The key to ageing gracefully
THE key to ageing gracefully is simple – eat healthily. So make changes in your diet instead of going for botox for wrinkle treatment, say experts.
Tanu Arora, the head of the Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics at the Aakash Healthcare Super Speciality Hospital, and Zodi, a senior dietitian at the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, have a few suggestions:
■ Include certain foods which are rich in vitamins like riboflavin, niacin and cyanocobalamin. Exclude poor quality food which causes inflammation and ultimately affects the skin.
■ Hydrate the body, to remove the toxins.
■ Skin collagen gets damaged when there is a high consumption of sugar and processed carbohydrates, while foods like fruit and vegetables are good for the skin.
■ Deep fried food can add to inflammation. On the other hand, vegetables, fruit, whole grains, low fat dairy and lean protein can help fight inflammation.
■ Lettuce, broccoli, spinach, tomato, watermelon, grapefruit, guava, salmon, chickpea, oat meal and brown rice help in curbing inflammation.
■ A long way to preventing wrinkles is to eat food items like carrots that are loaded with vitamins.
■ Almonds and walnuts are rich in Vitamin E and help to fight skin problems.
■ Green tea has powerful anti-oxidants to protect skin from damage.
■ Yoghurt has probiotics that nourish skin from inside and outside.
■ Honey is hygroscopic in nature.
■ All berries are healthy anti-oxidants. They kill radicals that are in bodies, damaging DNA and cells and causing premature ageing. Berries can fight damages caused by environmental pollutants and toxins.
■ Alcohol should be avoided as it creates free radicals which damage cells and accelerates ageing.