How to Get Healthy Skin – Stop Pimples, Acne, and Wrinkles
“Food causes inflammation – which is a well-known cause of all disease and aging,” says Dr Hunter. “Other things contribute to inflammation, such as pollution, sunlight, radiation, stress, medications, and chemicals.”
Though we can’t avoid inflammation altogether, we can eat the right foods and do certain things to reduce inflammation, stop acne, and keep our skin healthy. To learn how the foods you eat affect your appearance, read The Clear Skin Diet
How to Get Healthy Skin – 10 Tips for Stopping Pimples, Acne, and Wrinkles
1. Avoid simple sugars. “The foods that age us are simple and refined sugars, high glycemic carbohydrates, and refined, manufactured foods such as hydrogenated fats and all the artificial chemical additives,” says Dr Hunter. “These foods bind to our proteins, causing glycation (also called glycosylation) and age us by making our proteins “crunchy” instead of fluid. They bind to our arteries and cause disease, which ages us even more (and doesn’t reduce wrinkles or rashes).”
2. Eat fewer calories. “People who restrict their calories decrease their inflammation, so they age less quickly,” says Dr Hunter. ”People who take many and varied anti-oxidants and vitamins and minerals and who keep their hormone-producing organs functioning at a robust, healthy level age MUCH less quickly. In fact, they seem to stop aging.” She explains that glutathione slows aging tremendously, and is found in many nutritious foods. However, since our soil is so depleted and we’re over-stressed, we need nutritional supplements because our food can’t provide enough nutrition.
3. Eat dark fruits and veggies. Eat lots of cherries, blueberries, mangoes, yams – any dark fruits or veggies – the darker, the better. “Dark fruits and veggies contain antioxidants, which decreases aging and disease by decreasing inflammation and increasing collagen production,” says Dr Hunter. Healthy fruits and veggies help thicken the skin to give you a more youthful look while decreasing abnormal blood vessels, such as rosacea. If you find winter is hard on your skin, focus on how to get healthy skin in winter.
4. Juice up your skin. “Drinking water and eating healthy oils, such as olive, walnut, hemp, flax, borage, black currant, raw coconut and omega-3’s from fish oils will help “juice” up your skin, like you see in younger people,” says Dr Hunter. “We all dry up as we get older, which contributes to fine lines. Drink 1-2 liters of water a day, and “layer” your therapy for healthy and anti-aging effects.” For healthy skin — and to help stop pimples, acne, and wrinkles — drink lots of water.
5. Drink green tea and green powers. Dr Hunter recommends adding a green tea bag and green powders to organic whole leaf aloe juice. This healthy skin tip will decrease aging, laxity and brown spots. It’s also an anti-aging tip, as it increases the clarity and tightness of the skin all over your body. These nutrients also decrease aging of the internal organs, such as your brain, and decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s.
6. Go “green, green and more green!” is this dermatologist’s mantra. Eat as close to nature as possible. To get healthy skin, don’t eat red meat more than once a week. For healthy skin, stick to lean proteins such as turkey, wild fish (not farm raised), black beans, red beans are second, wild rice, brown rice, nuts, goat dairy, sheep dairy, seaweed.
7. Vegetarians, increase your protein intake. “Many vegetarians do not consume enough protein. They lack many nutrients, so their skin becomes less active,” says Dr Hunter. “Their organs become more challenged, so their skin appears duller.” She also cautions vegetarians not to over-indulge in tofu, which can be bad for the thyroid. To keep your skin healthy, try fermented tofu-tempeh instead.
8. Munch almonds. Almonds are full of Vitamin E. They’re also a low-fat, carb-satisfying, good fiber, alkaline-enhancing, dry skin-curing food. To stop acne and other skin problems, eat a handful of almonds a day. If your skin is quite unhealthy, you might find 5 Ways to Improve Bad Skin helpful.
9. Limit or eliminated dairy or cow’s milk products. Cow’s milk dairy makes acne worse. Many people are allergic and/or lactose intolerant – and this causes their lower abdomens to protrude. ”Goat dairy is healthier for humans,” says Dr Hunter. Trying different forms of dairy could be a great tip for getting healthy skin.
10. Savor the selenium. “Foods containing selenium protect against skin cancers, sunburn, dandruff, and aging by increasing skin elasticity,” Dr Hunter says. “Eat plenty of asparagus, broccoli, WHOLE eggs, tomatoes, and onions.”
If you have any questions or thoughts on how to get healthy skin, please comment below…
Julia Tatum Hunter, M.D., is the founder of Skin Fitness Plus in Beverly Hills, California.
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Comment by Beverly on 28 December 2009:
Thanks for posting such useful healthy skin tips. I struggled with acne all my life, but haven’t tried everything you listed. Maybe one of these will work for me!
Comment by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen on 30 December 2009:
Beverly,
Thanks for taking the time to comment — I hope some of these healthy skin tips work for you!