
The foods we eat show up on our face as wrinkles, puffiness, bags, dark circles and acne among other things.
Our health begins in the gut. So does premature aging. Are you aware that if you heal your gut you can heal your skin? You can!
Here are some of the damaging/aging foods you want to avoid or limit if you are concerned about your skins appearance:
1)Sugar!! This is the number one skin aging culprit in my book. Sugar causes glycation in which the sugar in your blood stream attaches to proteins to form harmful new molecules called "Advanced Glycation End Products" or AGEs(see it tells you in the name what it is going to do to your skin!!!) Gotta love when something is upfront with the damage it will do to you, right?
The more sugar you eat the more AGEs you produce. These AGEs break down collagen in your skin. We want collagen to help keep our skin young and firm. So cut out the sugar and you reduce the AGEs and therefore reduce the collagen destruction, and therefore slow the aging process of your skin! Fantastic, right?!
Signs on your skin that sugar is having a negative impact are things like: lines and wrinkles on the upper forehead, thinning of your skin, a gaunt look to your face, sagging under the eyes, a grey pasty hue to your skin, and widespread acne.
2)Gluten- You had to know that gluten would make this list of things that are bad for your skin, didn't you? Gluten is linked to "leaky gut syndrome" or "intestinal permeability". This means proteins that should not be in your blood stream suddenly are. They cause an alarm reaction in your body and therefore causes widespread inflammation.
How does this show up on your skin? It shows as redness and puffiness, acne on the forehead, cheeks and chin, and dark patches around the chin area.
3)Dairy- Cows milk is meant for baby cows not humans. For humans, it means adding in an additional 60 hormones per glass!! This totally messes up our natural hormone levels and can cause inflammation, widespread acne, puffy eyelids, dark circles and bags under the eyes.
4)Wine- Oh no!!! Say it ain't so....yep, sorry but too much wine is going to age you. Alcohol dehydrates the skin and is a dangerous skin aging contributor. Wine is basically fermented sugar which causes inflammation in the gut.
Things like fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes, a reddish skin tone, enlarged pores and droopy eyelids are all indicators that you are causing premature aging by drinking too much wine! Limit the wine to 1 glass per day.
In as little as 2 weeks time by making changes to your diet you can see an improvement in the quality of your skin. Make permanent changes and soon people will be asking you what "work" you had done and who they should call!!
If you would like more information on the effects of food on your skin you can read
Dr. Nigma Talibs book as well.
Remember, what you eat is either healing you or hurting you.....choose wisely.