These 14 Surprising Foods Actually Make You Look Older

These 14 Surprising Foods Actually Make You Look Older

It’s kind of scary when you feel like you’re starting to look older. When you’re afraid to look at your forehead, in fear that you’ve developed new wrinkles or frown lines over night.

Ever wonder why you wake up feeling like your skin aged 10 years overnight after a particularly raucous party?

Well, everything you put into your body has an effect on how your body looks, feels, and acts, so it’s no wonder that there are foods out there that hurt your body’s ability to stay as healthy as possible.

Of course, everyone indulges from time to time, and there’s nothing wrong with having a good time now and again.

But if you’re trying to look your best (and your youngest), these are the 14 foods you should probably avoid:

1. Candy

Great. another reason why candy isn’t good for you.

You probably didn’t need to hear yet another reason why candy is bad for you, but if you’re looking to look your youngest, sugar is something you don’t want in your diet.

That’s because when you eat an excess of sugar, you ignite a process in your body called glycation. The excess sugar in your body combines with proteins to create compounds that damage the collagen in your skin.

Plus, the extra sugar will stick to your teeth and have them not looking their best or brightest. Best to avoid eating extra sugar during the day.

Find out how to stop eating sugar in 5 easy steps!

2. Alcohol

You know what you need to have your skin healthy? A functioning, healthy liver.

You know what impairs the function of your liver? Alcohol.

Your liver is crucial to your body’s ability to filter toxins out of your bloodstream and break them down. If it can’t do that, it contributes to skin issues like sallowness, wrinkles, and acne.

Plus, alcohol will dehydrate you and interrupt your sleep cycles, which contributes further to the unnatural aging of your body.

3. White Wine

Yup, this counts too.

White wine goes in its own category because of the surprising amount of damage it does to your teeth when compared to red wines and other alcohols.

White wine is especially acidic, which will erode your teeth enamel and leave longer lasting stains in your mouth.

What’s important to remember is that you shouldn’t brush your teeth right after drinking white wine – it will cause further damage to your enamel. Wait at least an hour.

4. Meat With Char On It

I know it’s delicious, but it’s not good for your body.

That’s because charred meat contains hydrocarbons, which boost inflammation in your body… and inflammation damages your collagen.

You can still eat bbq – just scrape off the charred bits before you do.

These 10 foods will lower your cholesterol.

5. Processed Meat

When I say processed meat, what I’m really talking about is deli meats like salami, bacon, and sausages.

That’s because the preservatives and sulfides in these meats are pro inflammatory, just like the char on meat, and it can accelerate your aging and make you look older.

Plus the salt in them will boost your water retention and make you look puffy.

Stay away from these 10 “healthy” foods that are junk foods in disguise.

6. Lots Of Salty Foods

Even if you’re trying not to add salt to your food, you could still be getting a high dose.

That’s because lots of canned foods have tons of sodium in them to preserve them. That sodium will stay in your body and cause water retention, making you look puffy and bloated.

Stay away from especially salty foods if you don’t want to feel bloated and puffy the next day – particularly in your face.

7. Extra Spicy Food

Why? I thought spicy food was good for you?

Well, in some ways, it is. However, there are a couple of ways that spicy food could leave you looking older than your actual age – especially for women in menopause.

That’s because spicy food dilates your blood vessels… and women in menopause have especially active blood vessels.

When you combine those two things, you get skin that looks red, blotchy, and more aged than normal.

8. Caffeine Packed Energy Drinks

These are actually even worse for you than sports drinks.

That’s because the acids and other ingredients in energy drinks are even worse for your teeth than candy – stripping them of vital enamel and exposing them to decay and stains.

The less your intake of energy drinks, the better.

9. Lemonade

This one might be surprising to some, but the reason it’s so bad for your youthful looks is the same reason that energy drinks and sugar are – the enamel on your teeth.

All citrus will strip your enamel, but lemons are the worst offenders.

Lemons do the most damage to the enamel on your teeth out of all the citrus fruits. If you want a citrusy refreshing drink, choose orange juice or grapefruit juice instead.

10. Red Meat

When you ingest a lot of fatty red meat, you’re ingesting a lot of free radicals. Free radicals will roam your body doing damage to your healthy cells – and therefore doing damage to your skin and your collagen.

The way to prevent this is similar to a lot of advice about being healthy – eat in moderation. You don’t have to cut burgers out of your diet, but don’t eat them every day if you want healthy looking skin.

Cut these 15 foods out of your life forever.

11. High Caffeine Drinks

Here’s the problem with caffeine: it’s a diuretic. That means that it pushes fluids out of your body one way or the other, which can cause dehydration. And dehydration causes damage to your skin that leaves you looking older.

more: Take The Quiz – Do You Know The Unique Veggies That Burn Abdominal Fat?

The best way to combat the dehydrated skin that comes from too much caffeine is actually really simple – use moisturizer. That will repair your damaged skin and leave you looking younger in no time.

12. Trans Fats

Boy, trans-fats just can’t catch a break, can they?

They get a terrible rap for heart disease (which is well deserved), and now I’m going in on them too?

Well, I’ve got a good reason. Because (and this is a common issue on this list), trans fats boost inflammation in your body. And inflammation causes damage to the collagen in your body.

Plus, unhealthy fat can cause you to become more sensitive to UV damage from the sun. Point is, avoid trans-fats as much as you can.

13. Coffee

Well, we already covered caffeine, so what else about coffee can leave you looking older than you actually are?

The answer, of course, is the enamel in your teeth.

Coffee wears away and erodes your enamel, and then takes advantage of your weakened teeth and leaves stains on them, which makes you look much older than you are.

That doesn’t mean you have to give up coffee, though. Just drink a glass of water after a cup of coffee to wash away the acid and leave your teeth undamaged.

14. Black Tea

Yup – black tea leaves stains on your teeth too. Bummer.

The high amount of tannins in black tea can leave your teeth looking discolored and aged. However, if you add milk to your tea, the casein in it will help reduce the stains.

So just add some milk to your tea and you should be all set!

In summary…

The Worst Foods That Make You Look Older

  1. Candy
  2. Alcohol
  3. White Wine
  4. Meat With Char On It
  5. Processed Meat
  6. Lots Of Salty Foods
  7. Extra Spicy Food
  8. Caffeine Packed Energy Drinks
  9. Lemonade
  10. Red Meat
  11. High Caffeine Drinks
  12. Trans Fats
  13. Coffee
  14. Black Tea

foods that make you look older

If you loved this article, then check out these other must-see related posts:

9 Habits That Make You Look Older Than You Are

10 Ways You Make Yourself Look Older Without Realizing It

6 Hair Mistakes That Are Aging You

26 comments… add one
  • Amanda Carr July 28, 2015, 11:35 am

    The foods are not that surprising. What they can do to the inside of your body, however, is. Great post!

  • Emily Dickens July 25, 2015, 6:00 pm

    I can see this. There is so much to learn about how food impacts your body.

    • Mary Parr July 28, 2015, 11:24 am

      Totally! Food changes so much, you really have to pay attention to make sure you are doing what you can for your body!

  • Julia White July 25, 2015, 5:50 pm

    Oh these are good tips. Now that I am getting into my fifties, it is time to start watching out for things like this.

  • Jennifer Ross July 23, 2015, 9:16 am

    Crazy information! You are right, however. These foods do a number on our bodies and I just think back to ALL of the people that I know that eat like this all of the time.

  • Anna Hardacre July 22, 2015, 9:32 am

    Oh man, these are all of my favorites! It is hard enough to give up one, but do I have to give up all of them at the same time!

    • Tracey Young July 25, 2015, 6:11 pm

      Yeah, I like to read these lists as well. They usually have a few things on them that I never really thought about.

  • Alison Lewis July 21, 2015, 8:59 am

    I hope people read this and understand how bad energy drinks are for your body AND mind.

    • Lillian King July 25, 2015, 6:22 pm

      I have been reading things like this for a few years. I never tough drinks like this and cannot believe there are people out there that will drink these types of things all day long.

  • Anne MacLeod July 19, 2015, 1:00 pm

    Yeah, candy is so bad for you! I can see how some of these would ruin you on the inside. It makes sense to me and should make sense to every one.

  • Joanne Poole July 18, 2015, 9:43 am

    LOL. At first I was like “whatever”, but then you read the ways these foods mess with your body and then you are like, “oh”.

    • Emily Piper July 23, 2015, 9:26 am

      Very good explanation about the foods. On the outside, nobody would believe it, but after reading this it sure makes sense!

  • Chloe Blake July 18, 2015, 9:17 am

    I have read that about charred meat. I just never really looked into it and now I am reading about it here, weird!

  • Faith Quinn July 17, 2015, 12:33 pm

    Isn’t it amazing that things like this can take a toll on your body on the inside OR out?

  • Katherine Newman July 17, 2015, 12:13 pm

    Well, black tea is one that I wouldn’t have thought I was going to see on this list.

  • Faith Payne July 16, 2015, 4:35 pm

    Interesting. I never thought about these types of foods in this way. Some of them are healthy options for you, so it is weird to think of them as bad for you.

  • Wanda Burgess July 16, 2015, 4:30 pm

    Lemons strip the enamel on your teeth ? Oh man, that is one of my favorite summer drinks!

    • Virginia Dickens July 22, 2015, 10:03 am

      Yeah, that is why there is such a concern for acidic drinks like that.

  • Gabrielle White July 16, 2015, 4:05 pm

    I had always heard that spicy food was good for your blood because of the thinning, so I can also see why it would not be good for woman with menopause.

    • Angela Randall July 19, 2015, 1:12 pm

      Spicy food is very good for you. Of course, just like anything else, moderation should be practiced as well.

  • Maria Oliver July 10, 2015, 11:45 am

    LOL. Some of these taste so good though. I would hate to have to give them up because they make me look older…

  • Jan Walker July 10, 2015, 11:34 am

    Energy drinks are not good for any body. There is so much in them that can mess with your insides, it makes me cringe when I see someone drinking one.

    • Hannah Anderson July 21, 2015, 9:55 am

      I agree. So many people, especially young kids are addicted to them. Way too much sugar and they are actually worse than soda.

  • Bernadette Lambert July 10, 2015, 11:23 am

    This is sort of weird. I can see how an the end result of eating these foods would make me look older, but not just because I am eating them.

    • Irene Black July 16, 2015, 4:18 pm

      I thought so at first, but as I read through them, they started to make more sense to me.

  • Katherine Cornish July 10, 2015, 11:12 am

    WOW. I never really thought about stuff like this, but as I go through the list, I can certainly see what you mean. Thanks for the eye opener!

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