I have developed fine lines on the bridge of my nose(you know between eyes)

Can only eat 60/70 percent raw now.

Has anyone ever seen a true reduction of wrinkles and facial skin from eating raw and do you think I can reduce them with a 60 to 70 percent raw diet.Or other changes in your appearance. I heard eye color can change?

All thoughts on this topic appreciated.

I didn't have bad wrinkles but more like the begining of them and they are gone now. My skin just looks so much better over all.

I have noticed my wrinkles disappearing since going raw. My gut level feeling is that the good fats, like avocados, in my diet have a lot to do with my improved skin.

I definitely think a raw plan can help diminish wrinkles. I started at about 75% raw and noticed the fine lines on my forehead and around my eyes softened and went away. I'm almost 30 and I think spending a lot of time on the beach while eating a SAD diet was making my skin look older. I think the raw plan nourished my skin in ways it had not been nourished before. I don't want to sound like I'm selling snake oil, but within one week of going raw my wrinkles went away. I think the key is eating a lot of nutrient dense fresh fruits and veggies, not necessarily all raw nuts or dried fruit. A 75% raw day for me might look like:
Breakfast 20 oz. green lemonade from The Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose
Lunch 2-4 cups gazpacho (diced tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, onions, tomato juice, olive oil)
Afternoon snack another 20 oz. green lemonade
Dinner salad with olive oil vinaigrette, poached salmon with steamed veggies

Starchy processed foods like chips, cookies, cakes, etc. really break down the skin IMO. When I cut this stuff out and replaced it with raw foods, my skin became firmer, brighter, and super glowy. My family and friends say I look like I have a flashlight under my skin because I just radiate. I used to have puffiness in my face and that's gone too and my face looks more sculpted. I used to spend a lot of money (*cough*Kinerase*cough*) on special creams that I hoped would get rid of my fine lines. I was happy to find that the raw plan has done more for the health of my skin than those expensive creams ever did. I plugged a day's worth of raw eating into a nutrition program I have and I get about 300-500% of the RDA for many nutrients, and at least 100% for nearly all. When well-meaning family members ask if what I'm doing is healthy, I smile and say I think I'm getting a lot more nutrients than the average American. Hope this answers your question.

Below I pasted an excerpt from International Journal of Cosmetic Science, 30, 87–95 91 Intrinsic and extrinsic factors in skin ageing M. A. Farage et al.

One of the reasons why people might experience better skin from raw is that they are going to get an increased deposit of helpful antioxidants in their dermis, which will help to provide *some* protection from the damaging effects of UVA. But they would do even better if they protected themselves with good high UVA protection sunscreens, sun avoidance, and protective clothing, especially for their hands, face, and neck.

Kinerase does diddley-squat. The only highly significant differencess will be with very strong acids (the kind that make you unable to go out in public for 1-4 weeks) or other methods that injure the dermis (the idea being that the new damage will destroy the old damage and hopefully heal more beautifully under controlled conditions), daily use of rx-only tretinoin or tazarotene, and sun avoidance.

----

"The effects of sunlight on the skin are profound, and are estimated to account for up to 90% of visible skin ageing [21, 22], particularly in those without the natural protection associated with higher levels of melanocytes in the skin [18]

It is now known that because it penetrates into the dermis, UVA may be responsible for most of the chronic skin damage associated with photoageing [20].

Sunlight damages skin across a spectrum of physiological processes. UV radiation in the dermis causes a molecular chain reaction which ultimately results in the upregulation, in both dermis and epidermis, of matrix metalloproteinases which stimulate the production of collagenase, gelatinase and stromelysin-1 in both fibroblasts and keratinocytes. The result is a deterioration of both collagen and elastin, as well as other components of the dermal extracellular matrix. Repeated exposure to solar radiation yields repeated, and increasingly faulty, attempts to repair the dermal matrix, with a cumulative effect on the structure and organization of its collagenous foundation. Invisible flaws in the repaired dermal matrix, with repeated cycles of exposure, eventually become visible to the naked eye in the form of sagging skin and wrinkles [50].

UVA radiation primarily initiates genetic damage through the creation of reactive oxygen species or free radicals [51]. Free radicals can also wreak havoc on numerous cellular processes, e.g. facilitating the upregulation of matrix metalloproteinases [51].

UV radiation is a complete carcinogen, as it both initiates cancer through DNA mutation and promotes cancer growth through the inflammatory processes inherent in cumulative UV exposure (Fig. 2) [21, 53].

Modern Western culture has promoted tanned skin as healthy, resulting in steadily increasing rates of skin cancer and prematurely aged skin [21, 41]. Virtually all Caucasian Western individuals with normal recreational practices have subclinical signs of skin damage by the time they are 15 years old [53], whereas skin changes start to become discernible in unexposed skin in the early 30s [2, 21].

Ultraviolet band A (UVA) light penetrates more deeply. Although it does not cause pronounced erythema, it may damage dermis more than UVB light, particularly elastic tissue related to skin ageing [44]. Changes in the dermis include the degeneration of collagen and deposition of abnormal elastotic material, seen as wrinkles, furrows and yellowing of skin [20, 21]. With severe photodamage, the dermis becomes a massive quantity of thickened, tangled and degraded elastic fibres. Tightly packed collagen fibrils replace elastic microfilaments, becoming finally an amorphous mass [20, 21]. Damaged dermal tissue provides less support to its vascularization, causing vessels to widen and become visible at the skin surface as telangiectasia [44]. The decrease in perfusion in aged skin is more pronounced in photoaged areas [44]. It has recently been reported that it may be UVA that is responsible for the bulk of epidermal skin damage. UVA excitation of transurocanic acid initiates chemical processes that result in photoageing of the skin [55]. "



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2008 10:45AM by arugula.

I know the raw diet is the most wonderful way to keep your complexion youthful and relatively free of wrinkles. I've been raw for about 25 years, except for a brief difficult detox period when I decided to try the Paleo-diet. (I quit and went back to raw because among other things, my face started looking older and puffier!)

When you're post-menopausal, you WILL gradually see some changes in the way you look, but they'll be subtle and natural changes that you will grow to like. :-)

When I begin to see lines on my face, it's usually in late winter when I've been indoors too much and haven't adhered to 100% raw all the time because of the cold weather and boredom. As soon as I can (usually early spring) I do a long juice fast, and I can't recommend that enough. Juice fasting is incredibly rejuvenating, and if you do a long one (20-40 days) every year you'll be amazed at how much easier it is to a) stay raw and b) look and feel your very best.

Water fasting is great too, but is demanding and takes more discipline. Another way to rejuvenate is to eat an optimal high water content raw diet from early morning up till 5pm, then dry fast till the next morning; you can do this every day without deprivation. (After a month or so, scale back to 4pm, then a mo. later to 3pm, and finally 2pm, according to Tanya Zavasta.) I tried this for awhile and I looked and felt better than I'd felt in years. I keep meaning to get back to it, but it takes a bit of tweaking your schedule and planning ahead.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

I was raw for about 8 months a couple of years ago, and in just that 8 months I seemed to look about 10 years younger. I'm in my 50s and everyone thinks I'm about 38-40 years old. I figure at this rate I'm going to get carded in about 10 months....

Raw again since April 29, 2008.

wrinkle haiku for you:


relentless
reminders of fun
wrinkles



laughter
her wrinkles
gone

Well, Kwan, the proof is in the raw chocolate pudding, because if your pic serves you correctly, your skin is gorgeous!

:-))))))))))) Thanks, Sundancer! That pic was taken on my 59th birthday (last week), right after a 31 day fast. I just switched the photo, though, to one that someone took of me playing my flute in Harvard Square today.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

HAPPY BELATED BIRFDAY KWAN!!!!!cheers to many more

If your birthday was on the 2nd, you share it with my son Jake! Happy bday to you!

kwan, were you on Aajonus Vonderplanitz Paleo-diet, or...just curious.
Buy the way, you do look amazing!

Sundamcer--
Close: mine is June 5th.

Dada--
No, thankfully. :-) I was never able to even THINK about eating raw meat, even sushi.

Thanks!

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

Happy, happy belated birthday, Kwan!!! I hope all your wishes come true and your life is always filled with love, laughter, health, wealth, and joy!

Lots of love to you,

Wendi
XOXOXO

Hi Wendi,
Thank you so much-- "Birthday month" is a blast!

Love,
Sharrhan

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

Hi,

I started developing pretty bad facial wrinkles near my eyes and cheeks after I crossed 35. I was pretty upset about it as I really didn't think my skin would start degrading as early as in my 30s. I tried altering my diet, took a lot of dark coloured vegetables such as beetroot and tomatoes as these were supposed to be good for wrinkles and also drank plenty of water. It didn't really work though and my Doctor had even suggested that I go for a Debrassion treatment to fade out my wrinkles. I then recently read an article by a lady who claimed that she got rid of her wrinkles using a particular anti-wrinkle product. I tried it and it worked really well. Within 4 weeks my wrinkles had faded out and were barely visible. Really good stuff. You can read more about the lady's article at the link below.

[wrinklecure.wordpress.com]

The only regular use topicals that erase fine lines are tretinoin and tazarotene. Both require rx.

Strong acids will do it also. These do not require rx, you can find many sellers of unbuffered TCA, glycolic, etc. but they hurt and make your face look like pizza for a week or so.

Usually "wrinkle creams" are not really erasing lines, just temporarily plumping up the skin by locking in moisture due to their fat content which traps water and does not let it escape as usual.

BTW sorry for being late to the party but Kwan you are the healthiest and most youthful looking caucasian woman of your age I have ever seen. Keep up the good work!

My wrinkles started fading when I went from 70% to 95% raw. I drank coffee and they showed up slightly. I'm thinking that the essentially all raw diet is hydrating my skin to the point that the wrinkles are fading, and of course, coffee (even decaf) pulls moisture from the skin.

Is there a way to report spam posts here?

Raw again since April 29, 2008.

My wrinkles just about disappeared after going raw. The additions that made the most difference were raw fermented foods like home made sauerkraut plus avocados and flax oil.

Tonya Zavasta JUST released a new book called "Raw Flex" or something--specific exercises for getting rid of wrinkles, by strengthening facial muscles, with the help of a raw diet.

It sounds interesting... maybe I should work out my face before I start to wrinkle.

[That's mysterious-- my post to Aragula never showed up. Guess I'll post it again]:

Wow, thanks Aragula! I should save your compliment to read on some cold, dark winter day when I'm feeling bloated and 'past my prime'. ;-)

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

i am encouraged! great posts!!

Coming in a little late here - but here's what's working for me...

(Many people recently have commented that I look in my mid-20's - I'm 31, used to look much older, and have only been raw for 1.5 yrs, so still a newbie and hoping to see further improvements in the future.)

Low fat diet coupled with lots of sunshine.



HTH

Sarah
[goingbananasblog.com]

The majority of wrinkles are because of liver stones.

About Tonya Zavasta's book : Rawsome Flex - it is amazing!! I'm doing the exercises and they are helping me a lot.But you have to do them every day.

Great feedback.Thanks everybody!

I use a physical sunblock with zinc oxide as main ingredient because for me it has helped.

Dr. Nick Perricone suggest that there is external skin damage which is cause by the sun(I personaly agree although I believe it is imperative to get out most days & get SOME sunshine & fresh air & play & let go a little.

He states there is also internal skin damage which is caused by what we have ingested. diet,medication,alcohol,ciggarettes,etc.

Unfortunately, I use to drink a lot and smoke ciggaretes & use chewing tobacco,so I know that stuff did damage & I am probally behind the eight ball in this area.(4 years removed that lifestyle)

I am going to see if the raw diet helps before I make any moves & then check out out options I have and will look at argula's ideas since they appear to be medically based & also the one Jen8855 & a few others metioned.They all have value to me so thanks again & any more r appreciated.