|
Preventing Stretch Marks for Body
Builders
Some doctors believe that good
nutrition may be the key to preventing the scarring of stretch marks.
Remember that the more collagen and elastin in your skin, the less the
chance that it will tear and cause stretch marks? If your body doesn’t
have all the nutrients it needs to make enough collagen and elastin,
then your skin won’t be healthy, firm and able to support the growth of
those muscles.
When you’re bodybuilding, you need to be taking a good, complex
multivitamin supplement for lots of reasons other than your skin, but
these vitamins in particular may help avoid or lessen the stretch marks
that come with building up your muscles.
Vitamin A is known as the ‘skin vitamin’. Applied topically in an
ointment or crème, it helps promote wound healing and prevent scarring.
In your diet, it helps keep your skin supple, soft and firm – and that’s
the kind of skin that doesn’t get stretch marks.
Vitamin C is another vitamin that your body uses to make collagen.
Without enough vitamin C, your body can’t make more collagen when it
needs it, and your skin will suffer.
Vitamin E has been used to help skin heal and keep it healthy ever since
it was discovered. Like vitamin A, you can apply it to your skin, or you
can take it orally – or both. Either way, your skin cells need it to
stay healthy and keep from tearing when you start to pack on the muscle.
Zinc helps your body to repair the top layer of your skin by promoting
the processing of fatty acids in your diet.
Taking a good multivitamin with zinc, and vitamins A, C and E can go a
long way toward helping to prevent stretch marks, but your skin needs
help from the outside too. Dry skin tears more easily, so be sure to
moisturize regularly, especially in the areas where your muscles are
growing fast. A lot of dermatologists recommend lotion or cream with
cocoa butter, shea butter or collagen applied liberally and daily to
prevent the appearance of stretch marks when your bulking up.
Women's health
| Men's health
| Lotions and shopping |
