Aging Skin | How To Beat Father Time

Ok yes! The title is a little misleading. We are all eventually gonna get old and senile and will probably smell bad too. But there is so much you can do to not look old apart from giving yourself an unnecessary and complete makeover. Who says makeover only have to be about external look and appearances? Because trust us; when it’s about getting a glowing healthy and plump skin- then its your diet that needs the makeover. And the good part is its never too late to bring the changes you so badly need. Stay with us to learn about some skin improving dietary gems and how to use them in some scrumptious recipes.

How the skin starts looking old:

Skin is the largest tissue of the body. It performs external and internal functions. Therefore, our skin is prone to infections and damage from outside as well from inside. Simply put; from outside the skin needs to be protected from U.V. radiations, dust, burns and cuts etc. But the glow from within literally (and not just figuratively) comes from what you put in.

Aging is actually a culmination of the following processes that lead to the so-called old aged skin appearance:

• Reduction in blood supply between epidermal and dermal layers begins at a certain age
• The outer layer called as epidermis begins to shed off
• Shedding causes skin thinning and loss of pigment producing cells called as melanocytes
• Loss of melanocytes leads to transparent looking skin
• The dermal layers began to lose collagen producing cells
• The skin becomes dry, patchy and lose its elasticity

What age do you start looking old:

You know how they say that age is just a number. Well! It is in fact the truth; atleast w.r.t. skin aging. This is because your skin will give up on you if you ignore it. However, most common and the initial years for the first signs of aging to appear are 30s to mid-30s. 

What factors speed up skin aging:

Our skin has elasticity owing to its well flourished blood supply and collagen concentration. Over time both these things begin to diminish. Aging is a natural phenomenon and effects every part of the human body. Every organ suffers its fair share of wear and tear. Likewise, skin also undergoes quite many damages as the year goes by. However, some of the most contributing factors are as follows:

UV rays from sunlight:

Who doesn’t love a nice glow and sun tan. But the fact is that the UV rays in sunlight impart more skin damage than any other factor. Even if you are in a room the penetrate able UV rays will affect the skin. UV rays break down the collagen and elastic fibrous tissue. The result is sagged and sunken skin. There are two types of UV rays I-e. A and B. 

Type of UV rays	Skin penetration
Type A	Penetrates the epidermal layer
Type B	Penetrates deep in the hypodermis

Age:

Age itself will eventually show on your skin. For example; due to thinning of epidermal layer of the skin with age; the skin begins to appear transparent with blue and red veins showing. Lesions, dry skin patches, under eyes and cheeks drop, calluses began to look droopy too.

Nutrition:

This is another important factor. Consumption of damaging foods; or non-consumption of good foods is will show up on your skin. For example, dehydrated skin looks sunken and droopy. Insufficient vitamin consumption causes patchy dry and wrinkled skin etc.

How to prevent skin aging:

The collagen and elastin content of skin are not the only constituents maintaining the skin integrity and strength. In fact, what you feed your body is what will actually show on the skin. For example, consumption of too much alcohol, smoking and dehydration will lead to appearance of dark under eye circles, dark skin spots etc.

Following are foods that you need to start eating asap to prevent over aging and premature aging of your skin cells.

Start your day with Hydration:

A well hydrated body has plumped cells with ample content of cellular fluids and water. However, dehydration causes flaccid and wilted cells and subsequently tissues. After a full night sleep the body is dehydrated. It is therefore essential to refill the water content. Following foods are ideal for this purpose:

• Vegetables such as leek, celery, cucumbers, squash, turnip etc.
• Fruits such as citrus fruits lemon, orange, tangerine, pineapples, apples, kiwi, melon, cantaloup etc.

Healthy smoothies and fruit juices are the better choice.

Antioxidants will keep you young:

The beneficial effects of antioxidants are hailed in every disease condition. They treat any disease that is triggered or worsen by harmful radicals. As discussed earlier, UV rays from sun will worsen the aging by breaking the elastin and collagen molecules. This process is caused by harmful free radicals. Antioxidants fight those nasty free radicals and prevent from causing damage. 

Foods containing antioxidants are as follows:

• Berries such as strawberry, blue berry, raspberry, red cherries, cranberries etc.
• Citrus fruit 
• Spinach, broccoli, kale
• Carrots
• Beans such as kidney beans and small red beans are rich in antioxidants

Vitamin E for astounding results:

Vitamin E is widely used in cosmetology and nutraceuticals as an antiaging. And rightfully so! Vitamin E serves following purpose as antiaging:

• It helps minimize the oxidative stress I-e. the load between antioxidant molecules and free radicals. Oxidative stress can damage the cellular integrity of skin tissues.
• Vitamin E also helps lock in the moisture thus making cells fuller and supple.
• Helps treating skin conditions such as atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and scar removal from old wounds.
• Research shows that vitamin E can also help with prevention of UV rays induced skin cancer. Although there is still need for more dose-based study. But the beneficial outcomes of consuming vitamin E rich foods are visible in a couple of weeks.

Such foods include:

• Nuts such as hazelnuts, almonds, pine nuts, quinoa and peanuts
• Vegetable seeds and their oils. This includes sunflower seeds, safflower, sesame seeds, chia seeds.
• Mango, papaya, kiwi is also pack loaded with vitamin E
• Sweet potato, squash, kale

Estrogen-agonist based diet for post-menopausal woman:

Estrogen depletion after menopause is responsible for extensive number of wrinkles, dark spots, sun spots, skin thinning and looping. Estrogen agonist-based therapy has proven effects in treating these skin problems for woman above 50s. Soy is the magic ingredient in this regard.

Take away:

We all want to look younger than our age and have the perfect skin. For this we like to spend and splurge on expensive skin products. But there are a lot of things you do to achieve your dream skin without breaking the bank. Focus on what you eat and we promise you your skin will thank you. And you can thank us later!