5 Foods That Are Aging You

If you want to look and feel your best, it has to start from within. By drinking plenty of water, eating lots of fresh produce, getting enough sleep, and exercising on a regular basis, you can stay healthy and gain a glowing complexion at the same time. Wondering which foods are worth avoiding on your quest to looking and feeling younger?

1.Sugar: If you want to slow down the aging process, sugar is the #1 thing to cut-down on/give up. Not only does sugar cause weight gain but when people consume more sugar than cells can synthesize, the extra sugars bond with proteins that affect your skin’s collagen (aka making your skin less flexible and dehydrating it). There’s also the fact that sugar can damage your teeth. In fact, drinking the amount of sugar in a 20-oz bottle of soda a day could cut up to 5 years off your life!
2.Alcohol: As you likely already know, alcohol is the greatest dehydrator of all, and dehydration = BAD. Alcohol robs you of Vitamins A, B, & C which are important for your skin and overall health, as well as depleting vital minerals & fatty acids that slow premature aging. Not to mention that alcohol can harm your liver - an organ that expels toxins that can affect your skin - meaning that too much will cause toxins to build up in the liver causing you to develop skin issues such as acne, wrinkles, and sallowness. Alcohol ALSO affects your sleep and not getting enough (or good enough) sleep can lead to wrinkles and reduced skin elasticity. That’s not to say you must be completely alcohol-free! Small amounts of alcohol, like a drink a day, can actually benefit your body. But anymore than that can lead to premature aging.
3.Salt: Salty foods are delicious but they’re bad for your health and skin. Why? They retain water causing your skin to become red & puffy. More than that, studies have shown that salt literally accelerates the aging of your cells and can increase the chance of heart attack. Consuming less salt will make you look and feel younger.
4.Caffeine: Ah, caffeine - one of the building blocks of life, right? Your morning coffee or energy drink is likely an important part of your day but the issue is that, like alcohol, anything with caffeine is going to dehydrate you. Caffeine works as a diuretic, meaning it flushes your body of water. And as we’ve said before, dehydration is key in causing your skin to look dull and aged.
5.Processed Meat: Think of your favorite salty meat - we’re talking bacon, pepperoni, sausage, etc. As delicious as those things are, they’re also working hard at making you look older. All of these meats are processed meaning they contain preservatives that can trigger inflammation in the skin. They also contain high amounts of salt which we talked about above. Finally, they use up your Vitamin C, an important element of collagen formation.

Avoiding or cutting back on these things will help your skin look younger and healthier (and will make you feel better on top of that). Now that you know what to avoid, you can plan meals and snacks accordingly and be on your way to a glowing complexion in no time.