Beauty And The Blog

Food. Hmm. How does it relate to anti-aging and healthy skin? Have you ever thought of the food you eat as being part of a skin care routine? Food, your diet, is another weapon you can use to slow the aging process and the symptoms of aging, such as wrinkles and dry skin.

It’s true that we can be what we eat. If you choose to put low quality food lacking in good nutrition into your body, well… what do you think will happen? Low quality health. And your skin, your complexion, is very much affected by the health of your body in general.

Eating some foods in particular can actually be a way of boosting your skin care routine. To get good quality nutrition for your skin start thinking about a diet that is low in saturated fat yet high in healthier fats such as omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids will help insure your skin’s natural oil barrier. What does that mean for your complexion? Hydrated, plump and more youthful looking skin. No, you won’t look like you’ve had a face lift, sorry. But you will notice a difference and it will be one you will like.

Antioxidants also play a big role in keeping your body and skin healthy and vibrant. You have certainly heard over and over, like a mantra…. Antioxidants are good for your skin. I know I have mentioned them repeatedly here in my posts. Vitamins such as A, C and E are anti-oxidants and they do what….?

Fight free radicals. Those little scavengers come from everywhere. The sun, smoke, and uh, low quality food full of chemicals, preservatives and processed ingredients.

Those antioxidants are in anti-aging skin care products. Be thankful for that. They are potent ingredients in your fight for youthful skin. But why stop there? Your whole body needs those anti-oxidants to keep your organs healthy and functioning properly. A healthy body can mean healthy, gorgeous skin. Make sense? So, you need to actually eat those antioxidants as well as apply them topically.

Getting certain vitamins is crucial as well. Those antioxidant rich foods will give you some of them, the A, C and E. But you need a range of B vitamins for healthy skin as well. Without B vitamins you can end up with dry, itchy skin and that will make wrinkles more apparent. That wouldn’t make me happy so I am assuming it won’t make you happy either.

Some research has shown that some B vitamins are beneficial when applied to the skin. In one example, a study of hairless mice (wonder if they are cute? Hairless cats and dogs don’t do much for me), researchers in Kawasaki, Japan, found topical application of an antioxidant derived from vitamin B-6 protected against sun-induced skin damage and decreased wrinkles. Wow, youthful mice…

There is also research that has found vitamins C and E, as well as selenium, can help protect the skin against sun damage and skin cancer and can actually reverse some of the discoloration and wrinkles associated with aging and sun exposure. These can be found in anti-aging skin care but usually not in very high concentrations and they lose their potency when exposed to air and light.  How a product is packaged comes into play here.

These antioxidants work by speeding up the skin’s natural repair systems and by directly inhibiting further damage, says Karen E. Burke, MD, PhD, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine’s Department of Dermatology.

Burke recommends taking supplements containing 1,000 to 3,000 milligrams of vitamin C, 400 international units of vitamin E (in the D-alpha-tocopherol form), and 100-200 micrograms of selenium (l-selenomethionine) to gain the most benefit. (Don’t give selenium to children until they have all of their adult teeth because it can interfere with the proper formation of tooth enamel)

After she started taking her “cocktail,” which includes vitamins E, C, B-12, and selenium, Ross noticed that she was getting more comments on her skin. “I’ve heard that my skin is flawless or it looks very beautiful, very smooth,” she says.

How to get these vitamins and antioxidants into your diet? Here are a few ways:

• Selenium — Brazil nuts, turkey, cod
• Vitamin B-2 — Milk, enriched grain products, eggs
• Vitamin B-6 — Chicken, fish, nuts
• Vitamin B-12 — Clams, liver, trout, fortified cereals
• Vitamin C — Citrus fruits, red peppers, broccoli
• Vitamin E — Sunflower oil, whole grains, nuts
• Omega-3s – Salmon and other cold-water fish, flaxseed, safflower oil, walnuts

Now let’s talk flavonoids. What the heck are they? Flavonoids are polyphenols (plant derived antioxidants) and they have anti-inflammatory, and antiviral properties. They also help to maintain the health of small blood vessels and connective tissue. Hmmm, fun stuff huh?

Well, yeah. They can be fun stuff. You like chocolate don’t you? Chocolate has flavonoids. Dark chocolate, the darker the better is great stuff for your body and skin. YAY!

A German study in the Journal of Nutrition found that women who drank hot cocoa with a high flavonoid concentration (dark chocolate) for three months had softer, smoother skin than women who drank hot cocoa with a lower flavonoid concentration. Now that’s a yummy way to improve your health and complexion, right?

Green Tea also has those flavonoids. In another study, this one in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, it was found that women whose skin was treated with green tea extract were more protected against the adverse effects of sunlight exposure.

So what are you thinking at this point? Those potato chips still looking good? Ready to put down that donut? Take a good look at what you are putting into your body. Keep a journal if you have to so you can look back and see what choices you have made. And just how is your skin looking, hmm?