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Crossing Over Skin Myths
 Gone are the day of complicated, messy avocado
face masks and fiddly yogurt
cleansers. The modern approach to skincare is to
feed your skin both inside and outside that means understanding how what you can
eat can affect your
complexion. Follow these tips and both your skin and your
body will thank you for it.
Some people wake up the morning after a party
with their skin as blemish-free as ever. Others argue that they eat healthily,
drink plenty of water and still have less than model-perfect skin. No-one knows
for sure how much the food we eat affects our skin, and the truth is, clear
complexions are more often due to lucky genetics than a blameless larder. So
does food really make a difference?
Eating fried foods gives you spots
 There's no medical evidence for this, but if
it's just the odd spot we're talking about, then anecdotal evidence (and common
sense!) tells us that a night's bingeing could be at least partly to blame.
However, if persistent acne or
spots are the concern, it's unlike that your diet
is the principal cause. To help combat the regular occurrence of blemishes, make
sure you get enough
vitamin A and
zinc.
Chocolate
is bad for your skin
 Chocolate is not exactly skin's public enemy
number one, but its
high sugar and dairy content are in danger of negating any
positive effects. If you really want to increase your
fat content for its
positive effects on your skin, it's better to snack on nuts (especially almonds)
than chocolate-they're high in
essential fatty acid.
Going on a
detox diet will instantly make
your skin look better
When you detox, you're attempting to eliminate
all the toxins that have built up in your system, and as as organ of
elimination, the skin is where many of them will escape. Breakouts, excess oil
and blotches may all ensure at the beginning of your detox, making your skin
look worse than it did before (but don't despair-after a few days your skin will
be clearer, your hair shinier and your eyes brighter than ever before, thanks to
the improved circulation and absence of free radicals). Remember there's a
difference between a detox and crash dieting, though, which can damage the
collagen fibres that fend off
wrinkles.
Applying vitamins and minerals topically to
your
skin has just the same effect as taking them internally
Every
vitamin is different- there's no
hard-and-fast rule. for example, vitamin C taken internally will be nearly all
used up by other organs in the body, leaving perhaps only 10-20 per cent for
your skin. Vitamin C applied topically, however, can get to work on your skin
straight away. Vitamin E is beneficial both internally and
externally. With minerals, you should concentrate on getting them internally: many
have molecules that are too large to be able to penetrate the skin when added to
creams.
Drinking water doesn't help your complexion
because it gets used up by your internal organs before it even reaches your skin
While it's true that only a tiny proportion of
the water you drink goes directly to your skin, all that water will be helping
to improve your circulation and flush out toxins - which in turn will have a
direct bearing on your
skin's radiance and clarity. Many skincare experts
recommend starting the day with a tall glass of water- before anything else
passes your lips - in order to help the skin's elimination process on its way.
Contrary to some moderns theories, not all liquids are the same - caffeinated
drinks such as coffee, tea and fizzy drinks are
diuretic and don't count as part of your 2 litres (4 1/4
pints) of water. In fact, one cup of coffee can 'cancel out' up to a pint of
water. For optimum hydration the combination of 2 liters of water and a hard -
working moisturiser will keep your skin healthy.
 Only fresh foods can make a difference to
your skin
If by 'fresh' food we're talking about non-
processed, non-packaged food, then it's a safe bet than they'll have a bigger
chance of helping your skin than chilled ready meals, for example. However,
vegetables that are frozen as soon as they are picked, for example, retain many
more nutrients than fresh ones that are left to fester in a refrigerator for
days on end. How you cook them also makes a big difference to their
nutrient
quota: frying is out (although it's not so bad if done in olive oil), grilling
is good and boiling is fine but steaming is better (water soluble nutrients
don't escape into the discarded water as they do with boiling).
Most of the sun damage you incur happens
before age 18.
Recent studies have shown that by age 18,
you've only accumulated 18 to 23 percent of the
sun damage you'll incur over a
lifetime. That means that there's still time to protect your skin from the sun
and put off sun-induced aging. Do this by using
sunscreen and products with
sun-damage reversing ingredients such as vitamin C and retinol.
All
skin peels require the application of chemicals to the skin.
This is a myth. The term skin
peel refers to a
variety of different procedures. Several of these do involve the use of
chemicals but newer ones such as the Power Peel involve the use of tiny crystals
(micro-dermabrasion) to remove fine wrinkles, acne scars,
pigmentation, etc.
Other types of skin peels utilize lasers to improve the skins' appearance.
Many women report that a raw vegetable diet,
followed for a week, seems to make their eyes bright and skin sparkle. Try to
include some uncooked vegetables such as carrots or cauliflower in your diet
every day.
-
WF Team
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