Crepe Skin

Sitting around one night with a friend, the conversation turned to "crepe" skin. What's that I asked? Well apparently as we get older our skin becomes thin and thinner. If you pinch a bunch it will wrinkle between your fingers to resemble crepe paper. This is crepe skin. I was 51 or thereabout when I first heard about this. I was terrified. I had never noticed anything like this before but had noticed that old ladies had "fragile" skin that tore easily. I never realized there was a name for this let alone a cure... sort of. As we get older we loose moisture in our skin for a variety of reasons. We like to sit in over heated rooms because we get cold easily, we loose elastin, alcohol dries us out from the inside, how many times have you opened the oven only to have the heat blast you in the face?, and speaking of heat what about the sun?, if you smoke, all of those hundreds of chemicals that are in one cigarette destroy every part of your skin, inside and out. STOP SMOKING PEOPLE, JUST PLAIN STOP. Then of course there is DNA. This situation is sounding hopeless I know but there are things we can do to retard the aging process and so YOU MUST start now. I would like to say it's never too late but that could be a lie. However, doing something is better than doing nothing. I care about my skin and about the way I look. That desire feeds my will to continue to maintain what I have left. Luckily a lot of this remedy can be found in food and I LOVE food. I am always reading articles about how to protect your skin, how to correct your skin, how to maintain your skin etc. My findings thus far are simple but need to be administered regularly. First, SUNSCREEN. I feel very lucky that I discovered Estee Lauder very early in my life. Her skin cream, excuse me, moisturizer, has a SPF of 15 already in it. How lucky for me and everyone else who uses it. From early on I was protecting my skin and I didn't even know it. I don't know exactly when she first started to use it but I'm just glad she did. After that it was always sunscreen at the pool, at the beach, out in the garden, everywhere. I also took to wearing hats though not regularly. Secondly, FOOD. I just read an article about food and skin. Someone has boiled the formula down to 7 foods that are great for skin and skin repair. They are: Oats. Oats prevent skin damage which prevents wrinkles. I am not a DR. so I won't nor should I attempt to get technical. This also includes brown rice and whole grains. Oranges. Oranges are filled with water which hydrates which helps to promote collagen (protein) activity. Citrus is also full of Vit C and other antioxidants such is the powerful Lycopene. All citrus fruits fall into place here, grapefruit, tomatoes, kiwi and even parsley. Avocados. These are full of Vit B, C, E and folate which is crucial to cell repair. Other essential oils come from walnuts, almonds and olive oil. Brussel sprouts. These are filled with vitamins C, A and folate. These help prevent sun damage. You can add kale and broccoli to that list. Lean beef. The protein is essential to building collagen. But don't eat it charred. The little pieces become free radicals in our system giving cancer a springboard for growth. This group includes quite obviously eggs, chicken, beans and other lean meat sources. Salmon. Fish helps to prevent skin cancer from growing. Not to mention the Omega 3s are brilliant and the protein, again, aids collagen. Tuna, mackerel and others are included. Grapes. No I didn't say "wine". Wine has alcohol which is a drying agent, remember? Grapes with their skin on fight inflammation. They also fight UV light which creates sun damage. Of course don't forget the berries: straw, blue, rasp and cran. Lastly water. Lot's of water. It's even better with a slice of lemon or better yet grapefruit. The citrus is an antioxidant, remember? Too much citrus over your teeth can erode the enamel causing all sorts of new problems and grapefruit has less citrus than lemons. Just thought you'd like to know.