Bringing skin up to red carpet standards requires taking care of yourself from the inside out! Nutritionists are discovering more and more that our food choices are written all over our faces. So after putting all that thought into moisturizers and cleansers, we should also evaluate our eating habits. Do your meals benefit or harm your skin?
Discover how celebrities nutritionally combat some of the most common skin woes. And learn how to eat your way to a beautiful visage!
Eat Away Your Facial Collagen
Renowned celebrity dermatologist Dr. Jessica Wu shares some great tips in her latest book Feed Your Face. She explains why snacking does a body good: healthy snacks every 3-4 hours can help you stave off any indulgent food choices. (Um, donuts and Frappuccinos, we’re mainly talking about you!) But even healthy foods can be dangerous.
Foods high in fructose “eat away skin’s collagen and elastin, which can cause thinning and sagging as well as fine lines and wrinkles,” says Dr. Wu. So she warns busy actresses who go through their work days only on apple slices. Why apple slices? The amount of fructose in two apples equals the amount of sugar in a can of soda!
To preserve collagen does Dr. Wu recommend avoiding fructose all together? She says when eating high-fructose foods, eat some protein and healthy fats to reduce the harmful effects.
Are you an apple lover? What other kinds of high-fructose foods are you guilty of eating frequently?
Irregular Meals Cause Mystery Rash
Dr. Wu says that eating irregularly or meal skipping can cause insulin levels to spike. Insulin surges, she states, have been linked to acne, rashes, redness and wrinkles. And apparently dairy products can also cause insulin levels to rise drastically—resulting in increased oil production. That’s why she recommends that fashion mogul and former model Kimora Lee Simmons not skip morning and afternoon meals in lieu of her beloved mocha Frappuccino.
Will you try tackling any mystery skin problems by eating regularly and laying off the sugary slips and snacking sprees?
Drink Your Way to Dry Skin
Celebrity aesthetician Kate Somerville helps celebrity clients achieve glowing, hydrated skin not only with her miracle products, but also with helpful nutritional tips. First, the fundamental tip we know so well: drink plenty of water so that your skin gets hydrated! But what if you’re a hydration-maniac but you still suffer from dry skin? Perhaps your favorite morning pick-me-up is reversing the benefits of hydration. Somerville says that coffee and soda contain a lot of caffeine, which as a diuretic can lead to dehydration. “If you’re not eating right and you’re drinking a lot of coffee,” Somerville explains, “your skin is the first thing to show it.”
Despite those wise words, however, it looks like the clinical verdict is still out on this one. So it might be safe to say that you can take the back-off-the-coffee advice with a pinch of salt for now.
What are your thoughts? Does your skin looks dehydrated after a highly caffeinated morning? Can you see the benefit of drinking water?
Lean Meats Means Youthful Skin
Ever wonder why celebrities are so into eating lean proteins, nuts, and vitamin C in vast quantities? Dr. Wu says that eating protein helps boost the production of collagen and elastin, which are proteins that keep your skin taut and healthy.
The nutritional protein lysine lends a helping hand to our body’s collagen production. So for your next meal, slap some more proteins (lean meats, soy products and nuts) onto your plate. And don’t forget your daily dose of vitamin C, which is needed to convert lysine into collagen.
What about you? How do you integrate proteins into your meals? How about your snacks?
Yo-yo Nutrition and Pre-Mature Sagging
Our busy schedules often mean that we skip meals, which can lead to overindulgent food choices like mega-proportioned lunches and gigantic desserts. Healthy snacks can help us avoid the “I’m starving” vs. “I’m so ridiculously full” cycle.
Beware: yo-yo nutrition is a slippery slope towards yo-yo dieting! Fluctuating within the same 10 pounds via super-harsh diets followed with overindulgent eating can cause skin sagging. This can have more harmful effects on your skin than losing or gaining weight at a healthy rate.
To help celebrity clients stick to a healthy weight, Dr. Wu regulates their eating habits with frequent healthy snacks. For Cougar Town actress Christa Miller a healthy snack is made of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pistachios, dried cherries, and a dash of maple syrup and sprinkle of sea salt for flavoring.
What’s your fave healthy snack that helps you stave of hunger and indulgent eating?
Avoid Crash-Diet Acne
Dr. Wu once saw a patient’s diet ruin her nutrition and her complexion. Comedienne Nicole Sullivan crash dieted her way to a slim figure. Throughout her severely regimented diet, she suffered chronic cystic acne. It was only after she starting eating more healthfully that she got her skin back under control.
Do your eating habits cause you to break out? Share your thoughts below or on our BodyLase® Facebook page!
Have another skincare question? Don’t hesitate to ask our skincare experts at BodyLase®.
