Have you ever heard the saying “you are what you eat”?
Well, the same logic can be applied to your skin. What you see and experience on your skin is a reflection of what you’re putting into your mouth.
Maintaining healthy eating habits is essential to achieve healthy skin. An unhealthy diet, besides slowing down your metabolism, causing weight gain and damaging your vital organs, can also drastically accelerate your skin’s ageing process!
Additionally, there are many skin conditions that can be aggravated by bad eating habits, such as Acne, Rosacea, Eczema and Psoriasis. These are all inflammatory skin conditions, therefore, foods that cause inflammation should be avoided.
What should I eat to promote skin’s health?
Choose antioxidant-rich fruit and vegetables, healthy essential fats from oily fish and nuts, and a varied, balanced diet.
This should increase the levels of nutrients in your skin that are crucial for its health.
Glycation - the new type of wrinkling
Glycation is one of the modern skin conditions in western society, categorised by a "cross-hatched" style of wrinkling, which tends to occur firstly around the eyes and the mouth and eventually spread to other areas.
Glycation is caused by excess glucose (glucose the body hasn't used for energy), that attaches to proteins (such as collagen and elastin fibres) and make these fibres brittle and crystalline over time.
Whilst normally you’d only notice Glycation in people aged 60+, due to the nutritional imbalances of our diets becoming more severe, it is now a condition seen in younger generations too.
That is the result of most Australians following the “western diet”, generally characterised by high intakes of red meat, processed meat, pre-packaged foods, butter, sweets, fried foods, high-fat dairy products, eggs etc.
Understand the breakdown of glucose in your body
All carbohydrates break down into glucose (sugar), eg: bread, cereal, grains, fruits etc. Excessive protein can also be converted into glucose if your body does not use it as energy.
Moreover, there are other habits in your diet that can cause inflammation or breakdown of your collagen such as overconsumption of caffeine, smoking, and alcohol.
Signs can be shown by sagging skin, wrinkles, dehydration, dull skin, and dark or sluggish lymphatic system around the eye area.
The bad news is, once the fibre is glycated, it cannot be reversed, it is permanent damage. So you’ll need to focus on the prevention of Glycation rather than a cure.
In your diet, choose good healthy fats. The most balanced diet to follow is a low carbohydrate diet and protein.
Skincare to fight Glycation!
Look for products with the Anti Glycation Agent (AGA). The AGA works by shielding the proteins in the skin from excess glucose, avoiding the Glycation.
Another option are products with ingredients that inhibit Glycation with the use of Peptides
[link to the blog post “The Active Ingredient That Will [Literally] Change Your Skin”], Glucosamine or Soy.
Moreover, any treatments that stimulate collagen production can also prevent Glycation.
