Maintain your skin health by avoiding these foods!
Keeping our skin healthy, soft and youthful gets a bit tricky once we start to age. Having an established, effective skincare routine is essential, but you should also take into account the kinds of food you’re eating.
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What you eat affects your overall health, both inside and out, i.e on your skin. So it's best to be aware of the types of food that can exacerbate certain skin conditions and what can be harmful to your skin health. As with all things, it's always ideal to eat and drink in moderation. However, here are 5 foods that can be bad for your skin that you should try avoiding:
Processed Meats
Processed meats such as hotdogs, salami or bacon contain high levels of sodium that can cause water retention, resulting in your skin appearing puffy and swelling. These cured meats also contain sugar and fats, which can cause acne and inflammation. Preservatives in these meats also also have sodium nitrates that break down collagen and cause premature skin aging.
Caffeine
Caffeine is a tricky one, especially if you’re dependent on getting your early morning energy fix from coffee. An overload of caffeine can give you several skin issues. Not only does it do a great job of dehydrating your skin (which leads to premature fine lines and wrinkles), regular consumption of caffeine also increases your cortisol levels, which can lead your skin to produce more sebum, making you more prone to acne and skin irritation.
Fried Foods
A generous serving of french fries or a bucket of fried chicken might seem heavenly for a comfort food meal type and we don’t deny the deliciousness of it all. Take note, however, that deep fried foods can leave an undesirable effect on your skin, starting with excess oil and sebum production, which can lead to oily skin and acne.
White Bread
High glycemic foods such as white bread and other refined carbohydrate foods like pasta and white rice are bad news for the skin. Foods with high glycemic index (GI) often cause acne breakouts and are major contributors to premature aging of the skin.
Alcohol
More than caffeine, alcohol is a major player in dehydrating your skin. Ever woken up from a night of drinking feeling thirsty and parched? Your skin definitely feels that way, too! As with all things, drink in moderation and remember to drink lots of liquids after your alcoholic beverage to restore your skin’s hydration levels.