Does eating and drinking the right stuff make a difference to your skin

[buttercrumble]

So ive just turned 39 and have noticed the skin on my face looking really haggered and tired.would drinking lots of water and eating loads of fruit, veg and other healthy stuff really make that much of a difference. Or is it the genes we have been blessed with, that detemines how we look and age.

I drink huge amounts of water (because I like it rather than any other reason) and have done for years, and I think my skin is doing pretty well for my 37 years. I have a pretty good diet too (lean protein, fruit and veg, etc) but that is for ttc and health reasons rather than looks, but it probably contributes.

I think smoking and drinking definitely makes a difference but what you eat less so - unless you live off junk.

My crap skin is hormonal.

i have a crappola diet yet my skin is perfect

that sounded big headed i mean i don't get spots/blemishes

the only time i recently got a huge spot was after using liz earle overpriced moisturiser

My diet is also rubbish and skin is good

No. It's genes.

I will never know.

For me it made a massive difference when I did low carb. My skin was truly amazing within about 2 weeks. Normally i have massive pores and generally a dull complexion, but it went baby soft. It may have been all the water I was drinking, but I think cutting out sugar was the main difference. My skin's been awful since ds was born 10 months ago, have had massive hormonal breakouts 2 weeks before each AF, which I've never had before. Big hard horrid red spots :(

I think it's genes but sleep and exercise can help.
( looks at insomniac haggard reflection)

It's interesting about genes though. I'm a lifelong insomniac, I hardly ever sleep. But noone, not even health professionals it seems, believes the severity of the problem since I'm constantly told I don't look tired. I don't have great skin but I do look younger than I am- I think that's down to bone structure

Yes I think that bone structure true helps a lot as well.

When I make a conscious effort to eat more coloured fruit and veg (beetroot, leafy greens, peppers, blueberries) and good fats (salmon, mackerel) and drink loads of water and cut out processed grains, my skin is about 1,000,000 times better.

MNO44 , I will come across as really dumb but the low carb option sound pretty good. Did you cut out all carbs or just eat a small amount, and did you follow a certain plan or just do it yourself....

I've never noticed a difference in my skin related to my diet. Probably because I've never given up alcohol or sugar for long enough but I've definitely noticed in the past year that there are hormonal changes with blackheads and premenstrual spots (I'm 39). Other than that it looks pretty much ok for my age I hope!

I followed the Idiot Proof Diet. I think it's officially low carb rather than no carb. It works. I went on it because after my second dc I had a lot of weight to lose and just couldn't shift it. I put it down to breastfeeding making me hang onto the weight, but by the time I started it, ds1 was 18 months old and I was 14 and a half stone. I did the diet and lost 5 stone in about 8 months. A great side effect was better skin. It was far more than a diet actually, completely changed my approach to food. With both previous pregnancies I put on about 4 stone, lost it all both times, but with a struggle. My third pregnancy, about 2 years after I lost all the weight, I put on less than 2 stone, doing nothing differently. It's a way of eating that works, and I can get quite preachy about it . ds2 is 10 months old now and I'm back at prepregnancy weight, and have been for about 3 months, without even trying. But yes, it's slipped. I'm knackered and when I'm tired, I reach for crap to eat, whcih of late has been sandwiches. When I don't eat bread, I really don't miss it. But once I have it, I crave it, and it's so difficult to stop. I'm about to get back on the wagon actually, not to lose weight, but to clear my skin. One last sandwich tonight...

I've never heard of the idiot proof diet - sounds good!

I think if you have crap skin to start with, changing your diet can make a big difference. When I give up sugar, it makes a massive difference to how oily my skin is, and how many blackheads and spots I have. You literally are what you eat, of course it makes a difference.

I generally do have lovely skin (genes) but hitting 40 has changed that a little bit! I think it's hormonal.

Cutting out caffeine helps my skin, definitely. But my diet in general is fairly veg-heavy and I drink lots of water - also I don't eat processed meat. A daily coffee and often a sweet treat is where I fall down. But my God some people I know eat disgusting shit all day every day and have luminous fairy skin.

From a Dorothy Parker short story:

"They had lunched, as was their wont, on sugars, starches, oils and butter-fats. Usually they ate sandwiches of spongy new white bread greased with butter and mayonnaise; they ate thick wedges of cake lying wet beneath ice cream and whipped cream and and melted chocolate gritty with nuts. As alternates, they ate patties, sweating beads of inferior oil, containing bits of bland meat bogged in pale, stiffening sauce; they ate pastries, limber under rigid icing, filled with an indeterminate yellow sweet stuff, not still solid, not yet liquid, like salve that has been left in the sun. They chose no other sort of food, nor did they consider it. And their skin was like the petals of wood anenomes, and their bellies were as flat and their flanks as lean as those of young Indian braves."

Peggy - LOVE IT!

Surely the first Dorothy Parker reference on S&B?

(Although, I wouldn't be surprised...)

Hello curtsey! Glad you love it! Dorothy Parker was uber stylish I believe... Anyway I have always taken that quote to mean that I needn't fuss too much about my skin because if it was going to be gorgeous (which it isn't) then it would be gorgeous no matter what. Bring on the salve doughnuts !

For me, sugar gives me huge pores and terrible sore spots and breakouts. When I cut it out or decrease the amount of it, my skin looks amazing. When I drink lots of water and eat my 5 a day, my skin tone changes and I get naturally rosy cheeks and a lovely complexion. I even use my skin as a guide for how well or badly I have been eating.

Cutting out sugar and white carbs definitely, definitely helps if you are prone to hormonal skin troubles. Some people notice a difference when they eliminate dairy too. Green veg, gallons of water, green tea, sweet potatoes, antioxidant heavy foods (blueberries, pomegranate, very dark chocolate), unrefined grains (brown rice, oats) and healthy fats (salmon, trout, nuts...particulary walnuts and Brazils) are all supposed to have skin benefits.

Thanks eveybody loads of great tips, my diet is pretty sugar laden and i dont drink enough water, a friend also mentioned watercress is a great skin booster. Off to sainsburys first think tommorrow, and hopefully in a few weeks some nice results