The way you age depends on a wide range of factors, some of which can be interfered with. The type of food you eat is one of them. It affects your look and feeling as you get older. Sometimes, the changes in your looks happen overnight, for today, you may be told you look five years younger, and the next day, that look is gone. The good news is, you can take control of how slow your aging happens. Here are some of the foods nutritionists reveal can speed up dull skin, wrinkles, and pains to make you look and feel really old.
1. Sugar
Consuming excess sugar can result in many negative effects that include weight gain, saggy skin, wrinkles and even teeth damage, discoloration, tooth decay and general unhealthiness which all generate an older look. Consuming too much sugar also brings a process known as glycation, which happens when proteins and lipids bind with glycose. The process damages the much-needed collagen in your skin and encourages wrinkle development. The more collagen your skin contains, the firmer and younger it looks.
2. Alcohol
Having a few sips of any standard alcoholic drink of your choice is not bad, but taking it in excess is bad for your liver. If you have a healthy and functioning liver, toxins that find themselves in it will always potentially be expelled naturally via the body. However, with regular drinking of alcohol, toxins begin to accumulate in your liver and can reflect in your skin, causing a number of issues such as acne, sallowness, and others.
3. Trans fats
When your body takes in a significant amount of trans fats, they slow down blood circulation to your skin. Trans fats are found in fast food, canned frosting, junk food, deep-fried foods, margarine, and other foods in this category. If you’re scared of the risk of developing heart diseases, stiffened arteries, or constricted blood vessels, stay away from trans fats. Note that when blood flow to your skin weakens, the condition causes your skin to age prematurely amidst wrinkles.
4. Charred meat
Have you ever thought about whether the black char you see on your barbequed steak could be healthy? Well, it’s bad for your skin. In charred meat are pro-inflammatory hydrocarbons that cause damaging effects on the precious collagen your skin contains and should be protected. You need not stop barbecuing though. Simply scrape the black char off and also clean the grill upon finishing. Remember that for your skin to remain firm and youthful; its collagen has to be intact.
5. White wine
Drinking white wine can be damaging to your enamel and a way to make your teeth look stained. When you’re done with drinking white wine or any acidic drink, avoid brushing your teeth immediately. The science is that brushing teeth that are already acidic will cause your enamel to begin eroding. So, after drinking, wait for about an hour for minerals to return to your teeth before brushing.
6. Energy Drinks
Are you fond of Red Bull like many people out there? If you are, then know that you shall look and feel 60 before you actually turn 60 if you don’t discontinue the habit. Energy drinks contain a lot of sugary and acidic content which has all it takes to color and damage your teeth and ruin your smile, aging your look. Something you’ll only regret but won’t fix.
7. Margarine
Margarine is a popular alternative to butter that could be bad for your skin. In a 2001 study that appeared in the Journal of The American College of Nutrition, it was found that regular margarine consumers had more wrinkles than non-consumers of the product. The correlation may be coming from the fact that the specific fat that is in margarine can lead to inflammation.
8. Processed carbs
Hope you’ve heard that when carbohydrates digest, it turns into pure sugar. That’s why they push your skin to age faster upon weakening the integrity of your skin’s collagen as well as elastin. However, carbs such as fruits, whole grains, and vegetables are harmless, unlike breakfast cereals, white bread, and pastries.
9. Salty foods
When food contains a high amount of sodium, it dries your body out. This includes potato chips, cured meats, soups and others. When excess salt enters your body, it drains a lot of fluid out of your cells. You don’t want your skin losing fluid and turning wrinkled, dry, less fresh, and older because of your love affair with salt.
10. Caffeine
Caffeine is more or less like all other diuretics that can cause you to excrete fluid, and run down moisture from your body. Watch out against any food that is dehydrating because it can turn your skin really dry and leave you looking dull and aged beyond your years.