Last updated on March 18th, 2019 at 06:46 am
If you wanna prevent and reduce wrinkles and keep your skin healthy – don’t eat these foods. Just like too much sun, smoking and alcohol, these foods cause wrinkles and make your skin age faster.
Last year, I did some (well a lot) of research on a topic that every woman I know is excited about. And that topic was: What to eat for glowing skin (you can find that post here)
If I can summarize all my research in three words, they would be: Eat more plants.
And eat them for the most part raw. This way you’re getting all the antioxidants and essential nutrients to protect your skin from free radicals and to actually maintain your skin healthy.
The other things I found in that research was what not to eat.
And let me tell you: I was a little shocked. I didn’t expect that some stinky junk food can make me look older.
Ok, a fat belly and cellulite, this is something I knew and accepted.
I also knew that dairy and high-glycemic foods cause acne.
But wrinkles?
That’s just evil.
Related Articles:
- Here’s what to actually eat for beautiful skin, hair and nails
- How to eat to reduce inflammation in the body
- 8 things you need to change about your diet to improve your skin
Why do these foods cause wrinkles?
One thing all of the foods below have in common, besides being evil, is that they contain (or can be turned into) AGE’s.
AGE’s is a clever abbreviation for something called advanced glycation endproducts. Sounds like music to my ears.
Now we’re getting into some science and baby making.
What it is, is actually: a sugar and a protein (or a lipid) make a child without the help of an enzyme.
See usually in the body, a sugar and a protein (or lipid) can get together and make a baby that is healthy. This step is catalyzed by an enzyme and is called glycosylation. The endproduct of this is a fully functioning molecule (a protein or lipid) that the body needs.
However when a sugar and a protein get together and make a baby without using an enzyme they make a monster child. This process is called glycation and that child is what science calls advanced glycation end product. The body doesn’t need this new molecule at all. In fact that monster baby is harmful, because it handicaps a healthy, fully functioning protein (lipid).
Why are AGE’s bad?
It’s important to know that AGE’s can be formed inside the body and outside the body.
When AGE’s form inside the body they’re bad because they ruin a fully functioning, healthy, molecule. If that molecule happens to be your skin’s collagen – well, you’ve got wrinkle.
Not mail, wrinkle.
As for AGE’s formed outside the body (when you cook at high temperatures), well these are bad because they increase oxidative stress and inflammation. Both oxidative stress and inflammation are involved in premature aging.
AGE’s are involved in some serious health problems like:
- diabetes
- Alzheimer’s
- atherosclerosis
and generally – in aging.
Related Article: 10 superfoods to help you beat diabetes
Now without anymore science, here are the main 5 Foods that you need to avoid to prevent or reduce wrinkles.
5 Foods That Cause Wrinkles
(and you probably eat almost every day)
1. Sugar
A lot of people say they live sugar-free when they in fact mean refined-sugar free. That’s definitely better, but if you want to reduce wrinkles: Quit (or limit) all sugar.
I’m talking sweeteners, refined sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, agave, maple. It basically doesn’t matter what kind of sugar you eat.
Anything that’s overly sweet and contains sugars can seduce your collagen with some sweet talk to then ruin his life.
When you eat more sugar, you form more AGE’s inside the body. The sugar basically goes to a protein or a lipid and sticks itself to that molecule, paralyzing it, so that it cannot work work work.
So, yes, sugar does cause wrinkles and make you look older.
2. Grilled Meat
If you’ve ever, ever, read an article on how to lose weight, it goes something like this: Eat more lean meats (just saved you some time, you’re welcome). Well, when it comes to grilled meat, the reason why it can cause wrinkles is because the AGE’s are made in the kitchen. No abs, AGE’s. When meat is exposed to high temperature without any addition of water the whole glycation thing happens while you’re grilling.
Herbs and spices might actually help reduce the formation of AGE’s when you grill, so make sure you add some or just don’t grill and cook with some water instead.
3. Bacon
Fried bacon had the highest AGE content according to this article, so I just had to include it here.
4. Cheese
Aged and high-fat cheese were also among the foods with very high amounts of AGE’s. If you want to reduce wrinkles, but still need some cheese go for lower fat cheese options like mozzarella and cottage cheese – these had around 10x less AGE’s according to the same source.
5. Butter
For me very surprising, butter had more AGE’s than cheese and grilled meat.
Well, these AGE’s are pretty unpredictable. So one more thing to limit to stay wrinkle free – butter can cause wrinkles!
Well, what I’m saying is: stick to fresh vegetables and fruits and keep your foods unprocessed as much as possible if you want to reduce wrinkles and keep your skin healthy. Remember, nothing is forbidden, but some things are better in limitations.
