I recently posted a picture to my Instagram story of a page from the book I was reading about eliminating dark circles and puffiness under your eyes. Later that day my messages were filled with questions asking how. So here is the secret to how: eat the right foods.
Since I have changed my eating habits to mostly organic, plant based, Whole Foods… I have realized the puffiness under my eyes is nearly gone. I’m sure you’ve heard it before, but I’ll say it again: Your skin (especially your face) is a mirror image of what is going on inside of your body. When we have dark circles or puffy eyes, that means something is off inside of us. Lack of sleep can contribute to puffiness and dark circles, but mainly it is the foods we eat that are the culprits.
Diets High in Animal Protein
We make our bodies to do some extra work when it comes to digesting protein derived from animals. To put it simply, our bodies don’t need protein per se, but we need amino acids. When we digestive animal proteins, our body has to break down the animal protein, extract the amino acids from it and then work to make those amino acids into the protein that our body needs. Does that sound like a lot of work? It is. Our bodies use so much energy trying to digest these foods, that it has no energy to put into less important areas of our body such as making our skin glow, our hair shine and much more. When we eat Whole Foods that are easier for our body to break down, we allow our body to have more energy to put into the things like our hair, skin and even our eyes!
So what foods can help get rid of these annoying under eye circles and puffiness?
Well, whole foods of course. Some of the top foods that will allow you to ditch the under eye makeup are the following.
Cucumbers
Yes, it is true. Cucumbers can help to eliminate puffy eyes. You can lay back and relax with slices of cucumber over your eyes…but you can also try to incorporate them into your diet regularly. Cucumbers are filled with water. This allows them to help your body hydrate and eliminate excess sodium. Watermelon is another fruit that is high in water.
Celery
Celery has anti inflammatory properties which, you guessed it, help prevent your inflammation under your eyes. Not to mention that celery helps to detox your body. Detoxing helps support healthy kidney and liver function and when these vital organs are working properly they help to make the skin looking healthier and we all know the skin around our eyes is very delicate! Parsley is another food that helps to detoxify the liver and kidney.
Bananas
Some of the properties in bananas allows us to sleep better and can help to eliminate troubles we have falling asleep, and lack of sleep leads to dark puffy eyes. Bananas also have other properties such as vitamin A and oils that help moisturize the skin.
Cut back on salty foods. Almost all processed foods contain salt. Try to eat an array of Whole foods rather than packaged foods.
And of course drink a lot of water. Water helps to eliminate excess sodium in our bodies which can cause inflammation aka puffy eyes! It also helps to hydrate our skin and give it glow…bye bye dark circles!