Foods That Help Skin Stay Strong As You Age

Transcript:

Melanie: Hello and welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. Today we're talking about a topic that a lot of people care about but often from the outside in instead of the inside out and we're talking about keeping skin healthy and strong as you age. You don't think of skin being something you want strong.

Britni: I mean, I have a lot of clients that they're talking about their skin. They want to see improvements.

Melanie: Absolutely. I mean, we all want that. And we really want to focus on the word strong because healthy skin isn't just about looking younger. Your skin is your largest organ. It protects you. It helps regulate temperature. It supports your immunity and is a reflection of what's happening inside the body. It's important and we want to be pretty.

So today we're going to talk about the foods that nourish your skin, support collagen, maintain elasticity and reduce inflammation. And help your skin age more gracefully. And first, I really want to take a moment. I'm Melanie Beasley. I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian and I'm here with Britni.

What happens to the skin as we age?

Britni: Yeah, I'm Britni Vincent, also a Registered and Licensed Dietitian. And I think this is going to be a very popular topic. So let's start by talking about what actually happens to the skin as we age. As we get older, several things naturally begin to change.

First, collagen production slows down. And collagen, huge buzzword. All of you have heard collagen, but to tell you about what it does in the body; collagen is the protein that gives skin structure, firmness, and strength. And this is a surprising statistic, but around our mid-20s to early 30s, collagen production will gradually start to decline.

And at the same time, so does elastin. And elastin is what helps skin bounce back, stay flexible. And we also lose moisture in your skin over time. So skin's going to become thinner, drier, more fragile. You know, a piece of this for women is when you become postmenopausal and your estrogen really takes a nose dive, that is going to contribute to the reduction of collagen, hydration, that elasticity, and estrogen also helps the skin to maintain its thickness too. So that plays a role in this as well.

Melanie: I think it's a big role and anybody who's ever had an elderly parent or an aging aunt or grandparent and they notice that their arms get that bruising and tearing; your skin gets thinner as you age, the crepiness. And I remember my husband who's in sales and he's pulling samples in and out of his car all the time. And I'm always shoving some sort of supplement or food down his throat all the time.

And he says, OK, so can you do anything about this? Because he's in his 60s and his skin started tearing. So I started giving him collagen every day. It has made a huge difference in the wear and tear and the bruising that he gets of his skin. We've got a big dog. He wrestles with dog. The dog's teeth will accidentally nick him. And so the sustainability of his skin is like we've backtracked about five years.

Britni: Wow.

Melanie: And another major factor is something called oxidative stress. And oxidative stress happens when free radicals damage cells faster than the body can repair them. So free radicals come from things like sun exposure, pollution, smoking, excess sugar and ultra processed foods, alcohol, you know, even chronic stress and poor sleep can cause free radicals and those are just the enemy to the skin.

And over time, all of the exposure to these free radicals contributes to wrinkles and discolorations and dullness and inflammation and age spots of the skin.

Britni: And you mentioned inflammation. So overall inflammation, it plays a huge role. And we mentioned earlier, your skin's your largest organ. So if you have inflammation internally, well, that can manifest out through the skin.

Melanie: Really, your skin is your tell. When you get a symptom of something going on in the inside, the skin is one of the first things that you'll start notice change in. So acne tells us stuff. You and I are always in clinic assessing people, and skin is a good tell of what's going on internally.

Britni: It really can be because you know that chronic low grade inflammation, that is just going to accelerate skin aging and also impair healing too. So it's going to take longer for any sort of wound to heal. So when we think about food for healthy aging skin, you know, we want to reduce inflammation. We want to support collagen production. We want to stabilize blood sugar, improve hydration and support the skin barrier. So let's dive into the foods that are going to help all of this the most.

Food to help with skin health

Melanie: You know, I do want to double-click on that blood sugar. People don't really realize is that when your blood sugar goes up and it gets too high, that is very inflammatory for the entire body. We talk about it all the time. But that includes your skin.

Britni: That's probably a connection when we talk about blood sugar people are not thinking about their skin, but yeah, absolutely.

Melanie: Your skin is reflecting what's going on with you in your body. People often want that magic bullet, that magic answer, what's the best food or supplement for aging skin. And while there's no single miracle food or supplement, there are several that consistently stand out as beneficial that do provide nutrients that your skin needs to stay strong and resilient.

Incorporate omega-3 fats & fatty fish

And one of the best overall categories is fatty fish: salmon, sardines, anchovies, mackerel, herring. The omega-3 fats in these fish are incredibly important for skin health and they help maintain the skin barrier. They reduce inflammation. So when you see redness or acne that's red, that's inflammation. They also help hold hydration in the skin to support softness and suppleness and they can even reduce redness and that irritation from whatever is going on.

If you think rosacea or acne. You know, salmon and sardines naturally contains selenium, zinc, and astaxanthin nutrients that help protect skin from oxidative stress. So it's a win-win.

Britni: And the reality is even if you enjoy eating fish and fatty fish and living in Minnesota, you are probably not getting enough to get adequate amounts of omega-3s because omega-3s, we don't make them in our bodies. We have to get them from food or a supplement. Unless you're eating salmon multiple times a week, I think it's safe to suggest supplementing with an omega-3.

Melanie: It’s a little bit easier.

Britni: And like you mentioned, Melanie, it helps with overall inflammation. So it's not just going to help with your skin. So I would say getting about 3,000 milligrams a day for most people is a good standard dose of a high quality omega-3 supplement.

Melanie: You know, I'm glad you said that because it needs to be high quality because if you're just getting a big box store omega-3, you could be getting contaminants. You could be getting fish that wasn't sourced well that has residual contaminants from antibiotics, mercury.

So you want a good quality one because we don't want to be adding another assault to the body when we're trying to bring down inflammation.

Britni: Yeah, and a lot of those cheaper brands, they're going to have less of the actual omega-3s in them. So in the end, not as good of quality, and then you have to take more pills.

Melanie: So it kind of evens out if you have to take less pills, but it's quality. And some people get fish burps. They don't like those when they take those omega-3s. So we tell them keep those omega-3s in the freezer.

Britni: Yep. That can be a good one. I think taking them like after a meal sometimes could be helpful. I know our Omega-3 Extra Strength has a citrus flavor to it. So if you do burp it up, it's not so terrible, but that's generally either a sign that if you're taking a lower quality, you know, the fish oil might be rancid or you're just having trouble digesting it. Another bonus of fish is that the skin, if you're willing to eat the skin from the fish, it's rich in collagen.

Incorporate collagen

Melanie: Here's a trick, because I do eat salmon three or four times a week and I air fry it and then in a silicone liner. And then what I do is I scrape the skin off, salt it and put it back in the air fryer under the French fry setting. And you get sort of a crispy chip, not nearly as fishy. And I do eat that because of the collagen. Bears know something about salmon. When bears hunt salmon in Canada, they rip the skin off and mostly eat the skin and toss the meat because it's so rich in that collagen and that omega-3.

Britni: Yeah, that's a great tip. And you know, if that does not sound appealing, as it won't for some people. You know, there are other options for collagen rich foods. Bone broth is wonderful. Meat with connective tissue, the skin of poultry, and eggs themselves, they do not contain much collagen, but they are rich in sources of the amino acids, proline and glycine, which are going to support your body's natural collagen production.

Melanie: If someone comes to me with concerns about aging skin, wrinkles, dullness, dryness, loss of elasticity beyond diet, the first thing I suggest is our Key Collagen. And getting collagen from your diet is great, but supplementing is, you know, an additional boost and it can really make a difference. And that's the one I gave my husband.

It's great for hair, skin, nails, and bones. And Key Collagen has that special peptide, Verisol, specifically for skin elasticity and wrinkle support. It also contains peptides to support joints and connective tissue. So you get well-rounded collagen support for the whole body, and you can mix it into your coffee. It really is a very neutral flavor. Or tea as part of your morning routine.

You can add it to a protein shake or just a plain glass of water. It's really flavorless. It dissolves well. People see a difference. We've got a lot of people that have written in with some profound, exciting changes that they've noticed. I think it's going through a full container. You're not going to see it overnight. Skin turnover is slow, so you want to get through a full container.

Britni: Minimum. You know, it might take a few months. Yep. Set your expectation. Like you said, things don't change overnight. And you know, a question I get a lot is, can I use collagen powder as my protein source? Well, I would think of it like a boost of nutrients for our tissues because it's not a complete protein and it's very low in a specific amino acid that we need for muscle building. So yeah, I think of it as extra.

Melanie: It's extra. So when someone says, I had collagen in my coffee and that was by protein at breakfast, it's really not enough.

Britni: It's not going to fill you up.

Melanie: It’s not going to fill you up. That's a really good point. And you really only need one scoop a day.

Britni: Yeah, more than that is not going to give you any extra benefit. That's a really good point. So in addition to the collagen, still consume some sort of complete protein source: eggs, beef, poultry, fish, seafood, yogurt, whey protein powder if you're making a smoothie or something like that.

Eat adequate protein

And in general, we need to be eating adequate protein from a variety of animal sources, because protein is super key for our skin health too. It gives us the building blocks needed to repair skin efficiently. It's a protein-based tissue.

Melanie: And you know, if you want a good source of collagen, we have a fabulous recipe on our website at weightandwellness.com for bone broth.

Britni: Yeah, there's even a little tutorial video.

Melanie: Yeah, I love the videos. know, protein is especially relevant when it comes to aging skin because older women tend to under eat protein significantly. We talk a lot about prioritizing protein as we age for our muscles and longevity, but we also need it for aging skin. So everything improves when you optimize the amount of protein that you're getting.

Britni: That's true.

Melanie: And you know, there are many times that we have said if you aim for about one gram per pound of body weight, it really feels like a part-time job. But also as we age, we don't absorb as well. So that's why we kind of overshoot the mark a little bit there so that you're absorbing what you need.

And if someone's eating toast for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, and maybe a little deli meat or pasta for dinner, you're just not getting enough of the amino acids from the protein to support your skin.

Include colorful vegetables & fruit

Britni: In addition to that protein, we want to be getting most of our carbohydrates from colorful vegetables. We actually need vitamin C from fruits and vegetables for that collagen production. So it's also important to make sure you are getting those colorful vegetables or fruit throughout the day as well, getting adequate amounts of vitamin C. So your body has that as a building block to make collagen in your body.

They're also loaded with antioxidants which are going to help to neutralize those free radicals that damage our skin cells. And the reality is our skin is constantly up against a lot of internal and external factors that are going to cause damage. So it really needs the antioxidant support to fight off those damaging free radicals.

Melanie: We really do and you can put all these expensive products on your skin, but you cannot out cream or serum a poor diet. The fastest way to change the integrity of your skin, hair, nails is food and enough protein. Now we talked a lot about protein.

Include healthy fats

Let's talk healthy fats. A lot of people who have followed a low-fat diet for years notice that when they finally start increasing their healthy fats, their skin feels less dry and you're moisturizing from the inside out and you didn't have to buy an expensive serum or cream.

For example, avocados are wonderful for aging skin because they provide healthy moisturizing fats, but also vitamin E to protect cell membranes from damage. Because remember you have skin in your gastrointestinal tract, you have skin in your vaginal tissues and you have skin on your face, you know, in the obvious places, but all of that can thin.

So what we really want to do is provide those healthy fats to moisturize and also vitamin E to protect cell membranes from damage is helpful. Nuts and seeds are also rich sources of vitamin E as well as zinc, which is especially important for skin repair and wound healing. And also natural oils like olive oil for salad dressing which is anti-inflammatory.

We did talk about omega-3s, but there's also an omega-6 supplement that hydrates the skin called gamma-linoleic acid. And that's GLA, which comes from borage seed oil. And this is especially helpful for menopause-related skin dryness and inflammation.

Britni: And I just want to add this is different than the type of omega-6s that we hear about that are found in processed oils. So these omega-6s, they are in their therapeutic forms. And I've had a lot of clients where they consume the healthy fat. They really notice a difference in their skin and the GLA. I've had clients with eczema notice a difference with that.

Britni: I would say start with the food first and if you're still struggling, like here are some extra things that might be able to help.

Melanie: I have a lovely client. She's on Medicare and a very limited income. And so we were trying to cut back supplements. And so we tried no GLA. And she came back the following appointment and said, I have to have that GLA. So we put it back in. Because she noticed such a difference with her skin. So if you've got cracked heels, really dry cracked heels, that's a real good sign that you would benefit from GLA.

Britni: It's good, good tip. So let's put all of this together. We want to create balanced meals and snacks consisting of quality animal proteins, carbohydrates, mostly from lots of colorful vegetables, some fruits, and then some healthy natural fats in there. It is time for our break. Melanie and I have been talking about nutrition for skin health, and we will be right back.

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Welcome back to Dishing Up Nutrition. Before the break, we have been talking about what to consume to get the building blocks to create collagen in our body, reduce inflammation, so our skin is stronger. So we talk about blood sugar a lot and we mentioned this earlier, but it is so key to our skin as well. So maybe you never would have thought about balancing blood sugar for skin health or preventing wrinkles.

Balance blood sugar for skin health: what’s the connection there?

But what happens, not only when our blood sugar spikes, we get that inflammation that we talked about, but a process called glycation happens. And glycation occurs when excess sugar in the blood attaches to proteins like collagen and elastin. And that's going to form structures called advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, because it ages you.

It's going to age your skin. AGEs accumulate over time, damaging collagen and causing skin to sag and wrinkle more rapidly. So just remember excess consumption of sugars and consistently elevated blood sugar is going to increase those AGEs. So this is one reason why diets high in refined sugar and processed carbohydrates are going to accelerate visible aging.

The good news is you can fight against these ages by balancing blood sugar. Exercise, movement always helps, getting enough sleep, eating those antioxidant rich foods, the protein we've been talking about, healthy fats, all of that.

Melanie: So when you look in your refrigerator, listeners, and you open the refrigerator, do you see a lot of color? Do you see a lot of colorful fruits and vegetables? Do you see the dark berries? Do you see, you know, some purple sweet potatoes? Do you see some purple cabbage? Do you see some bright colored food that you're consuming that's battling the AGEs?

Britni: We've heard the term, I think I heard this as a child, like eat the rainbow. It's a good thing to think about because the different colors offer different antioxidants, different nutrients for us, and it looks pretty.

Melanie: One of my favorite things to do is to throw in a couple purple, I used to buy baby reds and now I try to get the ones, the little purple ones. And I love to do like, I don't know, two cups of steamed cauliflower and throw in like two of those purple potatoes. You know, the small purple potatoes and it makes purple “mashed potatoes”, but you know, it's mashed cauliflower. So it makes me feel happy. I've got color on my plate.

Britni: Yeah. Eating the purple.

Melanie: Yeah, eating the purple. But most people, they do kind of know about excess sugar causing inflammation in their bodies. They can feel it. And the other health issues, of course, that are connected are going to be diabetes. But I don't think people really connect that wrinkles really are affected by blood sugar and by what you're consuming.

And that might be a bigger incentive to get off the sugar train. This isn't about perfection, but it's about those patterns over time and what you're eating every day matters from the inside out and it will be reflected on the outside.

Britni: And you the same idea is going to apply to ultra processed foods, things like fast food, fried foods, packaged snack foods, heavily processed meats, frozen dinners. All of those are ultra processed foods and these foods are going to cause inflammation that will damage your skin. And not only that, when you eat a lot of these foods, you're usually crowding out the healthy foods that nourish your skin.

Melanie: That's a really good point. You're assaulting yourself. You know, it's a form of assault. And I've said it before, no food comes through a window because fast food is so highly ladened with chemicals. But what they're frying fast food in, they have that oil hot all day. You talk about an inflammatory oil. It's one of the worst things you can consume is food that comes through a window. If it has a window, it's not a place that you should be eating.

Alcohol is detrimental for the skin

We also have to mention alcohol. Alcohol dehydrates the skin. It causes skin and inflammation like redness and puffiness, wreaks havoc on your blood sugar, it interrupts sleep. All of that is damage to the body. Nobody wants to hear this, but you know, if people have ever had like two or three days of fun and they're cocktailing all weekend, wake up on Monday and assess your skin. I don't care how much they tell you that that wine has got resveratrol in it. It's more damage.

You know, it's risk-benefit analysis here. All of those factors age your skin. And you might notice if you have a glass of wine or a cocktail, your chest or your face might get red or hot. Your body is telling you, is communicating with you, that it doesn't like that. And that's because the alcohol widens the blood vessels and damages capillaries near the skin surface.

If you've ever had that uncle who's an alcoholic and his nose is red with broken capillaries, it's because this has happened over and over and over with steady consumption of alcohol. It could also be triggered by an immune or histamine response, but it's a dilator. It's a vasodilator.

So I think if you want to mocktail, we've got a lot of recipes on our website that you can mocktail up if you really want something creative or just put some club soda and lime in a glass. Keep it simple.

Hydration is important

Britni: We definitely need to talk about hydration because hydration is a very key factor for skin health. Skin cells need water. And the truth is many people are walking around just dehydrated all the time. Don't even know it. Don't even think about it. Two glasses of water a day is not going to cut it.

Melanie: What about if you count coffee and tea?

Britni: No, because caffeine is going to dehydrate you. So we need proper hydration for healthy skin texture, elasticity. You know, one of my clients recently, the action item she wanted to focus on until our next meeting was water intake. So she did that and she came back and she's like, my skin looks so much better. My lips aren't chapped. I don't have dry skin. It looks healthier. I mean, it seems so simple, but start with the basics. Make sure you're hydrated.

Melanie: To go a little deeper, when you hydrate, it allows the liver to clear toxins. You know, the liver is your toxin filter and your kidneys are your toxin filter. Well, they've got to get rid of some things. And if you don't have enough fluid, it becomes very difficult for the carrier of which is water to get rid of toxins through the liver and the kidneys. So your skin's going to reflect that.

Britni: Yeah. So simple ways, I think having a reusable water bottle that holds more than 10 or even 20 ounces can be helpful. Cause then it's, you don't have to fill it up as many times during the day. Figure out how many of those you need a day. We've talked about the rubber band trick where you put how many rubber bands on there. And as you finish a bottle, you take a rubber band off.

Melanie: Or roll it down so you don't lose your rubber bands. And all the rubber bands are at the bottom. You get to go to bed.

Britni: There you go. And make sure you wake up and you start with a glass of water.

Melanie: Oh my goodness, yes.

Britni: Spread this out throughout the day. You know, don't chug 30 ounces at the end of the night. ⁓

Melanie: That’s like a typhoon on a dry hill. Your body can absorb it all and it's just going to flush it out. But the more you sip, sip, sip all day, the more you can hydrate.

Limit caffeine intake

Britni: And then, you know, we kind of mentioned caffeine intake, one or two cups of coffee in the morning, that's fine for most people, but excess caffeine, that's really going to dehydrate the skin and increase stress on the body.

Melanie: Yeah, and I really want to circle back a little bit to what we were talking about. You know, your skin ages. So it's also aging on the inside, the skin that lines the gastrointestinal tract. As it ages and it gets thinner, it puts you at risk for diverticulosis. It puts you at risk for vaginal tissue breakdown, which can lead to chronic urinary tract infections. There are fixes for this. As estrogen drops, our skin gets thinner.

And so a lot of elderly are hospitalized or even have death because a urinary tract infection went undetected. So hydrate, hydrate, hydrate is really important. if you're struggling with chronic urinary tract infections or you're taking care of an elderly parent who has this, there are very easy natural fixes so that they don't have to be constantly placed on antibiotics, which then will affect the digestive health. So that's my little soapbox on that.

Britni: Yeah, yeah, and we have some previous episodes on UTIs to listen to. If you are caring for an elderly individual, discuss that with their provider and are there other options out there?

Example day of eating for healthy skin 

Melanie: Let's make this practical what a skin supportive day of eating might look like. Breakfast could be a couple eggs, some grass-fed butter. I always throw in about a half a cup of egg whites so that I'm getting more protein. You can sauté some greens or some peppers and onions and then have some berries on the side with that rich antioxidant color. You can stir in the Key Collagen in your coffee or your tea and lunch would be, I'm going to use my lunch today. I had wild caught salmon. You can even let it cool off and I love in the summer to do we have a salmon salad supreme on our website. It's delicious. So I will make that; use avocado mayo.

Chop some celery in there, serve it over salad greens. A snack could be a cup of Greek yogurt with some walnuts and blueberries. You can mix in your protein powder or collagen in there if you prefer. And then dinner could be simply baked chicken thighs, roasted vegetables. I love butternut or acorn squash as a part of that for the deep yellow.

Britni: You put that all on one sheet pan, keep it simple, bake it, air fry it.

Melanie: And do several of them so that you can then box them up with the vegetables and then your protein on the top, freeze it so that you can grab it when you've had a hairy day.

Britni: Anytime you're cooking in the kitchen, maximize that time. Make extra, prep something else. Whatever you can do, your kitchen's already dirty.

Melanie: Yes, and then like today, I'm going home. I have three dogs and I'm going home to a poop-tastrophe that I've got to clean the carpets and I don't want to be cooking. So I'm going to pull one of those meals, defrost it in the microwave to reheat it, and that's going to be dinner tonight while I address what the dogs left. I cleaned up the best I could on the way out the door, but we all have those days. And if you've got something prepped and ready in the freezer, wow, it's so much easier.

Britni: Or, you know, that is a time to quickly pull out a can of salmon or something for a super quick meal.

Melanie: That's a great idea. If you've got on hand a few things that you can throw together really quickly, you're not thinking, I'll just order a pizza.

Britni: Notice how all those foods that you described Melanie, those meals, they are normal, everyday foods that many people really enjoy. They're not expensive foods marketed as beauty foods or super foods that come in a fancy package.

Melanie: Yeah, please don't run out and buy like protein bars that say collagen. Real food that comes from nature, if you can name the plant you pluck it from or the mother it came from, it's a real food. If it comes from a factory, it's a Frankenfood. So eat real food.

Britni: Real food. It's as simple as that. And you know that the best diet for your skin at the end of it is about consistent nutrient dense foods that are coming from nature. And over time those patterns are going to matter. And like we talked about this is not going to happen overnight. But all of this is going to benefit your body over time.

Melanie: Yeah, you'll be aging backwards. This is, we're not turning a sports car here, we're turning a cruise ship. So it's going to take a little while, but you will reap the benefits. Don't give up.

Wrapping it up

So let's wrap up the big picture. If you want skin that stays strong and healthy as you age, you want to focus on quality animal proteins, colorful vegetables, low sugar fruits like berries that are brightly colored, healthy fats, especially omega-3s, hydration and blood sugar balance. And then remove the foods that are assaulting your skin.

Britni: Reduce that excess sugar, ultra-processed foods, reduce or eliminate alcohol, and remember your skin is a reflection of your overall health and the inside. So healthy aging isn't about chasing perfection. Your small daily habits, they really truly do add up over time. You know, maybe you just pick one of these things that we talked about today and focus on that and create that into a new habit.

Melanie: You know, as we're talking and you're listening, the very thing that pops into your head is the very thing you need to start with. It's almost always the thing you don't want to start with the most is the very thing that needs to be changed the biggest. So thank you so much for joining us today. We hope this gives you practical ideas. We hope it's encouraging and not defeating because nutrition makes a difference when it comes to healthy aging skin.

And remember, nourishing your skin starts with nourishing your whole body from the inside out. We think you deserve it and our goal at Nutritional Weight & Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. It's a simple yet powerful message. Thanks for listening to us and we hope you have a great day.

Britni: Thank you.