How does your body feel after a night of binging? What about a vacation of spoiling yourself? The excess of some foods and drinks will make you feel heavy, but it will also show on your face. There are foods that age you. It’s not necessary to delete them from your diet, just try to consume them in moderation.
If you want to preserve your youth, then it’s important to look more closely at your diet, because what you eat can either hurt or nourish your skin. So it’s better to cut down on or avoid foods that age you. It’s not just for your skin, of course: your whole body has to benefit from a healthy diet, especially if it’s conceived with the help of a nutritionist. Until that appointment, here are some helpful starting points.
6 foods that age you
1. Salt
The sodium in the salt makes your body retain more water, and so you will have a puffier look. You also feel a lot heavier and your energy levels are down because of that. You can cut down on your salt, but you can also use a moisturizer that contains caffeine – it will help remove some of the excess water.
2. Sugar
You might like sugar, but we assure you, your skin doesn’t. When your blood sugar levels spike, your whole body gets inflamed. Including your skin, which might get swollen, red, and puffy.
Also, after you digest the sugar, glucose is released into your bloodstream. It attaches to collagen, the protein fiber that keeps skin smooth, firm and elastic. If the collagen is weighed down, your skin becomes inflexible and wrinkly.
3. Energy drinks
Sometimes you need them to stay afloat during a busy schedule. But energy drinks are full of artificial components, and their acidity also strips the enamel of your teeth. Thus, they stain more easily. Yellow teeth can make you seem years older than you actually are. To prevent that, try to switch to water, or use a straw to drink, to minimize the surface of the tooth the energy drink touches.
4. Spicy food
Enjoy your chicken tikka masala? How about your chili con carne? Hot food can be somewhat hard on your skin, especially if you are prone to rosacea – a quite common skin condition that causes redness on your face. But spicy food is especially hard on menopausal women because spices dilate blood vessels and the skin looks blotchy and less youthful.
5. Too much grilling
Do you sometimes grill your food too much? Well, the charred areas contain hydrocarbons that break down the collagen in your skin. And they also predispose you to inflammation. So, if that’s your dinner, use a knife to scrape off the pitch-black parts.
6. Alcohol
If you drink too much, be careful! The toxins build up in your liver. This process leads to skin problems, like acne and premature wrinkles. Also, alcohol affects your sleep patterns, and the lack of deep sleep leads to pigmentation problems and even more wrinkles!