What to Eat to Look Younger?
This is a question doctors face all the time, “what should I eat to look younger?”, “what foods will make my skin healthier and more youthful?” and conversely “what foods will age me prematurely? In this article we will go over what to eat to look younger and which foods help you to look younger and which foods you need to avoid. It is a holistic approach to beauty.
Eat The Rainbow:
That means to eat the rainbow of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are great for your skin, because of the antioxidants that present in these fruits and vegetables. The reason we say eat the rainbow is the antioxidants are often the actual pigments that make up the color of those fruits and vegetables. The wider the array of colors you eat, the wider the array of pigments and antioxidants. Antioxidants are super important, because they fight free radicals which are really prematurely age us. So by eating the rainbow of fruits and vegetables, you are eating all those pigments and getting all those different colors in all those antioxidants to neutralize free radicals to slow down aging process. Instead of eating all green, try to eat green, red, yellow, orange and whatever colors fruits and vegetables that you can.
Don’t Eat Sugar:
Avoid eating sugar. People all over the world are addicted to sugar. Sugar ages us prematurely in two ways:
- The first way: eating a lot of sugar will cost sugar spikes in your blood that causes insulin spikes, because your pancreas will secrete insulin as a reaction to the sugar spikes. Due to insulin spikes you can get inflammation. Chronic insulin spikes equals chronic inflammation which is one of the driving forces of aging in our bodies.
- The second way: eating sugar causes us to age prematurely and gives us worst skin is due to the process of glycation. When you eat sugar, those sugar molecules will actually bond to the collagen of your skin, causing that collagen to become more kinked.
Sugar attacks our aging by two different ways: inflammation and glycation, so that is why you should stay away from it. Avoid the dessert, sugary sodas, sweet drinks, white bread, white rice and white pasta. Limit the amount of sugar that you eat for good skin.
Eat Good Fats: this does not mean to eat all types of fats, however, good fats, and there is a big difference here, depending on what people believe that all fat is bad for their bodies. So they attend a very low fat diet. Truly that is not necessarily, it is not all of fat is bad for you. The good fat to consider is omega-3 fatty acids and monounsaturated fatty acids. Omega-3 acids are found often in Coldwater fish, while monounsaturated fatty acids are found in nuts and seeds. These are considered good fats, because actually they reduce inflammation and they can even moisturize your skin from the inside out. So you should have the good fats and avoid the bad fats.
Eat Fermented Foods: fermented foods basically are foods that are full of probiotics, which are beneficial bacteria for your gut. There something called the gut skin axis; it is the connection between the health of your gut and the health of your skin. Healthy gut means a healthy microbiome, which are the trillions of bacteria that live inside our gut. Fermented foods and probiotics will bring in healthy good bacteria to your intestines and to your gut, then that can show in healthier skin. So what should you eat; kefir, sauerkraut, miso, kimchi and kombucha, these are all good options to get good probiotics into your gut.
Don’t Eat Processed Foods: try to avoid processed foods. There are many reasons make processed foods bad for you. A lot of processed desserts and processed baked goods contain trans fats, and these are basically industrially modified vegetable or plant oils that are really inflammatory for your body and for your skins. Processed foods also filled with different types of sugar.
Reference: Antony Youn, MD
America’s Holistic Plastic Surgeon
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