Even though eating is so necessary to our health, not everything you eat will produce the healthy results you want. Some foods will cause you to look older than you are, and it may surprise you which ones have this effect.
Sugary Foods
Some foods you like the most – the sweet ones – are at the top of the list. If you have a sweet tooth, it can make it hard to reduce these tasty foods. There are a lot of foods in this category. They include pastries, cakes, sugary cereals, specialty coffees and teas, sodas, candy, and more.
A lot of sugar is found where you might not suspect it. Look at the sugar content in your favorite foods before you eat them. Another problem with sugar is that it makes your skin react more to UV radiation – which causes you to age faster. Calorie reduction can help you stay looking younger longer.
Processed Foods
Many prepared foods in today’s diet include heavily processed foods. Processed foods, such as refined grains, often have nutritional value almost entirely removed from them. Many chemicals have been added to processed meats to preserve them, which makes them able to stay on the shelf longer. The added substances are also known to promote colon cancer. Eating more poultry is a better alternative.
Processed foods include white bread, white flour, pasta, biscuits, and baked goods. Various dairy products also fall into this category, and pasteurized milk can hardly be called healthy anymore because of the many additives – which affect many lactose-intolerant people.
Processed meats, such as sausage, bacon, ham, and deli cuts, contain a lot of salt and chemical preservatives. Although the additives do add more flavor, they also cause inflammation. These chemicals and salts are not insignificant because they can lead to diseases such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, hypertension, cancer, and diabetes.
Fried Foods
Foods cooked in oils at high temperatures, such as corn or sunflower oil, release free radicals. It will increase your inflammation levels and lead to a process called cross-linking. Cross-linking reduces your ability to remove toxins, damage the skin, and causes more wrinkles. Olive oil is a better choice because it contains antioxidants and cuts inflammation.
Many foods today are fried. When we think of fried foods, it can be easy to overlook some. There is fried chicken and fish, French fries, mozzarella sticks, hush puppies, and even donuts are fried.
Salty Foods
Eating a lot of salty foods can promote dehydration. Consuming salty foods regularly can cause the skin to lose water, which will speed up the aging process.
Baked Goods
Another kind of sweets that most people crave is baked goods. These sweet little goodies contain refined flour, have a lot of sugar, and may contain trans fats. Trans fats are bad because they increase inflammation and raise your likelihood of developing heart disease. Trans fats are often found in baked goods such as cookies and crackers, pie crusts, frozen pizza, commercially baked goods, microwave popcorn, and nondairy coffee creamer.
Choosing healthy meals and a more plant-based diet will help you avoid more foods that harm your skin. Substitute the following foods for an anti-inflammatory diet. You can use honey or fruit instead of white sugar when you need to sweeten food and avoid skin damage, eat poultry instead of processed meats to avoid dehydrating the skin and drink more water to avoid caffeinated drinks after dinner to get better sleep – a lack of sleep promotes fine lines and wrinkles.
