Your diet doesn’t just affect your waistline, ladies – it can have an impact on your face, too. As if a muffin top wasn’t enough to worry about, now what we eat and drink could be leading to enlarged pores, dark circles and duh, duh, duuuuh…wrinkles.
According to naturopath doctor and skincare expert Dr Nigma Talib, who treats everyone from Sienna Miller to Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, there are key facial signs that reveal outwardly what we’ve been eating and drinking.
Check the symptoms below and see what is ageing your skin.
The symptoms: Patches of pigmentation around the chin and bloated red cheeks
You could have an intolerance to gluten, which can disrupt hormone levels and cause dark spots on the chin area. Cutting out gluten could help ease symptoms of Rosacea and reduce puffiness.
The symptoms: Puffy eyelids, under-eye bags and little white spots, particularly on the chin
Dairy products, from milk and yoghurt, to cheese and cream, is full of hormones, which can end up stimulating excess skin cells that block our pores and cause white bumps.
The symptoms: Red cheeks, enlarged pores, dehydration lines across the cheeks, deep laughter lines and creases between the brows
For those G&T-drinkers feeling smug right now, these ageing symptoms can be caused by any kind of alcohol. Alcohol dehydrates the body, which makes lines look worse, and because of the high sugar content, it can damage collagen and cause sagging eyelids and open pores. Dr Talib recommends cutting it out for three weeks to rebalance the gut then follow the 80/20 rule – abstain for 80 per cent of the time, but enjoy an odd glass in the other 20 per cent.
The symptoms: Creases across the forehead, painful-looking spots all over the faces and a dull, grey hue to the skin
High sugar foods and refined carbs (read: cakes, white rice and pastries) are bad news for your face. It makes our skin sag and thin, it can make the face look gaunt and because it has such a negative impact on the gut it can trigger acne on the face, shoulders and chest. Worse still, it could even thin your eyebrows with age!
Dr Talib’s ‘Reverse The Signs of Ageing: The Revolutionary Inside-Out Plan To Glowing’ is out now
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