Face, meet Fridge: The Natural Answer to Preventative Ageing.

Tue, 18 September 2012 12:56PM

If you can’t remember Kylie Minogue as a mechanic or Nicole fanging around on BMX bikes, I assume you were too predisposed with being born to notice.

Oh, dear child of the 1980s, this blog is fairly and squarely aimed at you. (Between your eyes, around the corners of your mouth and within the slightly crinkled corners of your pretty peepers, to be exact.)

Are (age) spots forming before your eyes? Have those cute creases around your peepers matured into something far deeper? Don’t fret. Yet. Just get cracking on giving ageing a gentle heave-ho before it really takes hold.

But before you dash to the Dr’s surgery, do as natural beauty – and child of the ’80s – Jess Hart does, and make friends with your fridge.

“Cosmetically enhancing those disliked physical signs of aging ignores the underlying causes of aging and won’t fix the actual problem,” naturopath Victoria O’Sullivan tells me. “To combat ageing you need to address what you’re putting into your body and fight the process from the inside out.”

Current research shows that there is strong connection between aging and inflammation in the body, which manifests in the appearance as a loss of muscle mass and wrinkled, sagging skin.

But there is a second type – chronic inflammation – which is the real ager, says Victoria. “Chronic inflammation results from both genetic and lifestyle factors,” she says, and while we can’t control our genetic disposition, we can control our lifestyle. “The biggest factors contributing to chronic inflammation are excessive weight, poor food choices, cigarette smoking, UV radiation, stress, and environmental toxins such as pesticides.”

“Aging starts well before we see the physical manifestations and experience symptoms. The good news is that if eat well and reduce environmental toxins and stress, we can address the physical signs of ageing. Make good food and a positive environment your top priorities and you’ll be rewarded with radiant skin,” she says.

Quit: Inflammatory foods containing sugar and starch, such as lollies, pastries, bickies, milky chocolates, chips, breads and snack foods. “When we eat sugary or starchy foods, we trigger a pro-inflammatory release of sugar into our bloodstream, which causes our body to store fat,” she says. Eating sugary foods also triggers a spike in insulin levels that can lead to faster cellular ageing.

Consume: Blueberries, garlic, spices and leafy greens. “Antioxidants are anti-inflammatory,” says Victoria. Berries of all types, spices such as cinnamon (minus the underlying donut), turmeric, garlic, onions and horseradish all rock. “Foods high in antioxidants work to neutralize inflammation in the body and slow down the ageing process.”

Balance: Alkaline levels. When we eat too much acid the body is forced to draw on its alkaline stores to balance the surplus acid that then creates yeast, harmful microforms, mycotoxins and bacteria within the body, which are then released through the skin. Increase your alkaline content with avocados, leafy greens, soya beans, radish and broccoli to reverse this process. “These foods work to help regulate the pH of our blood cells whose ideal state is an alkaline level of 7.3 or 7.4,” says Victoria.

Control: Your cortisol levels. These are hormones that spike if we are stressed or over-tired and in turn throw our anti-inflammatory response out of whack. Over time, this can’t naturally correct itself within our bodies, and the ageing process really puts its foot down on the accelerator. “Try and get eight hours of undisturbed sleep each night and take up activities that reduce stress. Pets work wonders for highly stressed people,” says Victoria.

Posted by: ecb

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Tags: alkaline, featured, food, healthy food, inflammation, naturopath, premature ageing, simpleskincare, sleep, stress, victoria o'sullivan