5 Anti-Aging Skincare Tips and Secrets

Anti-Aging Skin Care Tip #1: Stop Using Conventional Skin Care Products

Most people know how medicines can be delivered with a patch on your skin, so think about what that means: Your skin absorbs things you put on it. So it's very important to use natural and organic skincare products instead of conventional skin care, which contain many toxins that can actually age your skin over time!

Did you know that the cosmetic and skin care industry is not very highly regulated? Many ingredients used have not been proven safe or effective for long-term use. In fact, most skin care products on the market today contain chemicals that can have an adverse impact on your health, but guess what else??? Yes, they can actually make your skin look older with time. It has been estimated that around 5 pounds of chemicals are absorbed by the average woman over the course of a year just by the skin care and cosmetics she uses!

Anti-Aging Skin Care Tip #2: Use Natural and Organic Skin Care

That sounds easy, but what exactly is natural skin care? You need to watch out, because many companies add small amounts of natural ingredients, like vitamin C, so they can call their products "natural," but their products still contain many toxins. There are NO government standards concerning the claim of "natural" for skin care or cosmetics.

Natural ingredients means things like coconut, jojoba or olive oil; seaweed and algae extracts; vitamin C, vitamin E, butters like shea butter and cocoa butter, green tea and more. If you recognize the ingredient as something you would eat, you're probably on the right track. Ingredients to avoid include synthetic ingredients like mineral oil, synthetic preservatives like parabens and synthetic fragrances.

While organic skin care should be more pure, and we highly recommend looking for a brand that incorporates organic ingredients, we do realize that some ingredients are hard to find organic. The number one thing to look for is natural ingredients, and if you find organic ingredients as well, that is a big plus!

For highly recommended brands, follow the links in our resource box.

Anti-Aging Skin Care Tip #3: Include Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Your Diet

Omega-3s are anti-inflammatory, and can help your skin stay younger looking. They are found mostly in fatty fish and marines oils like fish oil, cod liver oil and greenlip mussel oil. Many health care practitioners who used to recommend fish like salmon in your diet every week are now concerned about the high levels of mercury and PCBs found in fish today. If you are too, try eating pastured eggs, and including flax seed and walnuts in your diet.

However, this may not be enough, as many people today cannot make an efficient conversion of plant-based omega-3s to the omega 3 form that your body needs. So, many people feel they have benefited from a high quality fish oil, cod liver oil or greenlip mussel oil supplement.

Also important is to avoid vegetable oils, believe it or not, as they can age your skin faster. This is probably because they are less stable, and often contain free radical-producing substances, even before you cook with them. Try using coconut oil for cooking.

Anti-Aging Skin Care Tip #4: Make Sure and Eat a Diet High in Antioxidants

Antioxidants help to quench free radicals, and this can keep your skin looking younger! In fact, they can help as much or maybe more than using a good skin care product! Antioxidants are found in many foods, especially fruits and vegetables, and are especially high in many berries. B Complex and E complex vitamins are also great antioxidants, found in abundance in whole grains and nuts and seeds. Some great foods for your skin include berries as well as avocados and leafy greens. Organic food often contains higher levels of antioxidants, and so does food that is fresh from the farm, so try to eat organic from the farm or your garden as much as you can!

If you don't think you get enough antioxidants in your diet, or want to supplement to add more of them to your diet, we highly recommend food-based supplements like dried greens and fruit and berry mixes. Just make sure they take care when they dry them - using low temperatures to preserve the nutrients.

Anti-Aging Skin Care Tip #5: Whey Protein Helps Boost the Master Antioxidant Glutathione

Glutathione helps the body reuse other antioxidants, and has been called the "master antioxidant" by many. Glutathione is produced by the body, but as we age, most of us produce less and less glutathione. This seems to speed up the aging process, as we have more difficulty quenching free radicals. These free radicals age your skin as well as your body, and contribute to many diseases, including cancer and heart disease.

We need amino acids to produce glutathione, especially one called cysteine. This is where whey protein comes in, as a high quality whey has a lot of cysteine, and can help the body produce more glutathione. Whey protein can be found in dairy products like milk, yogurt and ricotta cheese, but many decide to supplement with a whey protein powder. We highly recommend finding one made from cows out on pasture where they use a low temperature process that does not denature the whey. If you denature the whey, you destroy cysteine and other amino acids, which makes them unavailable to your body as well as toxic!

So, in conclusion, if you want to slow down aging and especially the visible effects on your skin here are some tips:

• Stop using conventional, toxic skin care products
• Seek out high quality natural and organic skin care products
• Make sure you are getting enough Omega-3 fatty acids in your diet
• Add more antioxidants and antioxidant-rich foods to your diet, like berries
• Eat a high quality whey protein to boost glutathione, the "master antioxidant"

And these changes will make you healthier as well as help to keep your skin looking younger!

Karen Pijuan is the owner of several health-related websites and has written numerous articles about nutrition, vitamins, healthy living, whole food supplements, natural body care and cleaning products, natural weight loss and more. Find out more about natural skin care at EcoViva's Natural Skincare Page.

For resources directly relating to this article, try this Anti-Aging Resource Page.

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