Is Your Diet Making Your Skin Dull?

by Elizabeth Siegel



Romulo A Yanes
Romulo A Yanes

They're super-tempting and delicious, but the foods below can all zap radiance from your skin. But just for the record, I'd like to dig into those fries, too.

French fries, potato chips ... basically, anything worth snacking on. "Salt has a tremendous influence on water retention and the insulin levels that impact radiance," says Harold Lancer, a dermatologist in Los Angeles. "That's why a lot of celebrities follow no salt added diets."

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Dessert and (we hate to say it) fruit.
"The sugar in good carbs isn't doing your skin a ton of favors, " says Lancer. It's because sugar breaks down collagen and elastin in the skin, which causes dullness and wrinkles over time, adds Frederic Brandt, a dermatologist in New York City and Miami.

Coffee (bad); lattes (worse). Caffeine is a vasodilator, which means it makes your pores look larger, and your skin look uneven, and I'm really sorry to be the bearer of that news. "If you have to drink coffee, have one cup maximum a day," says Lancer. "And plain is best. Adding milk makes it worse on the skin because dairy can spike insulin levels, too."

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The good news: Colorful vegetables (which makes your body's pH levels less acidic) and water (lots of water) can make your skin look glowier and all around healthier, says dermatologist Jeanette Graf.

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