If you have made it this far into January and stuck to your resolution…well done! The most well-known promise to ourselves is to eat well, but with the hectic legal lifestyle, that can be hard. With our new year’s resolutions sinking in, we have decided to gain some expert knowledge into how our lifestyle can affect our wellbeing, and our wellbeing often shows: when we feel good, we look good, but with the stressful nature of the legal world, this can be tough to achieve.
Below, Amy Morris, a naturopathic nutritionist, speaks about simple ways we can feel better and look better, so we feel less groggy and sluggish for those all-important meetings.
Wishing to age well is among the most natural desires we have. But with the global anti-ageing market set to hit £164 billion in 2021, you must wonder why more people don’t investigate dietary interventions before shelling out on pricey moisturisers, peels and treatments.
Photographic Proof Sugar Makes You Look Older
Let’s start with the foods you should steer clear of, or at least consume sparingly. The most obvious one, right out the gate, is sugar. It’s deleterious effect on teeth aside, sugar degrades collagen and elastin, key proteins which support the skin’s structure. Over time, this can give rise to damaged-looking skin and wrinkles.
Two years ago, one study assessed the effects of diet on signs of visible ageing. Photographs of 100 men and women were shown to a panel of 190 people tasked with estimating the age of the participants. The subjects with the lowest intake of sugar were guessed to be five years younger than their actual age.
Remove Pro-Inflammatory Foods to Age Gracefully
Needless to say, pro-inflammatory foods are also worth binning. Not only do they fail to supply the nutrients your skin covets, but they are one of the major factors driving ageing both internally and externally. The worst culprits include processed oils such as canola, safflower, sunflower and vegetable oil. Packed with polyunsaturated fatty acids which are unstable, quick to oxidise and thus the perfect trigger for cell damage, refined oils should be replaced with healthy alternatives such as extra-virgin olive oil, coconut oil (which can also be used as a natural moisturiser) and MCT oil (1).
Oh, and before we move on to foods which are beneficial for ageing, you should endeavour to limit your consumption of gluten! More famous for causing leaky gut, gluten can also cause pimples, pigmentation and dark patches/puffiness of the skin – an outcome commonly known as Gluten Face. Natural aesthetician Dr. Nigma Talib, whose clients include Penelope Cruz and Rosie Huntington-Whitely, is a frequent critic of gluten as it pertains to skin glow.
Choose a Nutritarian Lifestyle, Not a Diet
Obsessive dieting invariably triggers a regressive loop and a return to the starting line. Instead of following fads, aim to get most of your food from natural sources and nourish the body inside and out.
That means fresh fruit and vegetables, fertile sources of the vitamins and minerals which help maintain youthful skin, healthy hair pigmentation and prevent worsening eyesight. Your 5-a-day (or 10-a-day) are also chock full of antioxidants, crucial for counteracting the damage wreaked by oxidative stress, a major player in the ageing process.
Don’t neglect fats either – particularly the healthy kind found in fish, nuts and seeds. Omega-3s EPA and DHA entail an array of benefits, most notably for brain health, heart health and vision. They are the main reason we’re advised to eat two portions of oily fish every week. If you can’t manage that, fish oil supplements are just as beneficial. WHC’s Active Mind + Vision Complex (2) is one such example: formulated for those wishing to maintain sharp cognitive performance and clear vision, it integrates high levels of EPA and DHA with B-vitamins known to protect against age-related brain wasting.
Pursuing a healthy lifestyle is so much easier than diligently abiding by the strict guidelines of a fad diet. By evading inflammation and oxidative stress, and ensuring plenty of omega-3s, vitamin D and antioxidants, we’ll support higher energy levels, improved mental strength, tougher bones and, yes, clearer skin. It’s about nutrients working in combination rather than the quick fix of an anti-ageing formula – many of which contain ingredients that are beyond dubious for such a purpose!
Slow the Hands of Time with Supplement Intervention
If it all sounds like too much hard work, there are a few fine food supplements which give good amounts of nutrients the body requires on a daily basis. Vibrant Health’s Maximum Vibrance is a great all-rounder, a wholesome combination of concentrated fruit, vegetables, algae and cereal grasses. Part alkalising greens powder, part protein/probiotic supplement, it’s packed with dense nutrition – vitamins, enzymes, flavonoids and bioactive plant substances. In fact, a single serving yields over 100% of your daily vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D3, vitamin E, vitamins B1/2/6/12 and selenium. 20g of clean plant protein – required for muscle maintenance and bone strength – is also supplied.
Whether through food, supplements or both, it’s possible to slow the hands of time – at least for a while. A sure step towards a healthier, younger-looking you is to eat right, hydrate properly and make exercise a staple of your routine. You’ll never look back.
1 https://www.water-for-health.co.uk/mct-oil.html
2 https://www.water-for-health.co.uk/unocardio-active-mind-vision-complex.html
3 https://www.water-for-health.co.uk/maximum-vibrance.html
