Beautiful skin starts internally by our eating choices. Foods can either benefit or hinder the health of skin cells that later surface to the epidermis. Therefore, understanding the diet and bad skin connection is vital to the skin’s beauty.
Though no one can say for sure what causes acne, it has always been thought to be triggered by hormones, stress and genetics. However, there have been several studies that show the relationship between diet choices that can contribute to the bad skin problem.
The Bad Skin Connection and Role of Dairy
Some research has shown that milk products, whether whole, low-fat or skim may have a bad skin connection. According to one study, the acne was more likely for those drinking fat-free skim milk over whole milk. One theory behind this bad skin connection is the skim milk possesses unique milk proteins that the fuller fat milk does not.
Carbs and High-Glycemic Index Foods Bad Skin Connection
Eating refined carbohydrates taste delicious, but aren’t the best thing for beautiful skin. The blood sugar spikes from those carbs cause can accelerated aging by the way the body breaks it down to turn that sweet candy, cake, dessert, etc. into glucose. When those glucose molecules later get circulated in the bloodstream, they cling mercilessly to collagen and elastin, stealing the elasticity. This decline in firmness causes wrinkles as the skin keeps breaking down more glucose that is formed until unable to produce the same kind of fresh, healthy collagen and elastin that you once had.
A diet that is heavy on white pasta, white bread, potato chips, pretzels, french fries, chocolate, and other high-glycemic index foods also have been cited to play a part in acne. The reason is how dramatically these particular carbohydrates can raise the blood sugar and insulin in the system enough to disrupt the hormones and increase oil production.
What you might want to try is giving up skim milk and eating more low-glycemic foods over turning to more refined carbohydrates to start reversing bad skin conditions. Oatmeal, whole grains, most fruits, vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes are just some suggestions that could trigger a beautiful response to better skin. Skin doesn’t repair itself overnight, but over a course of about 12 weeks of eating healthier.
Unfortunately, some of my daughter’s favorite foods fall in these categories. She will drink almond milk instead of regular milk when she can though.