins 

1 tbsp coconut oil
1 brown onion, chopped
2½ cups finely chopped white button mushrooms
3 garlic cloves, peeled & minced
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried sage
1 organic egg
½ cup finely chopped walnuts
â…“ cup almond meal
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp wheat-free tamari
2 cups quinoa, cooked & cooled
Large pinch Celtic sea salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste 

Preheat oven to 175°C and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Heat coconut oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and sauté onion. Add mushrooms, garlic, oregano and sage and cook for 5 minutes, stirring. Remove from pan and set aside to cool.

Combine egg, walnuts, almond meal, yeast flakes and tamari in a food processor and whizz for about 20 seconds. Add to mushroom mixture, mix well and season; then, using your hands, shape mixture into 10 equal patties. Transfer to a baking tray and cook in oven for 25 minutes.

Serve with a crispy salad or green beans.

Note: To get 2 cups of cooked quinoa, you will need half a cup of uncooked quinoa.

Sweet Pistachio Chicken

Serves: 4
Cooking time: 35 mins 

Pistachios are an excellent source of vitamin-E, a powerful lipid-soluble antioxidant that’s essential for maintaining the integrity of cell membrane of mucus membranes and offering your skin protection from harmful oxygen-free radicals. Essential oils in pistachios are really beneficial for removing skin dryness, ageing and pigmentation.

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tsp Celtic sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
4 chicken breast fillets
2 garlic cloves, peeled & sliced
â…“ cup apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp rice malt syrup or 6 drops stevia liquid
½ cup chicken stock or filtered water
½ cup chopped pistachios

Combine 1 tablespoon of olive oil, thyme, sea salt and freshly ground pepper in a bowl. Rub mixture into chicken.

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a heavy-based frying pan over medium heat and sauté garlic for 5 minutes. Add chicken and cook for 15–20 minutes, turning regularly. Remove chicken from pan and set aside in a serving dish and keep warm.

Meanwhile, in a separate pan, add apple cider vinegar and remaining oil and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add rice malt syrup or stevia and stock to pan and simmer for about 10 minutes, until sauce starts to thicken. Add pistachios and cook for a minute. Pour sauce over chicken and serve.

Lee Holmes runs Supercharged Food. Visit her blog superchargedfood.comsuperchargedfood.com for more cooking inspiration, recipes and tips.