Dieting

The Right Diet for Beautiful Skin

If you're a veteran dieter, you may already know that gaining and losing the same 10, 20 or more pounds are hard on your wardrobe budget—and on your general health. Some studies have found that dieting—or weight cycling, as doctors call it—may be worse than not shedding the extra pounds at all. No less harmful is so-called crash dieting: While on these starvation diets, people often consume 1,000 calories a day or less.

But what you may not know is that weight cycling and crash diets can be murder on skin. Gaining and losing weight over and over can cost skin its youthful firmness and elasticity. And crash diets can turn skin rough, dry and lifeless after only a few days.

The most expensive moisturizers and makeup in the world won't do a bit of good if weight cycling has left skin less tighter than it should be if a starvation diet has depleted skin of the vitamins and minerals it needs to repair itself. But you can peel away the pounds without damaging your skin. Here's how.

Can Your Skin Make a Snappy Comeback?

No one's actually studied the effects of yo-yo dieting on skin. But generally speaking, the more body weight fluctuates, the harder it is for skin to snap back into place when the pounds come off. . Weight cycling leads to wear and tear on collagen, the substance that helps keep skin firm and tight. We have a fixed number of fat cells, which are situated under the top layer of skin. When you gain weight, these cells enlarge and stretch the skin. When you shed the pounds again, the fat cells shrink. So does your skin—hopefully.

But suppose you keep gaining and losing weight over the years. With each weight gain, the fat cells enlarge and press up against the collagen fibers, which give skin its structural support. These fibers can eventually wear out, leaving skin unable to snap back. Skin is like a balloon. If you keep blowing it up and letting out the air, you're eventually going to weaken it."

The yo-yo syndrome can affect skin anywhere on the body, including the hips, breasts and buttocks. It also contributes to formation of cellulite. But you're most likely to notice loose, sagging skin on your face and neck. Also, gaining weight rapidly during the up phase of weight cycling can damage your skin's supply of collagen. The result is the dreaded stretch marks.

The Not-So-Great Crash

While weight cycling can cost skin its firmness, crash diets can literally starve skin. When you crash diet, you're depriving your skin, hair and nails of the nutrients they need to live. Crash diets can also strip skin of vitamin C, which helps form collagen, and vitamin E.

Not surprisingly, crash diets tend to make skin look lousy. Cell turnover decreases, so skin begins to get coarse and dry. It won't retain moisture as well because skin cells will be less plump and less healthy. Skin may even begin to form fine lines because it can't save water, as it should. The emotional tension that often accompanies deprivation diets can cause skin to flare, too. The stress of struggling through a crash diet is likely to aggravate skin conditions known to be affected by stresses like acne, eczema and psoriasis.

Almost D-Day? Safeguard Your Skin

To benefit your health and your skin, you need to avoid unhealthy weight-loss traps like weight cycling and crash diets and adopt healthier eating habits. The biggest mistake dieters make is paying too little attention to their eating and exercise habits most of the time and then making too many radical CHANGES at once when they get fed up with their weight
The key, then, is to make such changes gradually. The following Three-point plan is not a diet. (Consult your doctor before you begin any weight-loss diet.) But it may help you diet more healthfully—a change that could be reflected in the quality of your skin.

• Plan every meal. Design your own eating schedule. Eat anything you like but stay within your schedule. This tactic can help you set food limits even before you cut back on calories.
• Get moving. People who stick to a regular exercise program have the best chance of keeping the pounds off permanently which would end the yo-yo syndrome for good.
• Lose the fat and load up on carbohydrates. The American Heart association recommends keeping fat intake to less than 30 percent of calories. Eat more grains, whole-grain bread, potatoes and you won't have much left for fat. You can cut even more fat, she suggests, by switching from whole to 1 percent or skim milk and from butter to fat-free margarine

Eating more fresh fruits and vegetables and grains—without fatty sauces, dressings or butter—may help you reduce your fat intake automatically. Follow the U.S. Department of Agricultural nutritional guidelines, which recommend 3 to 5 servings-of vegetables, 2 to 4 servings of fruit and 6 to 11 servings of bread, cereal, rice and pasta a day.