Five Foods That May Make You Look Younger

At least, I am giving up my secrets to how I stay so young.  Actually, it’s really quite simple – I merely follow my own advice and hardly ever deviate.  It’s not that hard once you’ve gotten it down.  Just don’t let anything stand in your way of achieving your goals.  Enough of the pep talk. Part of looking young involves having a glowing skin and the key to that lies in your stomach.  The wrong food choices cause inflammation right down to the cellular level.  Unfortunately, you can’t immediately see the damages those foods inflict upon your appearance so many don’t consider this aspect.  But, that inflammation leads directly to wrinkling, sagging and premature aging.

As if I didn’t rail against sugar enough, here is yet another scientific reason to avoid white foods such as bread, pasta, rice and other refined grain products.  As these foods get quickly turned into sugar in your bloodstream, that sugar will bond with protein and create advanced glycation end products, appropriately abbreviated AGE’s.  These cause collagen to become inflamed and stiff leading to amongst many other things, wrinkles.

1. Wild Salmon – the fish must be wild because the pigment that makes the fish pink, astaxanthin is a powerful foe of free radicals – those rogue molecules that damage cell membranes and DNA and cause skin to age.  If you purchase, pretty pink farmed salmon, the color is determined not naturally, but by carefully chosen pigments – in fact, salmon farmers have a palette wheel similar to the one that you get when you are shopping for paint colors so they can have their fish have any hue the end buyer wants. (Frankenfood strikes again).  In fact, one study found that eating one serving every five days can prevent actinic keratoses – those ugly brown patches that are precancerous.
2. Leafy Greens – these include spinach, kale and other greens which contain lutein, which protects the skin from sun-induced inflammation and wrinkles.
3. Sweet Potatoes – yes, for those not trying to lose weight, these are a much healthier option than white potatoes.  These contain beta-carotene which helps to balance your skins pH, helps combat dryness and promotes cell turnover all resulting in smoother skin.
4. Vitamin C containing Foods – These include red and green peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and of course, berries, cantaloupe and citrus fruits.  We are essentially the only mammal that does not produce any vitamin C and it is essential to building collagen, the key component to younger-looking skin.  Collagen starts to break down in your twenties.  These foods also contain bioflavanoids which protect skin from UV rays and help prevent cell death.
5. Lycopene containing Foods – Yes, we all know about the tomato but there are other foods such as pink grapefruit, watermelon and red peppers.  The peppers and tomatoes will need to be cooked in order to get the most lycopene from them.  Lycopene is a potent anti-oxidant that shields skin from sun damage but from the inside, not like sunscreen which works from the outside.
6. Pycnogeneol – although not a food, I thought it would be best to mention it here because this supplement, made from the French maritime pine tree bark, has multiple research studies showing how it supports collagen and elastin. 

While collagen may be important for the skin as I have just told you, it is also important in the lining of our blood vessels and helps them to expand and contract.  Therefore, all of these things I just mentioned above can aid in cardiovascular disease and its prevention, including stroke and high blood pressure.