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It’s possible to erase years from your face simply by changing your diet. I know this first-hand because ten years ago, I didn’t look younger than my age. In fact, I was starting to look wrinkly, washed-out and old. So I changed my lifestyle and cut out pro-aging foods like sugar and grains, and started eating a natural, primal diet to slow the aging process. And when I focused on eating anti-aging superfoods, I started to reverse the signs of aging — especially in my face.

What’s more, I’ve seen this same transformation over and over again in my patients. When they add these superfoods to their diets, they start looking younger almost immediately and over time, they often reverse more than a decade of aging.

Here are the most powerful wrinkle-fighting foods I’ve discovered through my clinical and personal experience. If you want soft, young-looking skin, I recommend making them the core of your beauty ritual.

1. Bone broth

Wrinkles form when your skin breaks down. To erase these wrinkles, you need to boost your collagen levels not by rubbing on creams, but by mainlining collagen directly to your cells. How? With collagen-rich bone broth. Bone broth is better than wrinkle creams or Botox because it lasts.

2. Foods rich in omega-3s

Think of aging skin cells as slightly deflated balls. Omega-3 fatty acids plump up the walls of these cells, making them bouncy again. To get plenty of omega-3s, eat fatty fish and walnuts, or take a high-quality omega-3 supplement.

3. Amino acids

Amino acids are the building blocks of collagen and elastin, which are both vital to healthy skin. A diet high in essential amino acids (which the body can’t make on its own) helps keep your skin firm and elastic, while a deficiency makes it thin and dry. Meat and eggs are your best sources for essential amino acids.

4. Potassium-rich foods

Here’s a tip I give my patients: Switch from regular table salt to sea salt. Why? Regular salt pulls water out of your cells, leaving them flabby and prone to promoting wrinkles. But sea salt, which is high in potassium, does just the opposite. It pulls water into your cells, making them firm. You can also get skin-hydrating potassium from fruits and veggies, nuts, meat, poultry and fish.

5. Fermented foods

A radiant gut translates into radiant and wrinkle-free skin, while a bad gut is a leading cause of skin aging. That’s because good gut bacteria help keep your body well supplied with the nutrients your skin thrives on. Bad bacteria, on the other hand, can cause a leaky gut and allow toxins to escape your intestines and create inflammation throughout your body — including your skin. The result? Sick, blotchy, old-looking skin.

To improve your gut health, eat fermented foods like kimchee and sauerkraut. Make sure you buy refrigerated brands, which contain large amounts of live bacteria.

6. Green and yellow vegetables

Vegetables are loaded with antioxidants, helping prevent oxidative stress (damage to cells caused by free radicals). So it’s not surprising that a study of Japanese women found that a higher intake of green and yellow vegetables (along with a higher intake of healthy fats) reduces wrinkling.

7. Green tea

Like veggies, green tea is loaded with antioxidants. Research shows that it protects your skin against sun damage — the primary cause of wrinkles.

8. Phytoceramides

Phytoceramides are a naturally occurring constituent of skin and help to keep it hydrated. Found in beets and spinach, they offer similar benefits. Recently, the FDA approved phytoceramides in nutritional supplement form based on research showing that they can help heal dry, rough, wrinkle-prone skin.

Wrinkle-fighting foods protect your skin in a variety of ways. Some them hydrate your skin, some build strong cell walls, some guard against sun damage, while others protect against free radicals. What’s more, these foods often work together, boosting each other’s power. Combine them, and you’ll get far more wrinkle-fighting power than each one offers on its own.

So if you’re serious about looking younger than you are, add all of these foods to your diet — and eat them daily if you can. My guess is that within days, you’ll start to see a difference and within months, your skin will look so much younger that people may start asking: “Did you have a facelift?”

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Dr. Kellyann Petrucci is a nutrition and lifestyle expert and author of five healthy-lifestyle books from John Wiley & Sons. A certified nutrition consultant and board-certified naturopathic physician who focuses on helping people launch their own transformations, she has 20-plus years of clinical experience. She is one of the few practitioners in the United States certified in biological medicine by the esteemed Paracelsus Klinik Lustmuhle in Switzerland. She appears regularly on national and local television, and conducts workshops and seminars to help people feel and look their best. She also authors the popular drkellyann.com, providing nutritional news, tips, and inspiration. She has two children and lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

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