50Plus : Health : 10 foods that can make you look (and feel) old

You probably already know that eating certain foods (and avoiding others) can make you feel better, but did you know that foods can actually make you look better?

Sugar
The trouble with sugar is that it?s everywhere ? it?s in ketchup, soft drinks (even those labeled ?green tea?), cereals, sweets, and salad dressings. It?s easy to consumer too much sugar and too much sugar can make you look old. Sugar in the blood can combine with proteins, such as found in the skin?s collagen, and make your normally supple skin more fragile and brittle. Too much sugar can make you fat (not your best look) and contributes to inflammation, which makes your joints ache. Overdoing sugar can also give you a headache which makes those nasty lines in your forehead even more prominent.

Processed foods
Processed foods contribute to free radicals in the body. A free radical is basically an unstable rogue oxygen molecule that tries to stabilize itself by glomming onto another stable, healthy molecule. The trouble is, the free radical winds up destroying the once-healthy molecule in the process. Free radicals are a major source of aging. Your body naturally has free radicals and naturally can defend itself ? but if you tip the balance in favor of these little monsters, your face and body will start showing the wear and tear. Processed foods include meats and cheeses and anything with a long list of chemical ingredients.

Salt
A little salt is not bad?in fact, it is necessary for good health. But most of us get so much sodium in our diet that we need not fear salt deprivation; instead, we should cut back. Salt can cause fluid retention (thick ankles, swollen fingers), contributes to kidney disease and high blood pressure, and can interfere with bone metabolism. None of these things help you look fit and vibrant.

Coffee
This is another food with a disclaimer. A little coffee is fine. But if you?re a coffee fiend, you should know that coffee can contribute to an old-before-your-time face. Coffee is dehydrating and a lack of water shows up in your skin. Dehydration not only has health consequences, it shows up in cracked, lined, and wrinkled skin. Drink at most one or two cups of coffee a day and make sure you offset the dehydration factor with an extra eight ounces of water for each cup of coffee you drink.

Trans fats
Processed foods, particularly cakes, breads, crackers, chips, and cereals may contain some fat and manufacturers a long time ago found that if they used a very stabilized form of fat, the food would not spoil and have a long shelf life. Any food with a long shelf life is probably not good for you. If you see the word ?hydrogenated? on a label, think, ?Do I really want to be fat and old and sick before my time?? Hydrogenated oils and trans fats produce lots of free radicals (see #2).

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Source: http://www.50plus.com/health/anti-aging-foods/180989/

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