“You are what you eat” is an old saying I frequently repeat to my patients when they ask me what can they do to make their aging skin look better and younger. It’s not only an old adage it’s really true! What kind of food, and other substances, you put in your body influences your health and nothing reflects overall wellness more than your skin. Here’s what I tell my patients about how to keep skin glowing and healthy at any age.
It’s no coincidence that teenage skin often breaks out in acne right before that big date, or adult skin breaks out in hives, or rashes of psoriasis, eczema or rosacea, around certain stressful events. Stress is never as clear in your body as it is on your skin – in fact sudden skin changes can be a bellwether for whatever stress is occurring in your life. Stress aggravates cortisol – a stress hormone – and it wreaks havoc on your skin as well as the rest of you. Any sudden breakout is your skin responding to stress chemicals being released in your blood and filtering out through your skin – your body’s largest toxin filtration system. It’s important then, not only to the health of your skin, but the rest of you, to try and keep stress under control.
Just as important is, not only paying attention to good outer skin care but good inner skin care, by putting the best foods and nutrients in your body that builds skin from the inside. Deficiencies in certain vitamins as well as smoking, drinking too much, not enough exercise or oxygen intake can make skin look dull, grey and lifeless.
As many of my patients are over 40, many of their concerns center around wrinkles, sagging, or just plain dull looking skin. It’s true that mid-life hormone changes can cause skin to become drier and thinner, less elasticity and more prone to wrinkling. Patches of darker skin may even show up as well. Just because you passed the age of 40, doesn’t mean you’re doomed to old-looking skin. In fact, I have patients in their 80s who have clear, beautiful skin. Here are several areas to control to keep your skin young and healthy looking:
Limit alcohol. Drinking a glass of red wine a day is good for your health, but drinking too much alcohol in general can dehydrate you. Limit drinks to 1-2 glasses of wine a day and 1 or 2 other types of alcohol per week. Be sure, however, to drink an extra glass of water with each glass of alcohol you consume to avoid dehydration.
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While getting older is inevitable, old-looking skin is not. If you pay attention to what you put in your body as well as what you expose your outer skin to, you’ll go a long way in keeping your skin looking healthy, younger and glowing all the way into your 90s and beyond!