There are thousands of women, men and teens who would like to know how to prevent stretch marks. In the first place, stretch marks are scars that appear on the surface of the skin when the skin is stretched to the limit. There are various causes that play a role in determining whether a person will get stretch marks or not. One of these is genetics. Another is hormonal changes. Pregnancy, weight gain and sudden growth of the body cause the skin to stretch.

The bad news is there is no way for stretch marks to disappear completely. That means they will always be with you once they have shown up. Blame it on the key factors above. What laser surgery and stretch mark lotions do is that, they reduce the visibility of stretch marks to make them less noticeable and less embarrassing.

Preventing stretch marks, therefore, is the best thing you should do if you don't want them. Stretch mark products, as mentioned, can only make scars look faded. However, if you'd like to prevent stretch marks, you might be disappointed to know that it is not guaranteed that you will indeed avoid getting stretch marks since genetics play a role. If one of your family members had stretch marks, chances are huge that you will have them as well.

However, I've read other people's stories on how they've successfully prevented stretch marks, despite the fact that they've had them before. So, why not give the preventive measure a try and who know, you might end up being stretch mark-free later.

Believe it or not, one of the best things to do how to prevent stretch marks is by changing your diet. They say that the health of skin is greatly affected by what you eat. If you keep eating fresh fruits and vegetables, your skin will be radiant, smooth and glowing.

When it comes to your diet, you will need to eat balanced meals that follow along your own health needs.

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.

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 shield your skin from the sun; why wouldn't we want 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 sources are:

• Oranges
  
• Guava
  
• Papaya
  
• Cantaloupe
  
• Kiwi
  
• Strawberries
  
• Chili peppers
  
• Broccoli
  

Vitamin E sources are:

• Polyunsaturated oils and seed
  
• Sunflower
  
• Safflower
  
• Canola
  
• Corn
  
• Almonds
  
• Peanut butter
  
• Wheat germ
  
• Tomato puree
  
• Avocados
  

Zinc-rich sources are:

• Bananas
  
• Raisins
  
• Legumes
  

These are a sample list of foods that can help prevent stretch marks. As mentioned, having a healthy daily diet is one of the best things to do how to prevent stretch marks. Hence, try to incorporate them into your daily diet.