Putting your skin on a diet

I’m tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin-deep. That’s deep enough. What do you want, an adorable pancreas?” ~Jean Kerr~

I know that I chatter on and on about staying on or going off my diet. It’s my personal struggle since going through menopause. It’s so difficult to look into the mirror and not see my old size 4 staring back at me. Add the wrinkles, dark circles and age spots and I barely recognize myself.

The interesting thing is that what’s good for one, may not be good for the other.

TAKE MY FAT – please  (sounds like a bad Henny Youngman joke)

While reducing fat in our diets will most certainly help our waistline, it has the exact opposite effect on your skin. By avoiding fat in your diet you’ll find that your skin wrinkles, and your cheeks will sink in and look haggard. Where your face is concerned, it’a actually better to have a few extra pounds on you.

My favorite plastic surgeon and my bioidentical doctor keep telling me that the key to great looking skin is to take doses of fish oil daily (especially DHA – omega 3). Eating oily fish like tuna, salmon and mackerel, and adding olive oil to your salads and food will create that complexion that you want.

Another factor in great looking skin?

SLEEP

But it’s not just how much sleep you get, but also HOW you sleep.

• Sleep face down and you’ll get brow lines.
• Sleep on one side and you’ll end up with cheek & chin wrinkles.
• Geez, I just can’t win.

The solution?  Sleep on your back. So, how do you keep from rolling over onto your side once asleep? Hmmm…I’m not sure that there are alarms for that, so perhaps building a pillow fort that doesn’t allow you room for rolling over will work.

Sober up

It goes without saying that alcohol will dry you out, and as a result it dehydrates your body (and your skin). It also darkes the under-eye area and makes your face puff (not in that good cherub way). The more you drink, the worse you’ll look in the morning. So, when going out for a night with the girls, or your honey – ask the bartender to water your drinks down a bit. I try to drink two glasses of water for every glass of wine that I drink, since you can’t really water down wine.

Don’t forget your vitamins

The fish oil that I mentioned is SO important, but so are Vitamin A, C and E.

• Vitamin A – helps heal skin that’s been damaged by the sun
• Vitamin C – helps the body build collagen
• Vitamin E – slows down wrinkles

Lastly, I never leave the house without sunscreen, even when it’s raining outside. It’s a habit that I started way too late, but it has helped me to keep from any more sun damage. My go-to is a moisturizer that I’ve been using for the past year that has SPF30 right in it.

Personally, this diet is a lot easier than my weight loss one.

I’m wondering what YOU do to keep your skin from aging?