Wrinkle reducing treatment and Dermal Fillers are a very safe way of enhancing the appearance of your skin. They are non-surgical and temporary, but for the long term, it doesn’t matter how much you attempt to improve your skin using these treatments, you need to improve your diet and lifestyle to have healthy skin.
For healthy skin, you need Antioxidants.
Antioxidants in the body, help to fight substances in the body known as free radicals.
Free radicals occur when your body is exposed to everyday pollution such as cigarette smoke, radiation, as well as excessive sun exposure.
Free radicals break down collagen proteins, which help the skin to keep its strength and vitality. Collagen also helps the skin to keep its suppleness and elasticity
Wrinkles, despite being part of the natural ageing process occur as collagen production slows down, making the skin sag. This will always happen naturally at a later age, but free radicals such as sun exposure, smoking and pollution can accelerate the ageing effect.
So, essentially, antioxidants fight this free radical damage, by freezing the free radical damage and producing collagen.
There are various foods which help increase antioxidants.
Fruit and veg contain antioxidants that protect the skin from day to day wear from the sun, pollution, etc. Try vegetables such as pumpkin, carrots and potatoes.
Vitamin C is a super antioxidant. It helps to keep your skin radiant and helps with skin repair for blemishes, etc. Blackcurrants, broccoli, orange, strawberries and sweet potatoes all produce collagen that makes the skin stronger.
Selenium is another strong antioxidant. Various studies and reports show that a diet which includes selenium can help to protect against damaged skin from the sun and age spots. It also suggests that it can help prevent skin cancer. Brazil nuts are a major source of Selenium, as well as fish, eggs, tomato and broccoli
Fish is excellent for keeping skin healthy. Salmon and other similar types of fish have omega-3 fatty acids. These acids prevent inflammation and lubricate your skin.
Mono-unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are found in fish, nuts, seeds and avocados, also give you fatty acids, which act as a moisturiser for your skin. These also have Vitamin E, which help to protect the skin against natural damage. Eat plenty of nuts! Although they are high in calories, nuts are a rich source of Vitamin E, which also supports healthy skin growth. In particular, almonds, pine nuts, and hazelnuts are recommended.
Drink up.
The best thing you could do to maintain healthy skin is to drink water. When you are dehydrated, this causes your skin to dry and change colour. It’s recommended that you drink at least eight glasses of water each day. This could include soft drinks, but water is obviously the best and doesn’t contain any extra chemicals.
Herbal and caffeine free drinks are also recommended.
What to avoid.
This is a difficult one. We would recommend not avoiding anything, but not having certain foods excessively. The kebab on a Friday night isn’t going to cause you a problem. However, having a kebab every night probably won’t help your skin.
Try and avoid high carbohydrates like biscuits and sugary drinks. These produce insulin, which may damage collagen and accelerate wrinkles.
Avoid any crash dieting. Losing and regaining weight damages skin in the obvious way by stretch marks, wrinkles.
Excessive smoking and drinking is probably the main thing to avoid. There are enough free radicals around us, so smothering yourself in your own smoking won’t really help. Smoking can destroy your skin, along with excessive drinking. A fantastic article in the Daily Mail (click here to read it) showed what abstinence did for a particular lady in an experiment. We’re not saying completely give up drinking, but excessive drinking will damage your skin.
Smoking will definitely damage your skin.
So, to sum up: A pizza, kebab or a KFC every now and then isn’t a problem and never will be, as long as the majority of your food intake is healthy and full of antioxidants. If you follow some basic guidelines such as plenty of water during the day, quitting smoking and having a balanced diet with the foods mentioned above, means your skin will naturally improve. This isn’t an overnight thing, but like in the Daily Mail article, you will see radical improvement within a month.
