Does this sound familiar? If so, I have good news: There are effective ways to prevent new wrinkles and even reduce existing ones. The first step is to eat a healthy diet that’s rich in vegetables, high-quality protein and healthy fats that nourish your skin from the inside out. Next, try these simple and surprisingly effective tricks.
1. Drink bone broth.
I’m a fanatic about bone broth. And you should be, too! It's loaded with amino acids, which are the building blocks of collagen. I call this wonderful broth “liquid Botox,” and I encourage my patients to drink it every day.
To make your own bone broth, simply simmer meat or poultry bones (preferably from pastured animals) along with onions, celery and other seasonings, for hours and hours until the bones actually start to dissolve. This releases the deep nutrition that helps de-age your skin. You can drink the broth straight or use it in soups and stews.
2. Stand on your head.
This is a tip I got from my friend Kathy Smith, who’s a world-famous fitness expert. If you stand on your head for a few minutes every day, you’ll dramatically increase the circulation to your face, bathing your skin in nutrients and getting rid of toxins that can make you wrinkly. If standing on your head is too hard, here’s an alternative: Just lie on your bed with your head hanging over the edge.
3. Eat blueberries.
Blueberries contain chemicals called anthocyanins, which help protect your skin against sun damage. Every time you eat a handful, it’s like giving your skin a mini-dose of sunscreen!
4. Get a little sunshine.
I’m all for protecting your skin from the aging effects of the sun, but there’s such a thing as going too far. Here’s the deal: Giving your skin a little dose of the sun’s rays each day can actually keep it younger. That’s because you’ll soak up some vitamin D, and this vitamin helps keep your skin healthy. (You can take vitamin D supplements, but getting your “dose of D” the natural way is better.)
So slather on the sunscreen if you’re going to be outside for a long stretch, but otherwise go “bare.” Fifteen minutes in the sun is enough to boost your vitamin D levels.
5. Get in the coconut habit.
Coconut is filled with lauric acid and other nutrients that soften and de-age your skin. So cook with coconut oil, snack on coconut chips, use coconut milk in your coffee and rub virgin coconut oil all over your skin.
6. Use mineral salt, not regular table salt.
Table salt draws water out of your cells, making them flabby and promoting wrinkles. The minerals in sea salt and mineral salt, on the other hand, help draw water into your skin cells, plumping them and erasing fine lines.
7. Lower your stress levels.
Research shows that chronic stress weakens the integrity of your skin’s collagen, making it saggy and wrinkly. What’s more, that sad or angry expression you get on your face when you’re stressed leads to “frowny” wrinkles. To help reduce your stress, exercise and meditate regularly. No matter how busy you are, try to schedule some “you” time, even if it’s as simple as going for a walk or reading a good book.
It took time for your skin to develop wrinkles, and it’ll take some time to start reducing those wrinkles ... but maybe not as much time as you think.
If you follow these seven anti-wrinkle steps — along with eating that healthy diet I talked about earlier — your skin will start to get its glow back. I predict that after about three weeks, you’ll experience another memorable moment in your life: that moment when you look in the mirror and realize that a wrinkle that was driving you crazy is gone!
By Dr. Kellyann Petrucci | Mind Body Green
