Vitamins and Getting Rid of Strech 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 issues, but you may be wondering exactly what these
vitamins do to help you in that area.

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 bodys 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. 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.

ELANCYL STRETCH MARK CREAM
After you start using this cream once or twice a day from the third month of pregnancy until one month after delivering, 82.5 per cent of new moms said they had no stretch marks at all. This special cream contains marine tissue extracts, which are used to stimulate cellular activity and promote protein synthesis, which aids in preventing connective tissues that cause stretch marks from getting damaged in the first place. The cream actually has safflower oil in it, which is rich in fatty acids and really helps in increasing your skins suppleness. Let me tell you thought that the cream works best when it is used to help prevent them from forming in the first place, the formula contains a nice complex mixture that contains hydroxyproline, an amino acid, and organic silicon, which are used to repair already damaged collagen fibres. You can get it for around $25 at local drug stores.

DERMAGLOW STRETCH MARK BALM
This product is great for those of you who prefer natural products because this one is 100% natural. This is a Canadian product that contains two key ingredients: rosehip oil, which is a form of fatty acid that repairs damaged skin, prevents scar tissue and helps to thins scars; and tocopherol, which is a form of vitamin E that helps to get rid of the redness, which can make stretch marks more noticeable.

It also contains coconut and olive oils, beeswax, cocoa butter and lavender flower condition the skin and locks in the moisture. For the best results, you should use the balm twice daily, particularly if you are gaining weight or loosing it so that it can help to rejuvenate the skin cells as they stretch. If you want to see results after 10 to 12 days use that method above. If you are planning to use it as a prevention tool, the balm helps the skin maintain its moisture level, which gives you the elasticity that prevents stretch marks.

STRIVECTIN-SD INTENSIVE CONCENTRATE FOR EXISTING STRETCH MARKS
J.Lo and Charlize Theron both love this product to help them diminish their wrinkles. But did you know the cream was originally developed to combat stretch marks? Thats what it does best. The main ingredient for this great item is striadril complex, which stimulates collagen synthesis and restores skins elasticity and reduces the length, depth, surface area and texture of existing marks.

CLINIQUE CX STRETCH MARK CREAM
This product is made prevent and minimize stretch marks, and it is also the latest stretch cream to hit the market contains palmitoyl oligopeptide, hydrolysed collagen and acetyl hexampeptide-2, which we all use to stimulate collagen production. Its got Mimosa tenuiflora bark extract in it as well which helps maintain natural collagen levels, there is sucrose, caffeine and sandalwood extract in this product to help your skin repair itself as soon as stretch marks are formed, and it also has Shea butter, muru muru butter and linoleic acid which will increase suppleness and help bolster the lipid system within the skins surface, helping to smooth the skin, and stop new stretch marks from forming.