Forget plastic surgery. All you have to do is eat your way to great-looking skin.
http://www.nycdermatologist.com Can you look younger by stuffing your face? Absolutely! The healthier the foods you consume are, the better your skin
looks. No vitamin C and you’ll have no collagen.
http://www.dermatologynyc.org Too little vitamin A or essential fats and you’ll have dry, rough skin, and too little zinc is a recipe for greasy
skin and stretch marks.
So forget plastic surgery. For glowing, gorgeous, youthful skin, it makes sense to eat
your way to fewer wrinkles, pimples, age spots and other beauty plagues.
Resurfacing your skin
It’s
no accident that vitamin A is the number one vitamin used topically to improve the texture and appearance of ageing skin.
Vitamin A is a powerful agent for increasing cell turnover, so that skin looks more youthful.
This
skin vitamin comes in two forms: retinol, the animal form found in meat, fish, eggs and dairy products; and beta-carotene,
found in red, yellow and orange fruits and vegetables.
Apricots, carrots, sweet potatoes and pumpkin are all good
sources of beta-carotene.
Sydney-based naturopath Penelope Sach, author of Natural Woman (Penguin), advises: “Include
a raw carrot juice daily for the natural vitamin A content, which helps to regenerate skin cells. “
Foods
to tighten and tone
Thanks to New York Times bestselling author Dr Nicholas Perricone, we now know that good skin
is a very fishy business.
Fish is not only a good source of the antioxidant co-enzyme Q10 (CoQ10), but an outstanding
source of high-quality protein that helps with cellular repair and essential fatty acids (EFAs), which are responsible for
healthy cell membranes, he says.
EFAs hold water, so the stronger they are, the plumper and younger your skin
looks.
Fish also contains a powerful antioxidant compound called dimethylaminoethanol or DMAE.
“This
chemical stimulates nerve function and the muscles to contract and tighten under the skin,” says Dr Perricone in The
Perricone Prescription (HarperCollins).
“It is a magic bullet for great skin tone, keeping your face firm
and contoured.”
Sach says: “For radiant skin, eat cold-water fish such as salmon, mackerel or tuna,
three times a week.”
Other good face firmers are walnuts and flaxseed oil, soya oil, pumpkin seeds and sunflower
seeds.
Flaxseed oil may also be useful in the treatment of skin conditions such as eczema.
Natural
wrinkle fighters
http://wwww.nycdermatologist.com Perhaps your skin’s biggest enemies are free radicals, produced by UV rays as well as pollution, stress and even
breathing.
These nasties lead to skin inflammation, as well as the degradation of collagen, the support structure
for your skin, according to Leslie Baumann, of the dermatology department at the University of Miami in Florida.
But nature has designed some pretty clever foods that, if eaten regularly, act as natural wrinkle fighters.
Start
with apricots and tomatoes, rich in lycopene, nature’s sunscreen.
For maximum anti-ageing, add a daily bowlful
of berries, a glass of red wine or a freshly brewed pot of tea.
In a 2004 study by the veterinary science faculty
at the University of Sydney, a potent free-radical scavenger called pycnogenol was found to reduce the amount of inflammatory
sunburn in mice.
Pycnogenol can be found in grape seed, grape skin, cranberry, blackcurrant, green tea, black
tea, blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, black cherry, red wine and red cabbage.
Still want a stronger defence
against free radicals and the surgeon’s knife?
Here’s a potent free radical-busting combination: vitamin
C, vitamin E, glutathione and CoQ10.
A 2002 German study published in the Journal Of Pharmacological And Biophysiological
Research found that, together, these antioxidants could reduce inflammation caused by UV rays.
You’ll find
vitamin E in vegetable oils, nuts and green leafy vegetables, and vitamin C in leafy citrus fruit, berries and green leafy
vegetables.
Asparagus is high in glutathione and CoQ10 is found in seafood, spinach and nuts.
Other
antioxidant-rich foods are prunes, plums, capsicum, beetroot, parsley, figs, raisins and legumes such as red kidney beans.
And don’t forget herbs and spices, an often neglected way to boost antioxidants in the body.
“Herbs
and spices contain several natural water-soluble phenolic acids and flavonoids that can protect the body against oxidative
stress and inflammation,” says Dr Michael Fenech, principal research scientist on the CSIRO’s Genome Health and
Nutrigenomics Project in Adelaide.
http://www.nycdermatologist.com Add cinnamon to your cappuccino, drink tea made of fresh mint or ginger, roast lamb with herbs such as rosemary, sage
and thyme, and indulge in turmeric-rich curries.
Try Gourmet Garden’s herb tubes if you can’t buy
fresh.
Out, damn spot
There are two types of spots that detract from youthful skin: age spots and pimples.
And Australasian soils are notoriously short of a trace element called selenium.
This deficiency,
along with sun exposure and sugar in the diet, is believed to be a factor in age spots, says Erica Angyal, an Australian nutritionist
now based in Tokyo and author of Gorgeous Skin In 30 Days (Lothian Books).
To stop spots, you should not only
wear an SPF15+, but eat selenium-rich foods, including garlic, brazil nuts, macadamia nuts and sesame seeds.
A
study published in 2003 in the British Journal Of Dermatology also showed that skin was less likely to suffer oxidative damage
when selenium levels were high.
Eating garlic, which also contains vitamin C and sulfur, can help banish blemishes.
Zinc is another natural substance that is necessary for good skin. Rich sources of zinc are oysters, ginger root,
lamb, pecan nuts and brazil nuts.
Softening up
Extra-virgin olive oil has a high concentration of
a monounsaturated fatty acid called oleic acid, one of the most powerful anti-inflammatory foods in existence, says Dr Perricone.
“Oleic acid is a member of the omega 9 family,” he says. “It can make the difference between
a complexion that resembles a piece of old shoe leather and one that looks and feels like a rose petal.”
For
younger-looking skin, aim to eat about 20g – or two tablespoons – of good fats a day, including olive oil.
Avocados contain oleic acid, as well as the antioxidants vitamin C and E.
Try having some on toast with
lycopene-rich tomatoes, accompanied by a cup of green tea, for a super skin-boosting meal.
For baby-soft skin,
avoid dehydrating drinks too, like alcohol and caffeine.
“Try Campari and soda during summer, as this is
less dehydrating than wine and champagne,” says Sach. Of course, cool, filtered water is great too.
Debloat
and depuff
Your capillaries are the pipelines for your skin cells, says Angyal.
“When they are
weak, or not working efficiently, your skin cells don’t receive all the oxygen and nutrients they need.”
This leads to poor elimination and sallow, puffy, prematurely aged or dull skin.
Bioflavonoids in citrus fruits
can help to protect your capillaries, as well as support collagen production. So, next time you’re at a juice bar, mix
pink grapefruit, orange or lemon into your fruit or vegie blend
Dr. Rothfeld a board certified
dermatologist at NYC Dermatology who is an international spokesman for anti-aging. Dr. Rothfeld is in his early
fifties and is well known that he has the appearance of someone who is in his mid thirties. Dr. Rothfeld will give you
beauty tips and teach you how to take care of your skin to avoid unneccessary procedures to maintain your outer beauty.
