5 Foods That Age You

In our previous article Anti Aging Foods, we looked at the powerful benefits to be had from eating certain foods which assist the phytoceramides you take, in getting rid of your wrinkles and regaining that firm smooth skin we all want.

When we were researching that article, we realized that if there are foods that help you lose wrinkles, then there must be foods which can give you wrinkles – or at least contribute to aging your skin. And sure enough, after some research, we found this to be more than true – that certain foods speed up not only how old you look but actually age your body.

Here, then, are 5 Foods That Age You

Sugar

OK, we know all the bad press that sugar gets for pretty much everything these days. But here’s something you might not know: eating too much sugar – or even eating sugar on a daily basis – activates enzymes which literally eat your collagen. And as we all know, collagen is necessary for maintaining firm and smooth skin.

Not only that, however, but when these enzymes eat your collagen, they leave behind tiny shreds of the collagen they destroyed. Then, when your body’s collagen-making cells run into these fragments, they actually stop making any more collagen, as part of their defence mechanism.

This process, known as glycation, prevents your skin from replenishing its collagen and speeds up the aging appearance of your skin, as it loses its elasticity and the ability to plump out those wrinkled areas. As glycation progresses, with the more sugar you consume, so the result is very real damage to your epidermis and a more wrinkled and leathery look to your skin.

Trans Fats

Phytoceramides ReviewsNow we here at The Best Phytoceramides Reviews often get confused with some of the labeling given to fats. There just seem so many! So just to clarify: trans fats are unsaturated fats. A small percentage of trans fats are found naturally in dairy products, but most trans fats are created by food companies and put into processed foods.

A test carried out in 2004-5 found that the McDonald’s fries sold in New York City contained twice as much trans fat as in the McDonald’s fries sold in Hungary and 28 times as much as in their fries sold in Denmark.

You find trans fats in all types of fast foods and snacks, such as hot dogs, burgers, fries, and fried chicken, but they are also in a whole range of other foods. Some manufacturers have drastically reduced the amount of trans fats they use in recent years, but not all. So it is imperative you check the label.

These are the foods which often contain high levels of trans fats which you need to be wary of: fried foods, piecrusts, margarine, cake mixes and frosting, pancake and waffle mixes, ice cream, non-dairy creamers, microwave popcorn, cookies, crackers, frozen dinners, canned chili, and packaged puddings.

Salt

If you consume more than the recommended daily amount of 1,500mg of salt, you increase the risk of looking older than you are. That’s because too much of the white stuff can lead to high blood pressure which – apart from the very real health dangers involved– also weakens your skin, especially in thin-skinned areas such as around the eyes. What’s more, too much salt leads to puffiness around the eyes.Phytoceramides Reviews

The average American consumes 3,500mg of salt each day (that’s about 2 teaspoonfuls). Almost 80% of this comes not out of the salt shaker but in prepared foods we buy from the store.

So it’s not just the salt you sprinkle on your food that you need to check – you also need to be aware of how much salt you are consuming in the food and drinks you have every day. And salt can be hidden in foods almost anywhere.

Apart from the obvious foods, such as salted popcorn, potato chips, and saltines, there are some foods you need to be aware of which contain a surprising amount of salt, which can quickly add up to exceed your daily amount: bread (120mg per slice); cold cuts of meat (150mg in a paper-thin slice); pizza (750mg in one small slice – that’s half your daily allowance); chicken breast (up to 900mg in each breast); canned soup (regular cans have around 900mg of salt); processed cheese (one slice has around 400mg of salt); breakfast cereal (up to 275mg per small bowlful); ketchup (190mg per spoonful); prepared baby food (up to 900mg per helping).

The answer: read the label on all the food you buy and cut down on the amount of salt you sprinkle.

Red meat

Phytoceramides ReviewsEating too much red meat can lead to heart attacks and serious wrinkling. That’s because red meat contains high levels of carnitine, an animal protein, which leads to hardening of your blood vessel walls. This hardening leads to a prune-like appearance of your skin, as the blood vessels lose their water-retaining properties, their natural flexibility and the ability to plump out your epidermis. The key is to reduce the amount of red meat you eat and substitute it with seafood and low-fat dairy products.

Corn-based foods

There’s a whole range of foods we eat which are based on corn – from corn on the cob, through corn chips, breakfast cereals, and on to the many foods cooked in corn oil, as well as the food and drinks which contain corn syrup (such as sodas, iced tea, sports drinks, salad dressings, and cereal bars, to name just a few).

The problem with all of these foods and drinks is the high levels of fructose they contain. And so, similar to eating too much sugar, eating too many corn-based foods leads to an explosion of sugars in your system which triggers those collagen-devouring enzymes.

The fructose in high-fructose corn-syrup causes 10x more damage to your skin (and your health) than glucose.

And So. . .
And so there we have them: the 5 foods (and drinks) which age you more rapidly than you may realize.

What we here at the website have done is to gradually decrease our intake of all of these while increasing our consumption of the superfoods which help prevent wrinkles. We wish we had the willpower to go cold turkey and change our dietary habits overnight, but – like most of you, we imagine – change does take some getting used to. And, we also think that change slowly assimilated into our lifestyle is one that’s easier to stick to!