Everyone has heard this popular saying, ” You are what you eat.” The reason being that food tells what is going on inside and outside of our body. Just like food affect our health, it also act on our skin. Bad food habits eventually lead to adverse impact on skin. A nutritious diet keep your insides healthy which gets reflected on the skin. Your skin then looks better when you have nutritious diet. But sometimes our taste buds ditch us and we get tempted to eat certain type of food a lot. This causes the imbalance of nutrients and lead to dull and poor skin.
Since, skin is the most probable way to know the kind of lifestyle you live— healthy or unhealthy, we must know the kind of foods to avoid or cut-off the extra amount of certain food in your diet to have a healthy and glowing skin. Here are some of the bad foods that harm your skin:
1. Fatty Protein
If hot dogs, burgers and mini pizzas are some of your favourite foods then you need to be cautious. They are rich in fatty protein which is extremely bad for your skin. Even the read meat and cheese cubes have fatty acids that make your skin appear dull and lifeless. Too much of fatty protein will cause puffiness under eyes and even dark circles. The fried food destroys the essential nutrients like omega-3 and Vitamin E which is not appropriate for your skin.
2. Caffeine
Are you also one of those who make their coffee first thing in the morning? In the fast-pace life, we often have stressful days and caffeine seems to only friend to get through your day. But lot of caffeine consumption increases the cortisol levels causing skin inflammation and breakouts. Your skin gets dehydrated which leads to premature aging and loose skin. If you want to avoid acne, have a decaf or opt for green tea.
3. Salty Foods
Popcorns on the weekend movie nights or pretzels and chips you eat throughout the day taste really good but are highly salty snacks. The excess amount of salt causes water retention which makes your skin look puffy. The free radicals from processed food causes inflammation and premature aging. Have a check on the salt content of the processed food and limit how much additional salt you put on your food. Even Indian cuisine is full of food items like pickles and chutneys that have salt as main ingredient. The salty products can lead to acne and pimples also. So, it is important to limit these food items so that our skin remains healthy.
4. Baked Goods, Candy and Soda
Who doesn’t love candies, cakes and cookies!? But these contain large amount of refined sugar i.e. lots of carbs. The baked goods, candy and soda(soft drinks) have carbs that spike the level of insulin in body leading to inflammation. Your skin will eventually get less radiant and saggy. The skin suffers from premature damage. The skin elastics and strength fibres collagen are affected which in turn loosen the skin and lead to breakouts. Avoid the soda and refined sugar rich snacks to improve the skin’s appearance.
5. Dairy
Dairy has been a part of everyone’s diet except for the ones who are lactose intolerant. Milk, sour cream, curd and a lot many more items are used in daily meals. But too much dairy can irritate your skin to inflammation. You may have rashes, acne and even eczema. These food products cause hormonal imbalance and excess sebum production that lead to acne and breakouts. Try to replace it with unsweetened almond or coconut milk. They are antibiotic and does not contain lactose which will have no negative impact on skin.
