acai: anti-aging superfood + sunscreen?

I’ve got good news! The weather seems to be on the upswing here in New England. It is currently March and I spent most of the day outside Monday playing with my daughters in a beautiful 65 degrees! The sun felt ahh-mazing after months and months of winter skies. We laid outside on a blanket and just soaked it in.

Now, the bad news is that as much as I LOVE the sun, it can be both dangerous for your health due to skin cancer risk and also dangerous to your youthful good looks :). Yes, that’s right, the sun ages you. In fact it’s one of the quickest ways to seeing fine lines and wrinkles popping up on that lovely face of yours.

The major offender: UVA UVA is fact also known as the “aging ray”. UVA penetrates deep into the epidermis and dermis of the skin at a depth of 1000 micrometer.

Now, you are probably wondering, how can acai help me with that?

First, Acai is loaded with polyphenols. Polyphenols are micronutrients found in plant based food that are loaded with antioxidants.

The skin has an intricate antioxidant defense system that protects us from the dangerous of UV radiation, however, when our systems are overwhelmed with too much sun exposure, this can lead to oxidataive damage, leading to premature againg.

The role that polyphenols in Acai play in preventing this lies in the abundance of antioxidants found in the plant- up to 3 x more than blueberries.

The polyphenols also help reduce inflammation in the skin which ultimately leads to aging and even worse-some skin cancers.

In addition to polyphenols, Acai contains medium chain fatty acids including omega 6 and omega 9 which helpproduce a natural oil barrier in the skin, keeping skin hydrated, plumper, and youthful looking. So drink up the Acai ladies and gentlemen! Your skin and health will thank you.

You can find these frozen individual Acai packs at Trader Joes and add them to your daily smoothie.