What if there was a way you could look younger than you are – with people potentially mistaking you for being a decade younger than your actual age? It seems impossible!
While you may be filling your grocery basket up with “anti-aging” creams, thinking they will help with a range of skin conditions such as skin cancer prevention, benign growths, and cherry angiomas, they are not always the answer to healthy, young skin or prevention.
Instead, the key to looking younger with more youthful skin could be in the food you are eating! Put those anti-aging creams back on the shelf and instead pay attention to your everyday food items. Oils, fruit and vegetables, spices, and even one of your daily morning beverages can all offer glowing skin you may not have seen in years!
There is even solid research to suggest that particular components of everyday staples can stop or set the clock back on your aging skin. Maybe you need to eat more if the following food and see what happens! Number one and eight on the list will have you jumping for joy!
1. Dark Chocolate
Who would have thought that your devilish treat you hide from your family to eat in private could be benefiting your skin? Dark chocolate features flavanols which can protect your skin from the sun and provide a whole host of skin benefits!
You can see a difference in its elasticity, and even how long you can be in the sun before your skin goes red. The antioxidants in dark chocolate are so beneficial that researchers believe they are more useful for your body than berries!
2. Green Tea
Collagen is the leading player in how youthful or old your skin looks. As a result, it makes perfect sense why green tea appears as one of the many foods that can make you look younger!
Green tea is antioxidant-rich but features more polyphenols than anything else. These polyphenols can protect your collagen while helping to reverse or stop the signs of aging.
If you weren’t much of a tea drinker before, you would be now! However, don’t switch from coffee just yet…
3. Coffee
If you thought green tea was enough to offer noticeable signs of anti-aging, then wait until you’ve had your morning cup of coffee!
According to some of the latest National Cancer Institute research, the bioactive compounds in coffee can help to protect your skin from melanoma. However, the type of coffee matters.
Filtered coffee can reduce malignant melanoma, but there is no associated link between boiled, instant, or other coffee types. Get ready for smoother looking skin thanks to your favorite morning beverage!
4. Avocados
Do you enjoy smashed avocado on toast for breakfast and lunch? Can you not live without that delicious, creamy flavor in almost every meal? Enjoy both taste and scientifically proven health benefits!
While the humble avocado is beneficial for its high vitamin content, fiber, potassium, and fatty acids, it’s also working wonders for the health of your skin.
Avocados feature polyhydroxylated fatty alcohols which not only repair damaged skin but protect your healthy skin from the sun and other damaging environments. If you don’t eat much avocado, you will now!
5. Tomatoes
If you want to look ten years younger, you don’t have to reach for anti-aging products. Instead, head down the vegetable aisle in the grocery store and load up on tomatoes.
Tomatoes feature a lot of lycopene which scientists recognize as being beneficial for prostate cancer, heart disease, and even your risk of a stroke.
However, lycopene can also do so much more. Several studies show that it’s helping to protect your skin from the sun’s UV rays. Over time and with several lycopene-rich foods, you can even notice a decreased wrinkle depth. Prepare to look a decade younger in no time!
6. Vegetables
Who would have thought that enough of a daily staple could have an anti-aging effect? That’s the reality of including more than your fair share of veggies in your diet.
As most people know, vegetables offer a range of nutrients. They even have cancer-fighting properties and can protect against heart disease.
However, they also help you fight the battle against wrinkles. As they are high in Beta Carotene, they can stop free radicals and sun radiation damage, equating to healthier and more youthful skin.
7. Bone Broth
Bone broth has long been a hearty dish passed down from generation to generation. With the introduction of convenience foods, it then fell off the face of the earth before reappearing in recent years.
Bone broth contains the bones of many different animals that release a range of beneficial nutrients – including collagen. Collagen is helpful for your bones, skin, and muscles, and getting enough of it can have beneficial consequences for your complexion! It can also make your skin firmer, smoother and less wrinkly.
8. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
If you are going to include any fat or oil in your diet, let it be extra-virgin olive oil. Not only can it help to prevent common diseases and reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease, but it can also help you to look far younger than you are.
This is all thanks to its anti-inflammatory effects. If you find yourself sunbathing a little too much, extra virgin olive oil works to offer a layer of protection, meaning you are less likely to have sun-related skin damage.
9. Blueberries
Blueberries are a delicious and sweet treat that’s bursting with flavor (and nutrients!) They work well in smoothies and breakfast cereal, while also being packed full of healthy vitamins that work wonders for your skin.
If you are looking to even out your skin tone, brighten it, and even help it to look smoother, then reach for a handful of blueberries. They feature many antioxidants that fight free radical damage, while also lightening and evening out your skin at the same time.
10. Fish
A significant reason for your skin looking old, then making you look old, is because it’s dry. If you don’t eat food that promotes moisture in your skin, you are going to look older than your years. That’s where fish comes in.
Salmon and other fish that are rich in omega-3 can be your saving grace. Include enough fish in your diet, and you will be able to moisturize your skin enough for that youthful glow. The best part is, this anti-aging food type is delicious and nutritious!
11. Watermelon
Imagine being able to enjoy your summer favorites while looking younger by the day? That might be the reality if you include watermelon in your diet.
Watermelon features an antioxidant known as lycopene. Lycopene enables you to hang out in the sunshine for longer before your skin starts to suffer from UV ray damage. While it’s no substitute for sunscreen, it’s nice to know it’s fighting to keep your skin looking younger and healthier for longer.
Conclusion
No matter what you do in life, you are going to get older every second. However, how you choose to age is up to you – gracefully, or to look older than you are!
If you want to look a whole lot younger than you are, fielding compliments left, right, and center, then make sure you try these food types above. You will be surprised at how different fruit, vegetables, oils, and everyday staples can benefit your skin now and into the future.