Allison Tannis MS - Feed Your Skin, Starve Your Wrinkles: Eat Your Way to Firmer, More Beautiful Skin with the 100 Best Anti-Aging Foods

Eat Your Way to Firmer, More Beautiful Skin
with the 100 Best Anti-Aging Foods

Allison Tannis, M.S., R.H.N.

To my husband, who always
makes me feel beautiful.

BEAUTIFUL SKIN IS A MUCH sought-after trait in our society. Regardless of our sex, age, or ethnicity, we all want to feel good in our own skin. This desire, coupled with the growing number of aging baby boomers who are unhappy about their wrinkles, age spots, and sagging skin, has created an ever-growing demand for solutions to prevent the signs and symptoms of agingincluding ways to look younger and to keep skin healthy.

The result of our ceaseless desire for smooth, soft, glowing skin has led to an explosion of anti-aging surgeries and cosmetic products on the market. But do you really need to go under the knife or pay hundreds of dollars for special products? Or, can food rescue your skin in the same way and help its natural beauty shine through?

The answer is yes, it can. Not only that, but changing your diet to include foods that support healthy skin is easier and much more cost-effective than any other method out there. Once you learn how skin is built, how it works, what causes skin problems, and what nutrients and foods help your skin look beautiful, you have the ultimate recipe for healthy, radiant skin.

In this book, well discuss all of these topics and more, so you will be food-for-your-skin savvy in no time. Youll find information on what skin-beautifying nutrients you need to help get you started on the path to rejuvenation and in-depth features focusing on the 100 foods your skin will benefit from most. Not only that, but youll also find fifty delicious recipes that highlight these featured foods and show you how to incorporate them into your everyday diet. Having beautiful skin has never been easier!

Its true: You are what you eat. The foods you eat may be the best resource your skin has to help it fight the outward signs of disease and aging. The entire body needs nutrients in order to work properly, and give us the glowing, healthy appearance we all crave. Unfortunately, stress, processed foods, and diets lacking nutrient-rich foods are common elements in most peoples daily lives; and the result is faster aging of the skin, a greater number of people suffering from skin conditions such as acne and psoriasis, and more undesirable lines and bags around the eyes. Eating the right foods can arm your skin with all the nutrients it needs to fight disease and damage.

Research proves that consuming healthy foods can help your skin have a youthful, plump, radiant, glowing appearance. In 2007, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study done by British researchers that examined whether the food people eat affects the way their skin looksand the answer was clear. More pronounced wrinkles were found in those with a higher intake of bad fats and processed carbohydrates (such as white bread and packaged cookies and snacks), while a diet rich in vitamin C was found to reduce wrinkling later in life. Its just more proof that food has a lot to do with the beauty of your skin.

The skin is the largest of the bodys organs. It functions as a key sensing organ, an oil producer, a detox organ, a temperature regulator, and a protective covering. The skin has to do battle constantly to stay strong and fight the damaging forces that surround it. As the barrier between the body and the environment, it is subjected to a lot of abuse, including:

Ultraviolet rays from the sun (probably the most damaging factor the skin encounters each day)

Tanning and other sun exposure damage

Cleaning-product chemicals, both on clothing and in the air, which interact with the skin, drying it out and causing injury and possible allergic reactions

Your skin reflects your internal health. A healthy person has glowing, radiant, smooth skin. Inflammation, scaling, or puffiness indicates that the body is having health problems. Many skin conditions that leave us with undesirable complexions can be alleviated with a proper diet.

Cosmeceuticals

Along with aging baby boomers, a large market for skin-care products promising to turn back time has emerged, with new anti-aging products appearing on the shelves every day. Some, called cosmeceuticals, are being promoted as more powerful than cosmetics but less powerful than drugs. Cosmeceuticals include creams and lotions that are packed with antioxidants and other wrinkle-fighting ingredients.

The body is made up of more than 100 billion cells, each of which is made up of fats and proteins. Carbohydrates offer these cells energy. These three components are necessary to support your bodys basic health.

However, these nutrients alone do not make your body and skin healthy. Your body also needs vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients to perform optimally and look radiant. These nutrients help the skin repair damage, build support structures, stay moist, and prevent disease. For example, collagen is the skins main structural component, and the body cannot make it without vitamin C. If you do not eat foods rich in vitamin C, such as oranges, lemons, and strawberries, your skin can lose its tight structure and begin to loosen, sag, and wrinkle.

There are many nutrients that the skin needs to function properly and to look radiant. The table on the next page lists some of the most important nutrients for the skin and describes some of their roles in promoting skin health. Note that because hair follicles live in the skin, your hairs health is related to your skins health. For that reason, keeping your skin healthy can help your hair regain that smooth, shiny, soft appearance it had when you were a child.

No matter your age, eating foods to support your skin is important. Teenagers are commonly scolded for their dietary habitswith fast-food and chocolate frequently at blame for their problems with acneyet adults actually have a greater need for skin nutrients than do adolescents. The body changes and becomes less able to digest and absorb nutrients as you age, and the result is that fewer skin-healthy nutrients from the foods you eat actually reach your skin. This means that the foods you eat need to have a greater concentration of skin-beautifying nutrients.