The Beauty Benefits of Your Morning Hot Cup
Breakfast beverages with beauty benefits. (Photo: Dan Saelinger - Trunk Archive)
Standing in your seemingly endless 8 a.m. café line, you might wonder if the wait is worth it. The answer is yes if you go for breakfast beverages that offer beauty benefits. For starters, swap coffee for tea. “The water used within tea is great for the skin, helping to keep it hydrated and fresh,“ says Jeanette Bronée, author of Eat to Feel Full (and Nourish Yourself for Good) and Founder of Path for Life. Sure, there are endless options of sugary sips packed with empty calories, but if you navigate the menu carefully, you can easily walk away with healthier hot cup and added oomph to your beauty routine.
Order: Matcha Tea
Green tea is good for you, but matcha is even better. In a nutritional comparison, one cup of matcha green tea is equivalent to 10 cups of traditional green tea. It has 127 times more flavonoids, which help protect skin from UV rays. Antioxidants are abundant, too. “As we grow older, collagen, which makes our skin look firm and youthful, breaks down due to the free radicals oxidative damage. Antioxidants help slow this process and protect the cells,” says Urban Remedy Founder and Herbalist Neka Pasquale. Additionally, there are skin cancer-preventing qualities that matcha possesses, says Ippodo Tea International Director Kenichi Kano. Bonus: the powder can also be applied to the skin as a facemask, to rejuvenate your skin.
Add: Cinnamon
“Cinnamon is thought to increase blood circulation, which can result in a rosy and radiant complexion,” says DAVIDsTEA Tea Information Manager Dorothy Stachura. Cinnamon also adds fiber to the body, which rids toxins and eliminates acne-causing bacteria.
Add: Stevia
Craving something sweet doesn’t mean skin (or waistlines) should suffer from sugar. “Stevia is believed to contain anti-inflammatory properties,” says Pasquale. “Stevia a natural, safe, and calorie-free sweetener. Whole stevia leaves contain nutrients such as calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, and niacin, many of which are known to regulate blood sugar.” Save yourself some calories, as well as unwanted wrinkles and rotting teeth.
Add: a2 Milk
Got Milk? Calcium isn’t just good for bones and teeth, it helps plump up skin. Available in whole milk, reduced-fat (2% fat), low-fat, and non-fat varieties, many individuals digest a2 Milk with more ease than traditional milk. Most cows produce milk with A1 and A2 (beta-casein) proteins, and recent studies suggest people may have A1 intolerance. Bonnie Johnson, MS, RDN recommends a2 Milk, produced by100% a2 cows, for every day use: in coffee, tea, lattes and other beverages.
