Super foods for super skin

I was once a carnivore. Growing up I used to eat meat, meat and more meat — pork, chicken or beef. I hardly ate fish and although vegetables were always on the table, I was not encouraged to “eat my veggies” as a kid. I didn’t like the sensation of fruits going down my throat, so I consumed fruit in its liquid form. Thank goodness for exercise. I was able to stave off the ill effects of unhealthy, unbalanced eating for a good number of years. If it weren’t for my husband, I probably would remain a carnivore to this day.

Twenty years ago, my husband Giorgio opened my eyes and my palate to a whole new way of preparing and eating certain types of food. He taught me how to eat vegetables that were not overcooked like grilled zucchini and eggplant; he introduced me to bruschetta (pronounced “brus-ketta,” not “bru-sheta”), fresh, raw tomatoes on garlic bread. He made me try salad that was not drowned in heavy, calorie-filled dressing. He let me taste pasta (al dente) with tomato sauce sans sugar or any sweetener (true Italian style) and pasta that did not swim in cream. He fine-tuned my taste buds to savor the unadulterated flavors of simply cooked fish and meat, with all their nutrients intact.

He pushed me to eat better and to eat well, constantly challenging and improving my palate to distinguish good and fresh food from all the rest; he told me to avoid microwaving food at all costs. Most of all he taught me the true value of eating properly and how food directly affected my body; he reminded me that “the body is a temple” and it needed to be cared for, especially with food.

Mind you, the process took time; the change came with numerous postponements, much resistance and letting go of long-held feel-good habits, but when I finally made the turnaround, I couldn’t have been happier and healthier.

When I turned 40 and realized I had to be even more pro-active with my general health, I upped the ante and got myself better suited up for the battle of aging. I got rid of most processed foods in my diet and consciously ate more vegetables and complex carbohydrates, taking in more calcium and vitamin C.

Thank goodness I had the drive and foresight to exercise in my teens and had a great daily skincare ritual from when I started modeling at 15, but now, more than ever, I cannot overemphasize the importance of food in keeping myself healthy, inside and out.

The Super Foods

We already know that anti-aging skincare and makeup help defy the signs of aging; we massage them on our skin and brush them carefully onto our faces, hoping that with regular application, all of their anti-aging ingredients will perform youthful wonders for our skin. But there is one thing that trumps both skincare and makeup in giving us younger-looking skin and that is food, specifically super foods. These foods, combined with a great anti-aging skincare regimen, will help us achieve more youthful, natural and healthy skin.

And which foods are these? Let’s take a look:

• Fish. Like tuna, salmon, sardines and trout contain abundant amounts of omega-3 fat EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid); countless studies have shown that EPA preserves collagen in the dermis, an element that provides elasticity and suppleness to the skin. Since collagen depletion naturally begins for women at age 30, it is particularly vital for women our age to make an effort to eat more fish (not fried, please!).

• Tomatoes are a great source of lycopene, a carotenoid that helps keep the skin smooth. In a study published by the European Journal of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics in 2008, subjects who were given a higher concentration of lycopene were found to have much smoother skin. Since tomatoes are readily available and inexpensive, let’s load up on lycopene and if you want to get it from other foods, try watermelon and carrots as alternatives.

• Tofu and other soy foods like edamame and soymilk have soflavones, a component that helps prevent collagen breakdown. Tofu is best eaten in its simplest form, so find recipes that will preserve its flavor and nutrients. As for edamame, just boil it in salted water for a few minutes and you’ve got the perfect snack or appetizer. Edamame is available in Japanese grocery stores here.

• Olive oil. It not only lowers the rate of heart disease and cancer-related diseases but also acts as a cleansing agent because of its polyphenols, a powerful antioxidant.

Regular olive oil is best used for cooking and extra-virgin oil is most suitable when mixed with salads or drizzled on top of cooked dishes. People make the mistake of using extra-virgin olive oil for sautéing or cooking, thinking that it is healthier, but what we don’t realize is we kill all the nutrients of the extra-virgin oil when we subject it to heat and the cooking process.

• Nuts have been known to add two and a half years of life to any person who eats them regularly. A rich source of unsaturated fats, nuts offer benefits that are similar to those of olive oil; they are also a concentrated source of vitamins and minerals and other phyto-chemicals, including antioxidants that help purify the skin.

Consume nuts either in blanched, roasted or raw form; avoid those that have been flavored with sugar or have a very high salt content. If you mix them with dried cranberries, raisins or other fruits, they are a convenient, yummy and nutritious way to snack.

• Yogurt. Teeming with good bacteria, yogurt helps stave off incidences of age-related intestinal illness; its high calcium content helps promote strong, healthy bones, which in turn prevents osteoporosis.

Yogurt has become a craze lately, with frozen yogurt shops popping up everywhere in Metro Manila. Now, there’s no excuse for not taking your dose of calcium by way of yogurt; just watch out for the sweetened ones or those that are topped with candy sprinkles and other sugary stuff because this will defeat the primary purpose for eating yogurt.

• Wine. We all know that drinking wine in moderation protects against cardiovascular disease, diabetes and age-related memory loss. Red wine, in particular, has been the subject of extensive medical research for its resveratrol, a compound that likely activates the human genes that slow cellular aging.

When drinking wine, make sure you store the bottles properly before and after purchase or once they have been opened. You will only be able to preserve the resveratrol in the wine with proper handling and storage.

• Blueberries. Like wine, blueberries and other dark-colored berries have similar compounds that are associated with the slowing or postponement of age-related memory deficiency and motor function.

Since blueberries are imported, you can buy fresh or frozen ones from specialty stores like Santi’s Delicatessen; if you prefer them as jam on your whole-wheat toast for breakfast, you can purchase the jam at any major supermarket.

• Strawberries are rich in vitamin C, which is essential for collagen synthesis and production; it has skin-smoothing abilities that help ward off wrinkles and age-related dryness. Strawberries also protect from the harm of ultraviolet rays because they mop up the free radicals from these rays; many cosmetic companies these days sell vitamin C-infused makeup products.

• Broccoli, papaya, oranges and red bell peppers are other foods loaded with vitamin C and have antioxidant properties that protect against facial lines and old-looking skin.

Crunch Time

We pretty much got away with a lot of things when we were young; we used our youth as an excuse to party hard, thinking “you only live once.” We abused our bodies, presuming our youth would allow us to recover fully, no harm done. We ate junk and fast food, believing that our fast metabolisms would save us from weight gain; we soaked up the sun and all its harmful ultraviolet rays, not once stopping to consider the consequences of a perfect tan.

Today, we still take a lot of things for granted and that includes our eating habits; for some, the epiphany that leads to consuming healthier food comes early enough but for others the moment coincides with the appearance of cellulite on the legs, wrinkles on the face and age spots on the skin. Of course, we can spend money on beauty treatments, undergo procedures for a nip here and a tuck there, but nothing beats the natural and safe way to beautiful and younger-looking skin. So let’s start reversing the harmful effects of our old ways and start eating super foods right now. To all those who’ve already got them in their diets, bravo and carry on!