Chapter 4
Inside-Out Help for Wrinkles, Acne, and "Problem" Skin
Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.
- Sophia Loren, Italian actress
A popular antiwrinkle book identifies free radicals as "the cause" of wrinkles and antioxidant creams as "the cure" for wrinkles. Another "face-lift" book identifies inflammation as "the cause" of premature aging and a daily diet of salmon as "the cure" for aging skin (in the two-week program, you'd be eating fish thirty-one times in fourteen days). Yet another anti-acne book argues that all you need to do to prevent and treat pimples is to buy the author's line of expensive creams and lotions.
What each of these popular books misses, however, is the complex nature of our metabolic machinery. By now, you should be well aware that skin "problems," such as wrinkles, acne, redness, rosacea, and others, are caused by a much more complex series of events than the single "villains" named in many popular books. As you now know, it's the interplay between at least four areas of metabolism (and perhaps more that we do not yet fully understand) that predisposes all of us to having certain types of skin problems now and other types a few months from now.
Cortisol (C) exposure leads to increases in free radicals (F), advanced glycation (A), and eicosanoids (E). Likewise, an increase in free radicals (F) leads in turn to an increase in eicosanoids (E) and vice versa. This back-and-forth interplay continues unabated if you focus on controlling a single area (such as free radicals) without also considering the other areas (such as cortisol).
Luckily, a coordinated approach to controlling all four of these metabolic pathways is not difficult. By following the Helping Hand approach to eating (as outlined in Chapter 5) and incorporating some of the recipes from Appendix A into your diet, you can do a great deal to rebalance each of these pathways.
Wrinkles
We know that the development of wrinkles is related to each of the four aspects of metabolism addressed by FACE, as well as by a gradual loss of water (dehydration) from the skin. As collagen and elastin fibers in healthy skin are damaged by overexposure to free radicals, advanced glycation, cortisol, and eicosanoids, they lose their ability to regenerate themselves, causing the skin to wrinkle.
The "solution," then, to reversing existing wrinkles and preventing new wrinkles from developing becomes a battle to control these aspects of metabolism. Follow the dietary advice spelled out in Part II of the book. In addition, virtually any exercise regimen or activity that you enjoy will help to increase blood circulation to the skin, which will enhance delivery of nutrients and removal of waste products.
Acne
The skin condition called "acne" is due to a disorder of the oil glands, resulting in clogged pores and outbreaks of lesions commonly known as pimples. Acne is the most common skin disease in the U.S., affecting between seventeen million and forty-five million people, male and female. Acne is most common in adolescence, and though usually it disappears by around age thirty, in its severe state it can cause pain and permanent scarring, both physical and emotional. Sometimes acne occurs, or recurs, in women well into middle age.
It is thought that acne may be caused or worsened by such factors as a family history of acne; greasy/oily cosmetic or hair products containing vegetable or animal fats; hormonal changes associated with adolescence, pregnancy, menstruation, or premenopause; certain medications; environmental irritants such as industrial cutting oils, tar, wood preservatives, sealing compounds, and other pollutants; high levels of humidity; oily sunscreens; and, not surprisingly, stress.
We know that acne is caused by a step-by-step process, starting with clogged pores, overproduction of oil, and bacterial growth leading to inflammation. The clogging of pores is not (as is commonly believed) caused by "dirty" skin, but rather by an overgrowth of keratin, the hard collagen-derived protein forming the outermost layer of skin. Once the pore becomes blocked, the stage is set for a cortisol/stress-induced overproduction of oil. I'm sure you've noticed that you have more breakouts when you're under the most stress. The cause of those extra pimples is cortisol stimulating an increase in oil production in the skin. Next, the bacteria that naturally occur on your skin get trapped in that excess oil, where they break down the oil molecules, leading to an inflammatory response (and the associated pain and redness of a pimple).
If we break this process down into its root biochemical causes, we see that each of the imbalances in the chain of events leading to a pimple can be wonderfully modified by FACE. From disrupted keratin/collagen metabolism, to cortisol exposure and oil overproduction, to inflammation-all are central to the FACE program.
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