Clean Foods by Rebecca

Eighty percent of how we age is based on how we are living our lives – so let’s dig in and learn the tricks! Dr. Anthony Youn is a highly successful holistic plastic surgeon who has shared a root cause approach in improving your skin health as you age. According to Dr. Youn, there are five main causes of aging – nutrient depletion, collagen degradation, oxidation (free radicals), chronic inflammation and a build up of cellular waste. Now let’s tackle each of these causes.

All of these causes are primarily due to your diet. Dietary changes such as eating colorful vegetables and fruits, fermented foods, high-quality meat and avoiding ultra-processed or fried foods can do wonders for the skin. Dr. Youn recommends a few essential supplements in addition to a clean diet – a daily vitamin, omega-3, hydrolyzed collagen, probiotic and an antioxidant supplement. I love Cod Liver Oil for your omega-3 supplement, and as far as the antioxidant supplementation, I drink Pique Sun Goddess Matcha green tea every afternoon. Omega-3’s will help reduce inflammation, improve aging and help with chronic inflammation. Avoiding added sugars will also drastically improve your body’s ability to age well.

Slowing your body’s natural collagen degradation includes adding in more protein, which will help collagen production, and taking a good quality hydrolyzed collagen supplement, which many recent studies have shown to be effective.

Intermittent fasting is also an important tool in looking your best. Not only does fasting help with blood sugar imbalances, gut health, fat loss resistance and inflammation, but it is also a powerful anti-aging hack. Fasting for 16 hours will put your body in an autophagy process, which is where your body begins to process, recycle and destroy damaged cells and proteins. Autophagy is an important clean up process that allows your body to make room for healthy new cells. Stimulating the autophagy process is especially important as we age due to our decreased ability to clean out, therefore causing build up and disease. I will discuss fasting more in-depth later, but for now try out a simple 12 hour fast and see how you feel after a couple weeks. Remember to break your fast with a meal that is high in fat and protein and low in carbohydrates.

In addition to what and when we eat, we can also help ourselves age gracefully with a good skincare routine and noninvasive treatments. Dr. Youn recommends using the appropriate cleanser (foamy for oily skin, creamy for dry skin) every morning and night. In the morning, follow up your cleansing with a vitamin C serum and an SPF30 non-nano zinc sunscreen. He also recommends a nightly retinol cream, which he feels is safe for most people, as well as an AHA exfoliation scrub 1-2x per week. If you are looking for even more youth regeneration, there are also highly beneficial noninvasive treatments such as red light therapy and microneedling. Red light therapy works by strengthening the mitochondria of the cell, which produces more ATP and results in more collagen, elastin and youthful looking skin. Microneedling is done in the office and improves acne, scars, dark spots, wrinkles, and large pores. The practitioner uses small needles to prick the skin and create more collagen through the body’s healing process. There are many more safe and effective treatments that work well without having to inject fillers and other potentially harmful substances in the body, so please do your research and find the right practitioner for you.