Here is a straightforward fact—an appropriate diet eradicates many skin complaints. Many people, including some medical practitioners, think skin wears out. On the contrary, skin is perennial, self-repairing and almost indestructible. So, if you genuinely want fabulous skin—radiant, lively, and yes, younger-looking skin, make sure you are putting food for healthy skin on your plate. Everything you eat develops into not only your inner being, but the outer fabric of your body as well. The more nutritious the foods are that you eat, the better your skin will look. Unfortunately, the reverse is true as well. The less consideration you pay to what you put into your mouth, the more problems you will see produced through your skin. “You may find yourself suddenly breaking out in acne, eczema, and psoriasis. Any number of chronic skin problems can be directly linked to diet,” say biochemist Elaine Linker, PhD, co-founder of DDF skin care.

Years of investigation has established that the best diet formula for staving off everything from the visible effects of aging skin to heart disease and cancer is to consume large amounts of protein, make excellent selections about carbohydrates, and pick organic fruits and vegetables rather than refined, processed foods. The reasoning behind this shift in philosophy comes from the study of the effects of carbohydrates on levels of insulin and sugar in the body. When you eat carbohydrates, your blood sugar starts to elevate and insulin is produced by your pancreas to keep that sugar under control. The drawback is that the release of insulin pushes your cellular metabolism into a mode in which it makes inflammatory chemicals (which sets in motion the skin aging process) and encourages your body to squirrel away fats. So, if you are consuming a lot of foods that are high on the glycemic index, they will boost you blood sugar because the sugar they present into your system is absorbed very quickly.

We now understand that sugar networks with the collagen in the body in a way that produces a phenomenon called glycosylation. Glycosylation—also called the Browning reaction—triggers the cross-linking of collagen, which makes skin inflexible and prone to discoloration such as age spots (passed on by overworking the melanocytes—the cells that generate pigment in the skin). What is the best way to avoid age spots?—keep refined and packaged sugar in your diet to either a minimum or not at all! If you insist upon feeding you sweet tooth, look into using products that don’t impact your body with as much damage as white sugar. Birch sugar and Xylitol are two exceptional natural sugar subsitutes that can be used, and remember to avoid all engineered sugar subsitutes such as sucralose, aspartame, and nutrisweet.

A number of studies assess that diet may be involved in 40 to 60 percent of all cancers. More explicitly, a high-fat diet has been connected in colon and breast cancers. In animal research, a high fat intake increased the probability of skin cancer after introduction to UV radiation, while changing to a low-fat diet after exposure reduced the incidence of skin cancer. The crucial key to skin care is healthy monounsaturated fats and essential fatty acids while decreasing unhealthy saturated and trans fatty acids.

Especially devastating are trans fatty acids. Trans fatty acids are unsaturated oils that are treated with hydrogen (hydrogenated) to initiate an artificially saturated fat. Trans fats perform just like saturated fats, only worse! Don’t get the wrong idea, however, as fat is not the enemy. Societies such as the Greeks and the Japanese consume diets that are somewhat higher in fat than the standard American diet, yet these societies have much lesser rates of skin cancer, skin problems, heart disease, obesity and other maladies than their American counterparts. This indicates that the total percentage of fat in the diet is not the significant factor—it is the form of fat that is being eaten!

As the threats of trans fats have become more evident, the government has taken some baby steps to combat the problem:

“In July 2003, the U.S. FDA issued a final rule requiring manufacturers of conventional foods and some dietary supplements to list trans fat on a separate line, immediately under saturated fat on nutrition labels. This policy will be mandatory by 2006.”

What does this mean to you and your skin? Do not eat fried foods or reuse heated oils. Heating oils to a high temperature creates trans fats. Instead, sauté, poach, bake or steam your foods and you will be doing your skin and your health a big favor. If you must use oil to cook, make sure you use an oil that is resistant to higher temperatures such as coconut oil.

What about salt? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, most of us consume a little more than 4,000 mg a day. But what does your body really need? The National Academy of Sciences says we need about 500 mg a day. Boy, that’s quite a difference! The majority of all this excess salt comes from processed foods like canned soups, frozen pizzas and entrees, soy sauce and chips. For instance, Lay’s potato chips have more than 200 grams of sodium in a single serving. Where does the excess salt go? Well, some of it is deposited underneath your skin, where it draws a layer of water that, much like body fat, blocks out the muscle you have labored so hard to build up.

Caution: In certain cases, water retention signals something more serious. If you skin remains plump or your finger leaves an indentation when you press on your skin, you may have a problem with your heart, kidney, liver or thyroid. Please see your physician.



What Are You Putting On Your Skin?

As a consumer, you must be on the look out for chemicals and toxic ingredients that may be injurious to your skin and your body. You would not even consider eating products that contained chemicals or cancer causing agents, so don’t let these toxins cross the threshold and enter your system through your beauty product either! Insignificant amounts of research are available to provide evidence of the safety or health risks of low-dose repeated exposures to chemical combinations like those in personal care products, but let’s get one thing straight—the absence of data should never, never be mistaken for confirmation of safety. The more we investigate low dose contact with these products, the more we comprehend that they can cause adverse effects ranging from the subtle and reversible, to effects that are more critical and permanent. On the whole, our research of product safety reveals a cause for concern.

Therapeutic Recommendations: Nutrients

Vitamin A- This vitamin may be one of the better documented vitamins to protect against skin problems. One of its properties is to encourage healthy differentiation and apoptosis (a form of cell death necessary to make way for new cells and to remove cells whose DNA has been damaged to the point at which cancerous change is liable to occur) of aged cells. The significance of vitamin A in safeguarding the skin is to help assist cell renewal and possibly prevent skin cancers. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin that genuinely works wonders for the skin. •It slows the aging process of the skin •It is a well-known wrinkle eliminator •A deficiency can cause dry skin •A deficiency may cause acne •Protein cannot be utilized by the body without vitamin A •It is needed for the restoration of epithelial tissue, of which the skin and mucous membranes are composed The carotenoids are a class of compounds linked to vitamin A. In many cases, they can function as precursors of vitamin A; some work as antioxidants or have other key functions. The best recognized sub-class of the carotenoids are the carotenes, of which beta-carotene is the most extensively known. Also, incorporated into this group are alpha-and gamma-carotene, and lycopene. When food or supplements containing beta-carotene are consumed, the beta-carotene is converted into vitamin A in the liver. According to recent studies, beta-carotene appears to scavenge or neutralize free radicals.

B-complex vitamins act as coenzymes, assisting enzymes to react chemically with other substances, and are engaged in energy production.

To receive the optimal benefit from the B’s, take a supplement that combines them as B-complex so that you get a balanced amount of each nutrient in the group.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8