You may have noticed those fine lines and sluggish energy that you feel as you age. Believe it or not, what you eat plays a role in how your body shows signs of aging. There are certain foods that can speed up wrinkles or make you feel those joint pains. These foods make you feel older than you are. If you want to slow down the clock, avoid these 10 foods that could be aging you faster than you think.
10. Fried Foods
Fried foods that you may enjoy, like fries and chicken nuggets, may contribute to your feeling of aging faster. Why? They contain trans fats that we get from using cooking oil repeatedly. The inflammation and oxidative stress cause cellular aging, which increases the likelihood of heart disease and diabetes.
9. Salty Foods
If you love cooking at home, be mindful of how much salt you’re adding to your meals. Excess salt can lead to dehydration and water retention, making your skin look dull and puffy. Over time, this lack of hydration accelerates the aging process, causing fine lines and wrinkles to appear more quickly.
8. Deli Meats
While Deli Meats makes a filling sandwich meal, they’re high in preservatives, which may contribute to fast aging. Sodium and nitrates cause fast aging through inflammation and oxidative stress that forms in your body. Eventually, when harmful compounds form, they target your cells and tissues, making you age faster.
7. Coffee
Your daily dose of coffee might be the culprit as to why you’re aging faster. Since it contains caffeine, it expels fluids that make you dehydrated. When dehydration happens, it leads to dry and dull-looking skin. Also, Coffee messes with your collagen production, which keeps the skin firm and healthy.
6. Charred Meats
Those black char that you see on your burgers is another culprit in making you age faster. They contain pro-inflammatory hydrocarbons that promote inflammation. With this, your collagen breaks down due to an enzyme activity happening in your body. You don’t need to restrict yourself fully to burgers. Just make sure to scrape off the black stuff that comes with it.
5. Sweets and Sugary Drinks
Once again, sugar becomes the culprit in every bad thing happening to our bodies. This time, they play a role in aging your skin. Sugar starts a process called glycation, which is a result of your cells’ process of combining sugar molecules with proteins. This glycation damages your skin’s collagen in return. A simple reducing of sugar intake will save your skin from aging.
4. Margarine
Beware of Margarine in your food as it may cause skin damage and wrinkles. In fact, Margarine is worse than butter itself. Why? It’s high in partially hydrogenated oils, and its trans-fatty acids make your skin vulnerable to ultraviolet radiation. This radiation damages the collagen and elasticity of your skin.
3. Rice Cakes
When hunger strikes, we often reach for Rice Cakes as they’re filling and easy to get. However, they contain a high glycemic index that can cause spikes in your blood sugar levels. Perhaps we can point it out to combined rice and sugar. The increase in blood sugar levels is an aging accelerator that may cause wrinkles.
2. White Bread
White Bread is considered a part of the refined carbohydrates family, which is not a good thing. When they bump with protein, they cause the formation of Advanced Glycation End (AGE). AGE is linked with chronic diseases, as well as the aging process. White Bread is high in glycemic index, which can cause inflammation in the body and, therefore, causes fast aging.
1. Agave Syrup
Agave Syrup and other sweeteners like corn and some maple are high in fructose. It is a type of sugar linked with accelerated aging. They also form Advanced Glycation End (AGE) that damages the collagen and elasticity of the skin. As an effect, it causes wrinkles and skin aging. Worse, fructose may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases and other age-related health issues.