Healthy Eating for Women

Women know. Skin care—and the business of maintaining a youthful appearance—is a massive industry and is growing each day. Every inch of you, from the delicate skin around your eyes to the heels of your feet, has been analyzed, scrutinized, and studied by scientists in search of better ways to smooth lines, erase imperfections, and brighten complexions. In recent years we’ve seen alpha and beta hydroxy acids—the new “miracle” cures—added to nearly every brand of over-the-counter skincare product on the shelves. Even mild chemical facial peels are now as quick and painless as a lunch-hour manicure.
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Luckily, your body is extremely efficient at defending its precious resources—as long as it has the right ammunition. The area in need of the most focused protection is your cell membrane—the scaffolding material that gives each of your cells the strength to stand tall and strong. When even one molecule in a cell membrane is damaged, a chain reaction can take place, killing the entire cell. As one cell after another dies, wrinkles and other signs of aging are inevitable. Cells with the best chance of surviving the ravages of time are the ones sufficiently packed with special protective nutrients.
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Your main adversary in the aging game is the free radical, the molecular piranha that takes bites out of your cells, eventually destroying them. You can’t see free radicals—only the damage they leave behind. But as you start to visualize how they operate, you’ll learn to protect yourself against their harmful effects.
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A certain amount of free radical damage is just a natural part of being alive. When you breathe, when you sleep, and when you eat, free radicals are trying to age you. But you’ve got an army of nutritional allies on your side. The next time you’re thinking of giving yourself a makeover, you may want to start at the grocery store.
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Now we are starting to see how our outward appearance is truly a reflection of our inner workings, so it’s not hard to imagine how our food choices can affect the vibrancy of our hair and the suppleness of our skin. Time alone is not the indicator of how well we age. In fact, the main causes of wrinkles and discoloration of the skin have nothing to do with time. The culprits in skin damage are ultraviolet rays and, not surprisingly, free radicals. But once again, protection is right at our fingertips, not farther than a bottle of sunscreen or any number of cell-nourishing foods.
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Regardless of your age, it’s never too late to stop sun damage in its tracks. Many facial moisturizers and foundations now have an added sun-protection factor (SPF). This is good news because most people don’t think about sun protection unless they plan to spend a day at the pool or the beach. But daily sun exposures from strolling to lunch, sitting in the park, or walking your dog really add up over time. Used daily, an SPF of 15 or higher will help prevent wrinkles, depigmentation, and little brown “age spots” as well as precancerous skin changes.

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Dark-skinned people have better built-in protection from ultraviolet rays compared to light-skinned people, simply because darker skin produces more melanin. But, no matter what shade of skin we’re born with, we can all improve our body’s own SPF internally, with the foods we choose.

As we saw earlier, eating carrots, sweet potatoes, and other orange or green vegetables sends a dose of protective beta-carotene to our cells and bloodstream. This phytochemical is our best internal defender against excess ultraviolet radiation. Some plants contain so much beta-carotene that they are able to withstand endless hours in direct sunlight, neutralizing free radicals. When you eat beta-carotene-rich foods, you are packing these same powerful nutrients into your cell membranes, defending yourself from excess sun exposure and free-radical damage.
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Remember when your parents said you would keep your good eyesight if only you’d finish your carrots? Well, there’s truth to what probably seemed like a bit of parental bribery. A diet that includes carrots, or any other vegetables and fruits, sends beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, and many other antioxidants into your eyes, neutralizing harmful free radicals stimulated by the daily sunlight exposure most of us receive. The carotenoids in orange, yellow, and green vegetables help discourage macular degeneration, a loss of function of the retina found in older adults. Avoiding tobacco and excess dietary iron (as we will see shortly), and, of course, wearing sunglasses all help keep your eyes healthy.
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There is a surprising side to iron—a treacherous and harmful side that accelerates the aging process by encouraging free-radical production. Iron is a very unstable metal. An iron pan can rust rather quickly. In your body, iron oxidizes even faster, producing free radicals along the way. Although iron is an essential nutrient, it is dangerous in excess. But you’d never know it by the way it has been marketed, especially to women.

Not so long ago, advertisements promoting iron supplements as a cure for fatigue and all kinds of other difficulties were everywhere. These ads are gone now, and with good reason. In reality, there is rarely a need to add extra iron to your diet and, given the way most of us eat, iron overload is more of a cause for concern than iron deficiency.
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The dangers of iron overload are easily avoided when you fill your plate with plant foods. Iron is abundant in beans and lentils and also is found in vegetables and grains. If your body is low in iron, the vitamin C from fruits and vegetables will bolster its absorption.

Even premenopausal women who lose blood with each menstrual period can easily replenish their iron requirements with a rather modest amount of beans and vegetables. In fact, premenopausal women are the group most likely to have proper iron balance, while men and postmenopausal women are prone to iron buildup, forcing their bodies to make more and more ferritin to quickly store it away.
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