Believe it or not, what you put into your body directly relates to what your body displays to the world. For example, if you eat a lot of fatty foods, you will develop poor skin conditions like acne. I’m not saying that you have to eat raw veggies all day to avoid stretch marks but eating junk food is not going to help.

Think about it, how can you expect to put all kinds of junk into your body and not have your body strike back at you? When you are unhealthy it shows in your skin as well as everywhere else on your body. Your diet really does play a big role in whether or not you will have stretch marks.

When it comes to your diet, it should be plain as to what should be done to combat skin issues like stretch marks. First of all, you will need to eat balanced meals that follow along with the food guide’s recommendations as according to your own health needs.

You hear this all of the time about eating balanced nutrition, but usually it is in reference to dieting or nurturing/avoiding health woes. That is true; however, it can also help to combat skin problems too, such as stretch marks. That may not be so obvious.

We all know that certain vitamins are great for your skin such as vitamin E; however it never seems to occur to most people that you can get it from food and not just lotions and creams. I can’t even try to imagine why that is. It’s as if we think skin + vitamins = cream/lotions. What you should be thinking is vitamins + skin = nutrition/foods etc.

There are specific vitamins that you should be looking to consume that are directly related to your skin. These vitamins should include vitamin C, E, A and zinc in specific. Remember we use zinc to combat sun at the beach; why wouldn’t we want to consume it as well? So what we have is that there are specific foods that will provide these vitamins. Here is a specific foods list that you can consume to help you in battling stretch marks.

 Vitamin A foods include:
·    Liver
·    Carrots
·    Sweet potato
·    Pumpkin
·    Apricots
·    Green leafy vegetables
·    Mango
·    Cantaloupe
·    Tuna

Vitamin C foods include:
·    Oranges
·    Guava
·    Papaya
·    Cantaloupe
·    Kiwi
·    Strawberries
·    Chili peppers
·    Broccoli

Vitamin E enriched foods include:
·    Polyunsaturated oils and seed
·    Sunflower
·    Safflower
·    Canola
·     Corn
·    Almonds
·    Peanut butter
·    Wheat germ
·    Tomato puree
·    Avocados
·    Peaches
·    Oat bran
·    Fortified cereals like sunflower seeds

Zinc enriched foods include:
·    Bananas
·    Raisins
·    Legumes

These are the best sources of these vitamins to be found in foods when it comes to combating stretch marks. You should try to incorporate them into your daily diet. But nutrients play a big role in this as well, and that is what the next section will talk to you about. You will also get more detail about the vitamins to be found in foods for dealing with and preventing stretch marks.



If your healthy and maintain a fitness regimen and get daily exercise regularly, chances are you already are getting enough protein, carbohydrates, and fats in your diet. Now that I have stated that, you may be wondering. But what about vitamins?

Even if you don't have stretch marks, everyone should be taking a multi -vitamin every morning to maintain proper nutrition. There are those vitamins that directly affect the skin which can serve a great purpose in your stretch mark issue as I’ve stated above. I showed you the best foods for dealing with them, but you may be wondering exactly what these vitamins do to help you in that area. Well, I’m going to tell you.

Vitamin A

 Vitamin A is very important for the growth of skin, and helping you in maintaining healthy bones, nails, and hair. It also helps to repair injured skin, and improve dry, scaly skin.

Vitamin A is absorbed directly through the skin, and helps the skin remain soft and full as it should be. When Vitamin A is applied to the skin directly, it stimulates the skin metabolically, which helps to maintain the skin in a youthful condition. Experiments have showed that Vitamin A applied topically keeps the skin saturated with the vitamin.

Vitamin A also stimulates the renewal process of the skin cells which causes thickening of the skin. At the same time, collagen content in the skin was increased and improvement in skin elasticity could be seen to improve. This is very important in dealing with things like stretch marks, acne and aging.

Vitamin C

One of the most important roles that vitamin C does in battling stretch marks is to help heal wounds and scar tissue. This vitamin is necessary for encouraging the synthesis of collagen, and acts as a cementing substance between the body’s skin cells. The most important role that collagen plays is to provide barriers for infections and diseases and to promote the fast healing of wounds.

You should know that Vitamin C looses its potency very quickly which can make it worthless unless it is used immediately. It also oxidizes very quickly when ever it gets exposed to air and light. If you are looking to buy vitamin C in supplement form, you can look for vitamin C in an airtight brown glass bottle or metal tube which can block out sunlight.

Vitamin E

Another very important vitamin that you should get when you are trying to prevent stretch marks is Vitamin E. Vitamin E is needed in order to maintain the use of normal body metabolism and in the protection and healing of body tissues and skin. When it comes to skin care, vitamin E is at its most beneficial as an antioxidant in keeping the health of your skin tissue and membranes.

It is also used by many doctors as a means to help the recovery process of post surgical scars. Basically, there are two different ways that you can take Vitamin E. These are orally and through lotions and salves etc. Based on personal experience, I have never gotten any good results applying the Vitamin E topically onto the stretch marks. I would rather take the pills.  

Zinc

Zinc is most likely the most essential supplement that you should want to take in the prevention of stretch marks. The most important property of zinc is the production of collagen which we all know is great for firming the skin.

 Collagen holds the bodies skin tissues together. It is the most abundant structural protein and makes up somewhere around 80% of all connective tissue. In fact, 75% of the skin if filled with collagen and it makes up 90% of its overall volume. When a person has enough collagen in their body, you can bet that it is almost impossible to get stretch marks.

Collagen is not available in food, so it's very essential to supplement with zinc. If you're going to supplement your zinc I would suggest that you take ZMA. Along with prevention of stretch marks, ZMA also has several muscle building qualities and can even help you to sleep at night.

One problem that many people have with ZMA is that they notice that they get more acne. Before I started taking it, I never got a single pimple. When I started using it, I haven't gotten anything bad, but I still get some. You should simply ask yourself what is more important to you- stretch marks or acne. This should take the sting out of the acne clause.

There isn't much that I can say about genetics. The fact is that some people will never get stretch marks no matter how bad their diet is or how many vitamins their bodies lack because of their genetics is simply not prone to them. I hate people like that!

Skin Type

Whatever skin type you have is mostly hereditary. However there are things that you can do to improve your natural skin type. Stretch marks are most likely to occur where skin is dry and chapped and just overworked etc. When it's in this condition, the skin looses its elasticity which is how stretch marks come about in the first place. To improve this, make sure to take enough vitamins and apply a moisturizer or vitamin E to the skin once or twice a day.

I recall when I came across a method on how to get rid of stretch marks and how to make the fade factor happen much faster. It uses the same principles as laser/chemical peel; except the process happens in a natural way with different household products that you likely already have.

There is nothing as bad as the pain you feel when you get the laser and chemical methods used on you as a means to get rid of stretch marks. I have been using this special method for a few weeks now and have seen some very good results though it usually takes 6 months to fully fade them.


For a do-it-yourself at-home remedy like those that I have tried that actually work, here are the latest stretch mark creams on the market that will help you take care of them.  

Once the stretch marks develop they will stay with you forever, but with time they will be less noticeable. The only way to avoid stretch marks is preventing them. Here are some things that can help you to avoid getting them.
 
-    It is very important to exercise in order to get rid of stretch marks. When you are toning your muscles this helps your skin to firm thus preventing stretch marks.
-     Make sure in your diet you are getting plenty of protein and foods rich in Vitamin C and Vitamin E because they help to promote good tissue growth.
-    Massaging your body with olive oil or Vitamin E may help.

You can also try this homemade recipe which is very good. My grandmother told me about it. Basically you mix one ounce of carrier oil (try avocado, sweet almond, jojoba for best results) with seven drops of lavender and five drops of chamomile.

You can also apply the famed cocoa butter and/ or elastin cream. These are very good for stretch marks.

Here is another good recipe that I actually found while researching the topic:
1/2 cup virgin olive oil.
1/4 cup aloe vera gel.
Liquid from 6 capsules of Vitamin E.
Liquid from 4 capsules of Vitamin A.
Mix all the ingredients together in a blender. Pour the mixture into a jar and store it in the fridge. Apply the oil to the skin where the stretch marks commonly appear which is usually the stomach, thighs, legs and breasts. If you do this every day, you may prevent stretch marks.