Want to know how making changes in your life can improve your appearance? These simple suggestions can add life to your skin.

The Facts About Fat

You have probably heard a lot about trans fats over the past few years. Trans fats are fats which do not occur naturally; they are manufactured, and are found in many ready-made foods. These fats are unhealthy, and eating a diet high in these fats may cause a speeding up of the aging process of the body and the skin.

Margarine is made of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). Frequent intake of PUFAs has been shown to cause skin wrinkling and aging in some studies. During the hydrogenation process, trans fats are formed, and margarine contains more trans fats than would ever be found naturally.

Reducing the intake of animal fats (saturated fats) in your diet helps your skin protect against the effects of oxidative stress. Saturated fats have been shown to cause premature aging of the skin, leading to more wrinkles.

Bottom Line: Avoid trans fats. Try to incorporate more omega-3 fatty acid foods into your diet, by eating more fish or fish oils, flaxseeds or flaxseed oil, soybeans, or walnuts.

Alcohol in Moderation

When you drink alcohol, the small blood vessels under your skin become dilated, increasing blood flow to the surface of the skin. This causes your skin to appear flushed, and eventually will also cause wrinkles. The red flushing apparent after drinking alcohol may become more or less permanent when alcohol is taken in in large quantities on a regular basis.

Limit Your Caffeine

Caffeine acts as a mild diuretic, drawing water out of your body and causing your skin to lose moisture and plumpness. You may notice if you drink a lot of caffeine that you need to visit the restroom frequently-this is due to the diuretic effect. Try to limit your caffeine intake to two cups of coffee per day, or the equivalent in other beverages. Increase your water intake instead, or switch to green tea, which is full of antioxidants.

Butt Out

Smoking is very damaging to the skin. When you smoke, your blood vessels constrict; as a result, blood flow to the skin is decreased. Your skin is also depleted of vitamin C, which is helpful in keeping skin plump and moist. Capillaries become permanently damaged. Smoking contributes to wrinkles, especially crow’s feet and fine lines around the mouth. Heavy smokers often have a permanent grey or yellow cast to the skin.

Reduce Carb and Sugar Intake

When you eat sugary snacks or sweets (carbs break down into sugar) high levels of sugar enter your bloodstream. These sugars attach to protein fibres in collagen and produce compounds. These compounds have a negative effect on the skin. In addition, eating foods high in sugar causes insulin levels to spike in the blood, which in turn influences the release of the hormone androgen. Increased androgen production results in the excess secretion of oil in the skin. Skin becomes less resilient, sags more, and becomes more prone to acne.

Reduce Stress

When we are worried or upset, our face assumes characteristic appearance, which leads to

permanent “worry lines” on our face. Reducing stress is one way to combat these wrinkles. Reducing stress may be as simple as doing an activity you enjoy, taking up exercise (which will benefit you in many ways other than reducing wrinkles), or avoiding situations that make you feel stressed. Only you know what causes stress in your life, and only you can deal with it.

Following these simple tips can help you maintain a younger, healthy appearance, and can improve your general health as well.