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Foods That Help You Get Tan

Written by emilyc

Melanin is key to a gorgeous tan, but it’s also key to healthy skin. It protects you from the harmful effects of sunlight so that you don’t like an 80-year-old Snooki. In order to increase melanin production, you need to be eating the right foods that provide your body with nutrients used to make it.

foods that help you tan

Animal Products: Vegetarians and vegans, we love you so much (if you couldn’t tell from the plethora of raw/vegan recipes on the site), but animal products contain copper, which helps produce melanin as well as elastin, a protein that gives your skin its elasticity.

Soy and seeds: Soy is beneficial to your body’s melanin production because it contains tyrosine. Find this nutrient in soy products, as well as in pumpkin seeds, lima beans and sesame seeds.

Randoms: Many other foods contain small amounts of tyrosine, copper or other nutrients that can help kick your tanning up a few shades. Eat plenty of nuts and legumes, dark leafy vegetables, avocados, bananas, whole grain products and chocolate.

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About the author

emilyc

Emily is a New Yorker trapped in a Floridian's body and loves every minute of her big city life. With a major in international business and years of being surrounded by ill-fitting suits and all the wrong shoes, she learned that the importance of fashion needs to be communicated to the world. To her, fashion is on the same level as charity work and feeding hungry children. Emily can be found frolicking the streets of her gayborhood enjoying the off-color humor of the gays.