Part 6 Q: What kinds of foods should we be eating to help combat the process from the inside out?

 Your diet should include fruits that are high in antioxidants. Goji berries are very high in antioxidants, and so is star fruit. But the food with the highest antioxidant value of any food that we know of is actually the Kakadu plum, although it’s unfortunately not readily available.

Like your mum always said, you need to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables as they not only contain antioxidants but a whole lot of other vitamins and minerals that are all important for the little micro-metabolisms that occur in the skin and throughout the body to keep it youthful. It’s best to eat them when they’re fresh and whole.

Once they start being processed or overcooked, they lose their nutritional value. Vegetables that have been picked too early and ripen during transport are not nearly as good as ones that are grown and taken straight to the farmers markets. When cooking your vegetables, it’s best to steam or blanch them. The minerals don’t matter as much as they don’t get lost during the cooking process. Fruit is great because they’re not only rich in both vitamins and minerals that we need for our metabolic processes but they are generally eaten raw.

You also need protein to keep repairing your collagen and other body tissues, because even if your skin is looking good the muscle beneath the skin will start to deflate and your face will sag and appear aged. You also need good fats to keep your body producing the hormones that nourish the skin and send the signals to the rest of your body to repair damage.