How Your Diet Can Age Your Skin

Spicy food

Some people enjoy spicy food while others cannot handle it. It can make your blood vessels swell and even break, leading to purple marks on your face. If you have rosacea, which is common in women after menopause, spicy food can cause a flare-up.

Spicy food also raises your body temperature, making you sweat to cool down. When sweat combines with bacteria on your skin, it can lead to breakouts and skin blemishes.

Margarine

Your skin is the largest organ in your body, and what you eat affects it. Most margarines, especially the solid types, contain trans fats. These fats increase “bad” cholesterol, lower “good” cholesterol, and cause inflammation in your body.

Inflammation is linked to heart disease and stroke, which can make you look older.

Butter in small amounts, or olive oil are a healthier substitute.

Carbonated and energy drinks

Drinking a lot of soft drinks like colas and energy drinks can speed up the ageing of your body’s cells. These drinks not only have fizzy bubbles but also contain many calories and added sugar—7 to 10 teaspoons in a 12-ounce serving.

This sugar mixes with bacteria in your mouth to form acid, which can harm your tooth enamel and cause cavities. Other downsides include weight gain and a higher risk of stroke and dementia.

Frozen meals

One frozen meal can contain half the amount of sodium you should eat in a day. Too much salt makes you thirsty, causing you to drink more water, which can overload your kidneys.

This excess water can settle in areas of your body that have less salt, like your face and hands, making you look puffy.

Alcohol

Margaritas do not look as nice on your skin as they do in the glass. If you have ever woken up with a dry mouth after a night of drinking, you know that alcohol dehydrates you.

This affects your skin, which is mostly made of water. Even if you drink a lot of water, your body will give it to your other organs before your skin.

When your skin does not get enough water, it looks and feels dry and is unable to protect itself against wrinkles.

Processed meat

Processed meat such as bacon, sausage, ham, and deli meats like salami and pepperoni, are treated through smoking, curing, or salting to last longer.

This process makes them tasty but harmful as the salt and chemical preservatives can cause inflammation that can harm your body from the inside out.

Some inflammation is good because it helps your cells heal, but too much can lead to heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.

Fried food

A doughnut is made by frying dough in hot oil. This frying creates free radicals, which are unstable molecules that can damage your cells and make your skin age faster.

You can enjoy some chips/french fries occasionally and that’s fine, but they also create free radicals so don’t make them a regular part of your diet.

Sweet treats

Just because they are not fried does not mean baked items are good for you. Biscuits and cakes are high in unhealthy fats that can lead to weight gain.

They also contain a lot of sugar, which can cause diabetes, high blood pressure, and tooth decay. Additionally, too much sugar can lead to inflammation, increasing your risk of arthritis, depression, Alzheimer’s, and some cancers.

Meat cooked at high temperatures

If frying or grilling meat it creates substances called advanced glycation end products, or AGEs. Low levels are okay since your body produces them, but eating a lot of them can lead to inflammation.

This inflammation can lead to health issues like heart disease and diabetes so if you like your steak well done then only have it occasionally.

High fructose corn syrup

This is similar to table sugar and used instead of it, but has many negative effects on health, including disrupting your body’s ability to use copper. Copper is important for making collagen and elastin, which keep your skin healthy.

High-fructose corn syrup is also high in calories and increases your risk of diabetes and heart disease.

Caffeine

Caffeine makes you urinate more and stimulates your brain, but it can also lead to dehydration. When your body doesn’t have enough water, your skin cannot get rid of toxins properly.

This buildup can make you more likely to have dry skin, psoriasis, and wrinkles.

 Helpful information

As we navigate Menopause, one of the biggest changes we can notice will be to our skin. It can be dehydrated and less glowing, and that means you can see every line and wrinkle.

If you really want to keep that youthful look then maintaining good hormone levels of both progesterone and oestrogen will help as well as using Wellsprings Facial Serum that has been targeted specifically for those areas.

The list above will help you for the things that you need to avoid or reduce, but a more positive approach might be to see what you can include in your diet that can make a difference to your skin’s appearance.

Ageing skin? Here’s How To Keep It Looking Good