Best Anti-Aging Diet: Healthy Foods for Youthful Skin from a Facial Plastic Surgeon

What if I told you that the most powerful tool that you had for fighting wrinkles, brightening your complexion, and getting that youthful glow is not in the bottles or in a medical office, but it's in your refrigerator? So many of us invest so much time and money in procedures, skincare products, and treatments, and those things are important, but we often overlook probably the most important strategy in creating that youthful, beautiful skin, which ultimately comes by addressing the changes at the cellular level, and that can be addressed by the foods that we eat. Hi, I'm Dr. Amir Karam, board-certified facial plastic surgeon and founder and creator of Karam and B. Skin. Today, we're gonna move from the outside to the inside. We're not gonna be talking about fad diets. We're gonna be talking about the science, the true science, the mechanism by which food and nutrients affect skin, and what foods you want to make sure are part of your diet in order for you to get the most out of your rejuvenation procedures, topical treatments that you're doing, as well as just, in general, making your skin as healthy as it can possibly be. Everything that we're gonna be talking about today that relates to the skin specifically also relates to your entire body, so keep that in mind, that you're not doing this just for your skin. You're doing this for your overall health, and to make this incredibly practical for you, I'm gonna share with you what my wife does on a daily and weekly basis to make sure she incorporates these important strategies and dietary components in her lifestyle. If you are ready to build a truly effective meal plan for anti-aging, make sure you've watched this video and subscribed to the channel to watch future videos on this topic. All right, let's start with the foundation, the high-protein powerhouses. So why is protein so important? I mean, we hear about it in a lot of different ways. Well, skin and tissue require amino acids, which are building blocks of protein. Collagen, elastin are foundational proteins in the skin, and they require a certain amount of protein to get to the body, and in specific ratios of amino acids, which I'll talk about in a moment, to basically build and fuel the process of collagen synthesis. This is so key because there's so many different needs of the body when it comes to amino acids that if you have a shortage of them, sometimes this part that gets the least of this distribution is the least important parts, and that is aging skin. But in a situation where you are stimulating collagen, building it through retinoids and lasers and microneedling, et cetera, and getting all this collagen stimulation, you wanna have plenty of amino acids and protein to go around so that you can build the collagen molecules that you're trying to stimulate. A perfect example of a high-protein food source is organic chicken breast. Specific amino acids like proline and lysine are rich and abundant and a full source of all the essential amino acids that exist in the chicken breast, and these are essential precursors to the collagen and elastin that I just described. My wife and I will prepare a bunch of chicken breast, leave it in the refrigerator so she, myself, and the boys can easily access it during lunches and even dinners and make it very easy to get a healthy, protein-rich snack. Next in the category is one of my absolute favorites, and that is bone broth. Bone broth is a direct bioavailable form of collagen. Consuming it gives your body exactly what it needs to create and build collagen, as well as hydrate the skin and just give areas outside of the skin, joints, everything else, all those important things that it needs to function better. So there's been a lot of discussion about collagen peptides, using it as a supplement. We've talked about that in the past, but if you're using bone broth, you don't need any of that. You're getting all of it, high-protein, very low-calorie source of those essential amino acids. So how does Netta use this? Every day after her workout, at 10 o'clock a.m., she has her bone broth prepared, which she makes in the morning. It's a great post-workout protein source that she drinks and nourishes her body and gives the body back the amino acids and protein that it needs while rehydrating. And to this, she adds ginger and turmeric and some mushrooms and even some kelp noodles. And we'll talk about spices in just a moment. All right, next up, let's talk about foods that protect the skin. We're talking about antioxidants and vitamin C. The skin is in constant bombardment of UVA lights, pollutants, toxins, everything that is causing cellular degradation and oxidative stress. Now, these are all just fancy terms for basically the tissues need protection and need antioxidants to soak up this damage and prevent the cells from going down a path that ultimately leads to cell death or apoptosis. This is where antioxidants and vitamin C are literally non-negotiables. Now, ingesting vitamin C is important for two reasons. Number one, all of the collagen molecules that you produce require vitamin C as an important cofactor during this process. So vitamin C is necessary in our diets to build collagen. Many people don't realize that, in addition to zinc, which we'll talk about in a moment. But you also need topical vitamin C that helps directly get into the skin and form those antioxidant protection. This is why topical vitamin C is also non-negotiable. But the oral form, a lot of people forget about because as we get older, we stop taking in foods that have vitamin C, et cetera. But if you're trying to stimulate collagen, which is the name of the game of any anti-aging routine, you need this around so that you can properly build collagen. One of the easiest and most delicious and best ways to get vitamin C is through berries. So blueberries, strawberries, these are key things that give you tons of antioxidants and vitamin C at the same time. Netta is always infusing her drinking water with strawberries as well as mint, but also always has some cut strawberries and lots of blueberries sitting around in the refrigerator ready to just basically grab and go. That really ensures that we get access to the vitamin C and the antioxidants that are so ultimately important for not just our skin, but for our entire bodies. Other great foods that are rich in vitamin C are bell peppers and grapefruit. Now while the vitamin C supports collagen synthesis, the carotenes and other antioxidants help protect the skin cells and have true anti-inflammatory benefits as well. So you're getting collagen support, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory by eating bell peppers and grapefruit. So how does Netta keep this in her diet? Well, every single night she has bell peppers in her salad. In addition to every day, we enjoy a grapefruit, chia, and water drink, which I drink every day after my first operation to rehydrate, but also to get some of those important nutrients back into my body. So finally in this category, we have leafy green vegetables. In addition, broccoli as well. So think about spinach and all of these leafy green vegetables as a source of important vitamin C, but also antioxidants and the things that protect our skin against all the cellular damage that happens. Broccoli sprouts are exceptionally high in sulforane, a powerful compound that helps protect the skin against UV-induced damage. Don't forget green leafy vegetables have vitamin A, which, believe it or not, is where retinols come from, vitamin A derivatives. And another great source of vitamin A is carrots. And carrots are also included in those amazing nightly salads that we have. In addition, during these nightly salads, there's also very finely cut spinach that's added to it and broccoli sprouts. The taste of the salad is absolutely amazing, which we're gonna talk about in a moment here. Now she also eats finely chopped parsley with sauerkraut in the morning, which brings us to the next topic, which is gut health. So let's talk about some gut healthy heroes. So having probiotics and prebiotics in your diet helps with the inflammation that helps calm and prevent acne, redness, and skin sensitivity. So absolutely important to have that really strong gut-skin connection. So this is where fermented foods like sauerkraut and probiotic yogurt come into play. What these foods do is they introduce the bacteria that's necessary to be in the gut and create the biome that will ultimately lead to decreased inflammation and more healthy looking skin. But these bacteria need to eat something. They actually have foods that they need, which are prebiotics. So probiotics is the actual bacteria. Prebiotic is the food that the bacteria actually eat. So what are some prebiotic foods that are great for the gut? So chia seeds, green leafy vegetables, as well as avocados are some of the best prebiotic foods you can eat. Another super healthy form of prebiotics is artichokes. Believe it or not, high in fiber, tons of very beneficial prebiotic source of food for the probiotic biome that you have worked on and developing. So as mentioned, Netta takes a probiotic in the mornings in the way of sauerkraut, combines it with the green leafy vegetable, the parsley, which is a source of prebiotic, and then takes the chia seeds, another source of prebiotic, during the day as well with grapefruit and water as hydration. This is a scientific and logical approach towards balancing the gut biome. But it's also foods that she enjoys. Maybe not so much the sauerkraut, but taking it on an empty stomach is considered the best way of getting that important fermented probiotic. So now let's talk about healthy fats. Avocado is king here. It is rich in all the things that are necessary to keep that skin supple and pliable and give it the balance and moisture that it needs to look more youthful and young. Okay, so let's talk about some foods that have these important fatty acids in them. Start with avocado. Probably one of the most important sources of monosaturated fatty acids that are incredible for moisturizing the skin and keeping it supple, but in addition are rich in vitamin E, which is also very important for the skin, since it functions as a fat-soluble antioxidant, opposite of vitamin C, which is a water-soluble antioxidant. Netta is absolutely obsessed with avocados, and it also makes it into our nightly salad. Other sources of healthy fats come from nuts and seeds, as well as extra virgin olive oil. Pumpkin seeds are rich in zinc, and as I mentioned earlier, zinc is necessary in the production of collagen. It works alongside with vitamin C and those amino acids to build the collagen molecule. And those polyphenols in olive oil, incredible source of antioxidants, which directly address free radicals as well. So you've got free radical anti-inflammation coming from all different directions. This is what you want. You want a multi-faceted synergistic approach that comes through your diet. All these things are in the nightly salad. And guess what? The dressing is a pomegranate dressing, which pomegranate is also another great source of antioxidants and vitamin C for your skin. This leads us to the last two sections, which is combating inflammation, which leads a lot to the aging process. So here you're gonna be looking for foods that are rich in omega-3s. Why? Because they're powerful anti-inflammatory and they'd help directly enhance and improve cell function and tissue function. My absolute favorite in this category is salmon, eggs, and chia seeds. These foods not only help with the skin, but they help with brain function and tissue function all throughout the body. So as I mentioned, every single day, Neda and myself enjoy a chia seed drink. The family gets at least a couple nights of salmon per week. And every day, Neda includes eggs in her daily diet. Combining all these, you're covering your basis from an anti-inflammatory and omega-3. And you know another great source for that that we've recently been enjoying is sardines. A very quick and incredible source of protein and omega-3s. All right, finally, you can boost your anti-aging foods by including spices that are anti-inflammatory and anti-aging. The top of the list in this category is turmeric and ginger. Both of these spices have intrinsic qualities that can calm inflammation and decrease the breakdown of collagen. Neda includes these in her bone broth every single day. She makes fresh ginger, puts in the turmeric, and enjoys it as a hot soup after her workouts. A little pro tip, adding a little bit of black powder to the turmeric will enhance the absorption of the turmeric and make it even more potent and powerful. So that's an incredible comprehensive list of foods that are great for our bodies, that taste wonderful, and make a huge impact in our skin health moving forward. Now, some of you may be thinking, wow, this is such a restrictive diet, how can you stick with it, et cetera. Quite frankly, it's kind of the opposite because when you have a system and you're able to adhere to the system and make the commitment to staying with the system, it actually makes it easy to get all those important things that your body needs to function its best, and in this case, also indirectly helping your skin function its best. So the key to consistency is simplicity in having a system. And when you make things simple, you are able to stay consistent with it daily and able to stay continuous with it over time to really get the most out of everything. This is a foundational part of it. All of these things work and contribute to the anti-aging process. But realistically, you absolutely have to do the basics, which is sun protection, number one. Number two, getting on a very powerful, hopefully simple, anti-aging skincare routine that complements everything else that you're doing. And this is exactly the philosophy and the thinking that went behind the Kerimemdi Trifecta and the philosophy of the three Cs, which is commitment, consistency, and continuity. When you're doing the right things and you apply the three Cs, and you can apply this to anything, working out, diet, et cetera, you're gonna see results. And over the years, as a facial plastic surgeon, I have seen so many people struggle with trying to get their skincare right because oftentimes they would have to juggle 10 different products or be on the wrong things or hear about something switch and bounce and all those other things. So you never got to adhere to the three Cs. And that's when I decided I was gonna develop the Trifecta. And for those of you who don't know what the Trifecta is, it's basically three products that include essentially all the important actives that you need for anti-aging. And to learn more about it, please check out our website so you can get a little bit deeper look at what's actually in the Trifecta and hear what other people have to say about it. So there you have it, 13 foods that I consider important from anti-aging and skin health and how we employ that and how we use that in the Keram household every single day. And it's not until you treat yourself and your skin from the inside out that you're able to get the most out of everything that you do in our offices with our skincare products and all the different treatments that you're interested in doing. It starts from the inside. Now, there are a ton of foods that didn't quite make this list that are important for skin health, et cetera. So if you wanna go deeper, make sure you check out the Keram MD Journal where we put our entire grocery list for you to be able to reference in a much easier way. You can find the link in the description below. Now, I'd love to hear from you guys which one of these foods are part of your staple diet. What foods do you enjoy that are also super healthy you wanna share with our community? Make sure you drop them in the comments below. If you enjoyed this video, make sure you like it. Share it with some friends and family. Let's get the word out. Let's make people healthier. Let's give them the empowerment to make good decisions for themselves. And if you haven't subscribed already, make sure you subscribe to the channel so you can get videos like this every single week. Until next time, Dr. Amir Karam.