Diet and the Skin: Discovering Beauty from Within

Skin is like a report card of how well our internal systems are working. If they aren’t happy, your skin will reflect that! Diet is a huge part of making sure your skin is healthy and happy. Read on to find out what can affect your skin when it comes to diet, and how you can make sure you’re taking good care of your body’s largest organ.

Diet and the Skin

Diet is important. Everything you put into your body will be reflected in some way through the outside. Water is one of the most important first steps to making sure your skin is healthy and happy! Moisture that is lost throughout the day to sweating and other natural processes needs to be replenished. Drinking water is one of the best ways to keep every internal process happy and functioning properly.

Did you know you know that eating properly can even effect wrinkles? Eating foods with Omega-3 fatty acids and other healthy oils can greatly impact your skin. Fish, nuts, olives and many other foods can supply these oils for you. By eating these along with healthy proteins, your skin will have a healthy collagen production, making your skin smooth and slowing down premature signs of aging.

Eating properly can even affect acne. While it’s still unclear which exact foods cause breakouts, eating less sugary and high-fat foods and drinks have shown to reduce the frequency.

Sugar, Birth Control, and Fast Food

We know excessive sugar consumption is bad for our bodies in general. But, how exactly is it bad for the skin specifically? Well, as we consume sugar, it can damage our skin through a process call glycation. Glycation is the presence of too many glucose molecules in the skin fibers. This excess causes sugar molecules to start adhering to collagen and elastin proteins, the ones that help maintain the skin’s elasticity and suppleness. When the sugars attach to proteins in the bloodstream, they start producing harmful free radicals called advanced glycation end products (AGEs). As these accumulate, they start to damage the proteins around them. Sugar in excess isn’t good for the body or for the skin. Ask your doctor about how much sugar you should consume if you’re worried! The more information, the better.

Birth control can also negatively affect the skin, especially if it’s hormonal. Normally, a biological woman will produce low levels of androgens. Higher levels of androgens can cause excess sebum, or oils in the skin. According to Webmd, taking a birth control option that contains both oestrogen and progesterone will help lower androgen levels. This results in less sebum production and therefore less acne.

Fast foods are another way which affects not only your health but also your skin. When ingesting fast food, which contains little to no protein and mostly carbohydrates, those carbs get converted into sugars in the bloodstream, and we’ve already talked about that! Your pancreas responds to a surge of glucose by releasing insulin, which transports sugar to cells that need it. As it is spread around the body, your blood sugar returns to normal. While this processes taking place once in a while is natural, repeatedly eating high-carb diets can cause a faltering insulin response, increasing a risk of diabetes and also affecting how your skin reports back to you.