How to keep older skin glowing with health

Keeping older skin glowing with health by eating well with our top tips.

Feeding the skin with optimum nutrition will result in clear, radiant, glowing skin and a sparkle in your eye. Better skin is ultimately about better health and nutrition is a major weapon in the battle against ageing. Growing older is inevitable, looking older isn’t, we can do so much to take control over how we feel and look with food

Feeding your skin from within is essential, as our largest organ there is no doubt that the skin responds to what we eat, so solve some of your skin issues with improving your diet.

Skin cells rely on a balanced supply of nutrients to grow, strengthen and fight Free Radical damage, giving your body essential antioxidants and nutrients is an effective solution to fight ageing from the inside- we truly are what we eat.

Neglecting to eat well can result in your ageing parent’s skin ageing considerably faster and deficiencies of certain nutrients, such as vitamin A, B complex and Essential Fatty Acids can show in the skin as eczema and other skin conditions, it may even impair the skin’s ability to heal and repair itself.

Skin is often the last to get it’s ration of nutrients, so it’s important for the elderly to have a consistent diet with a variety of foods to give their bodies enough nutrients – supplements are also well worth taking, antioxidants and fatty acids in particular.

Encourage your ageing parent to eat themselves beautiful

• Plenty of fresh, untreated foods are essential for the health of your entire body, the bonus is healthy, smooth, glowing skin with less skin problems like acne, ezcema and sensitivity – and definitely less wrinkles.
• Variety is the spice of life – and eating a varied diet is the best way to stay looking younger and prevent disease.
• Encourage your ageing parent to eat fresh wholefoods, like oily fish, chicken, grains, fresh fruit and vegetables, oils, herbs and spices. Wholefood basically means it hasn’t undergone any processing and is as unrefined as possible; Wholefoods do not contain any added sugar, salt and fat – unlike the many food choices in the western diet today.

Foods for the Older Person to Avoid

• Burnt, brown or fried foods – these produce Free Radicals in the body
• Pesticides on fruit & veg – use organic where possible or grow your own
• Processed Foods
• Sugar – try Xylitol instead

The Best Way to Eat for Glowing Ageless Skin

I believe the best way to eat, to avoid premature ageing and promote good overall health – is an Anti-Inflammatory diet, rich in Antioxidants and Low Glycaemic Load (GL).

First of all let’s understand Inflammation – this is a process that robs the skin of its youth, although inflammation is a natural healing reaction, it easily gets out of control and many researchers believe it is proving to be the basis of virtually every disease process from heart disease, cancer and dementia to skin problems including skin ageing. UV, pollution, ozone, smoking, all cause Free Radicals to be produced in the body – this triggers inflammation.

The GL diet has received a lot of media attention and lots of books have been written on the subject – fortunately it’s not hype, and here to stay. It has many positive medical benefits such as reducing adult-onset diabetes and heart disease. The perks of eating low GL are weight loss and a slim body and loads of energy – it is above all anti-inflammatory.

GL is a ranking system for Carbohydrate content in food portions based on their Glycaemic Index (GI) and portion size.

The Glycaemic Index is a measure of the effects of carbohydrates on blood sugar levels, foods are rated to whether they are low (0-10), medium (11-19) or high (20+) GL. A high Glycaemic Load food, i.e – white bread, croissants and sugar releases sugars into the blood stream very quickly (known as a sugar spike) – this spike in insulin sets off a cascade of inflammation in the body. Low GL foods release sugar into the blood stream more steadily, resulting in a slow release of Insulin with very little inflammation. The Italian/Mediterranean diet is very low GL and rich in Fish, fruits and vegetables with beneficial oils and herbs, it also helps that the food is delicious.Increased blood sugar causes chemical reactions in the body which create inflammation, this leads to a damaging effect on skin cells and Collagen fibres and can result in inflexible collagen and wrinkle formation.

To improve and protect our skin we need a low Glycaemic Load diet – rich in Antioxidants. One of the benefits I have found in this way of eating is a huge increase in energy levels, also by keeping blood sugar levels stable, your elderly parent will not only feel better but not be tempted by a high sugar treat or snack high in fat.

They should aim to have something to eat every three hours to help keep blood sugar stable.

Julia is a leading holistic skin therapist who combines high tech treatments and skincare with an in depth knowledge of nutrition and natural therapies.

She draws upon her 15 years of experience and training to visibly improve her client’s skin conditions and believes in a preventative approach to anti-ageing. Julia’s philosophy is that “all skins can be measurably improved”.
www.juliahart.co.uk