Time sneaks by, stealthily marking everything—including your skin.
Feeling glum as you hug the mirror? Spirits sinking as the creeping lines grow?
Then it’s time to cook up some of our wrinkle-busters, made of foods that replenish the skin’s natural glow… from the inside out!
Starting at about age 25, the skin begins to change—the first superficial wrinkles take hold, mostly around eyes and mouth. Once we reach our early-mid 30s, those wrinkles are well on their way and the skin has lost much of its fundamental elasticity…
Who is that old person in the mirror?!
TOP 5 Good Skin Foods!
We all want young, beautiful skin! Everyone harbors a secret wish to be that “ageless beauty”… Can the clock be slowed?
 Luckily, the answer is “yes!—with the right diet!”
Things to Eat—
Cartilage:
Foods that are rich in cartilage are fantastic for clearing and refining the skin. The dermal layer is made up of elastic fibers, which are composed of the same compounds found in cartilage. The regular consumption of foods like pork bone, beef bone and chicken bone soup, including chicken skin, effect a refining process on the skin and increase its elasticity.
Nucleic Acids:
Foods laden with nucleic acids are another hit!
Nucleic acids are essential to all life, and slow the aging process, enhancing skin’s beauty. Foods heavy in nucleic acids include mushrooms, Judah’s Ear [edible tree fungi: Auricularia auricula], shrimp, liver meat, yeast and pollen—the regular addition of these to your diet can smooth coarse skin.
C, E, Zinc and Selenium:
Vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc and selenium are all antioxidants that prevent the oxidation of fats in the sub-dermal layer, thereby guarding the skin from aging. All vegetable oils, fresh fruits, vegetables, shellfish, eggs and nuts carry abundant quantities of these elements and are great additions to a daily diet.
A, B, Iron and Copper:
These vitamins and elements are not only vital nutrients, but also necessary components in blood production. If there is a deficiency, skin becomes dry and rough, as the circulation system can’t carry the required nutrients to the skin—weathered, wrinkled skin follows quickly.
Arm yourself! Consume carrots, yuchoy [youcai, or rapeseed greens], pumpkin, corn, sweet potato, oysters, pig’s blood, dairy and fish oils.
High Quality Protein:
Protein contains collagen, which has the ability to strengthen cells, making the skin radiant and more elastic, diminishing wrinkles. High-quality protein is found in dairy, egg, pork skin and pig’s hooves. Eating these foods protects against deep and coarse fissures in the dermal surface.
6 Line-busting Legumes and Fruits!
 Tomatoes:
Tomatoes are vitamin-rich, and the number one provider of vitamin C among fruits and vegetables. Tomatoes are also rich in vitamin A, contributing to dermal elasticity.
Chop up a tomato and press it into juice, then add a little honey and apply it to your face.
Oranges:
Powerful providers of vitamin B, oranges help skin retain its moisture. Mash up a whole orange (peel included), and soak in alcohol. Add some honey and put in the freezer. Leave it there for a week and then apply it to your skin for a smooth, moister-rich complexion that beams.
Banana:
Peel the banana and mash it up, add half a teaspoonful of olive oil. Stir until the oil is well mixed. Apply it to the face, and relax.
 Chestnut:
Remove the chestnut from its skin, grind the nut into a fine powder, add honey and mix together well. Apply the mixture to your face to increase luster and smooth out wrinkles.
Luffa Gourd [Chinese okra, L. acutagula/L. aegyptiaca]:
Luffa can also repair wrinkles! Take some Luffa juice [sigua zhi, in Mandarin] and mix it together with some alcohol and honey. Stir till thoroughly mixed. Apply to face and allow to dry; then rinse clean with water.
Your face will feel fantastic!
Papaya:
Boil papaya in a pot with mint to make a broth. Allow it to cool. Apply to the skin under the eyes to relieve the “tired eye” look and remove bags.
Quick Fact!
At what age does our skin really begin its aging process? 20? 25? 30?
You may be surprised to learn that dermal specialists claim the skin begins to age at birth—the very moment that light and air come in contact with it!
3 Fine Flavors to Chase Age Away
Chinese Date and Lily Bulb Congee
Ingredients: 12 large Chinese dates, wheat oats (60 grams), dried liquorice, dried lily bulbs (10 grams) and brown sugar (30 grams).
Preparation: Clean the licorice and lily bulbs, then bring them to a boil together; clean the dates and wheat before adding them, to the licorice-lily soup. Add the sugar and place in a pot. Bring to a simmer and allow to sit for about 45 minutes.
Enjoy it while it’s hot!
Benefits: Good for the spleen, balances the skin’s moisture. Eat regularly to encourage a peaches and cream complexion.
Yimi and Chinese Yam Congee
Ingredients: Yimi [Yi yi ren/Coix millet/ Job’s tears] (30 grams), Chinese yam [huai shan] (30 grams), 12 Chinese dates, millet (100 grams), white sugar (20 grams).
Preparation: Wash the dates and remove the pits; cut into thin strips. Break up the yam with your hands, so that it’s as mixable as possible. Wash the millet and place it in a casserole pot, add the dates and yimi, and then add water. Heat the congee and allow to simmer at low-medium temperature until cooked. Add the sugar and mix in evenly.
Benefits: Good for the spleen and stomach; for clearing heat and dampness (as defined by traditional Chinese medicine) the skin. Smoothes obviously wrinkled skin.
Tremella and Chrysanthemum Sticky Rice Porridge
Ingredients: Tremella [mu’er/white tree or silver fungus] (10 grams), chrysanthemum (5 flowers), sticky rice (50 grams).
 Preparation: Wash the flowers and soften the tremella in water; cook together with the sticky rice. After the ingredients have all simmered together, add some honey and enjoy.
Benefits: Fortifies qi and blood; softens the skin. Very effective for wrinkled skin that is both coarse and dry; regular consumption gives a fine and healthy sheen.
5 Food Foes!
CAREFUL!
The foods listed below are fiends to avoid!
Lead-contaminated Foods:
Foods like preserved eggs carry lead, a substance that speeds the deterioration of memory, IQ and a number of other critical functions. Less worrisome to some, and more horrifying to others, lead dulls the complexion and hastens signs of aging.
Pickled Foods:
Pickled fish, meats and vegetables should be avoided as much as possible! Each contains numerous toxic elements whose accumulation in the body encourages cancer and physical degeneration.
Moulds:
Grains, oils, peanuts, beans, meat can all go bad and produce a plethora of bacteria and mouldy aflatoxins (oft-inhaled carcinogenic mycotoxins). If eaten, at best, they cause vomiting, diarrhea and premature aging; at worst, aflatoxins promote cancer and encourage abnormal cell growth.
Peroxy Lipids:
The cooking oil used to fry fish, shrimp and meat can produce peroxy lipids if heated for too long; jerkies that have been exposed to the sun for an extended period of time also form this kind of fat. Peroxy lipids destroy nutrients in the body and quicken aging.
Heating Oils:
Please note! The high temperature heating of cooking oils can cause a catalytic reaction, releasing butadiene fumes. With frequent exposure, or at high concentrations these fumes can promote lung cancer. |
