Today there is a large and growing variety of skin care and anti-aging products sold in America, primarily to women. The health of your skin depends on what you are eating and whether you are deficient in some crucial vitamins and minerals-which can be affected by your participation in a weight loss program. How will commercial or medical diet plans such as Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, LA Weight Loss, Jenny Craig, the South Beach Diet, NutriSystem or others affect your skin? How about fad diets? Read on...

Vitamins

According to the Procter & Gamble Skin Care Research Center..."While the use of daily vitamins has for years been recognized as an important part of maintaining health, only recently have researchers started paying attention to the relationship between nutritional intake and skin health. Vitamins have long been used in topical skin treatment for their beneficial effects on the skin's surface and for their antioxidant properties."

Most RDs (registered dietitians) and nutritionists would agree with the above statement.

According to the women's health website iVillage.com, vitamin A is essential for healthy skin. To get vitamin A, one should eat plenty of dark orange (carrots, sweet potatoes) and dark green (broccoli, spinach) vegetables, all of which are high in vitamin A.

In addition, vitamin E helps promote good looking skin. A diet that includes nuts such as hazelnuts and almonds will help you get that.

Anti-Aging Treatments

Skin care experts advise us to consume a balanced and healthy diet. A balanced diet is a diet allowing us to avoid malnutrition and nutrient deficiencies. Keep in mind, though, that in order to "beat nature" and derive significant anti-aging benefits, one may have to consume some nutrients in greater amounts than those found in a basic balanced diet.

For most people, the simplest and probably the most practical way to stick to a balanced and healthy diet is to follow the recommendations of the daily Food Guide  developed by the US Dept. of Agriculture.

Fruits and vegetables are especially important for preventing premature skin aging because they contain a wide variety of antioxidants. Many of the pigments responsible for the color of fruits and vegetables are, among other things, powerful antioxidants. These antioxidants help protect your skin cells from damage by free radicals, which are especially rampant in the skin due to environmental exposure. To ensure that your fruits and vegetables keep all their antioxidants intact, make sure they are fresh and uncooked (or minimally cooked) since heat inactivates most antioxidants. 

Skin care experts say that well-moisturized skin is less prone to developing wrinkles. Drinking plenty of fluids during the day ensures adequate hydration of the body and helps reduce skin dryness. Experts usually recommend drinking 6 to 8 glasses of water a day. Coincidentally, most weight loss programs recommend that you drink lots of water also.

With the exception of for burning oneself in direct sunlight, the fastest way to get wrinkles is to put on a lot of weight and then lose it. The reason is obvious: when you gain weight, extra fat stretches the skin. Then, when you lose weight and body fat goes away, the skin sags and crumples up.

Perhaps the best-known dermatologist in America today is Dr. Nicholas Perricone, MD. He is a board-certified clinical and research dermatologist. He is certified by the American Board of Dermatology, is a Fellow of the NY Academy of Sciences and the American College of Nutrition. In 2001, Vogue magazine named him one of the best dermatologists in the U.S.

Dr. Perricone is regarded as the Father of the Inflammation Theory of Aging. He is the author of three NY Times #1 Best Sellers: The Perricone Promise, The Perricone Prescription, and The Wrinkle Cure. His latest book, The Perricone Weight Loss Diet is to debut Sept. 20, 2005 ($17 on Amazon.com). Dr. Perricone holds dozens of US patents for the treatment of skin and systemic diseases.

At Dr. Perricone's website (nvperriconemd.com) he sells his books, supplements, products for eye/face/body/lip care, acne care, moisturizers, cleansers and toners. He also sells a weight loss program for $195 that seems to consist only of a 30-day supply of supplements, one packet taken 3 times a day, before each meal. (Seems kind of pricey for just a month's worth of supplements.)

The popular diet website eDiets.com also promotes Dr. Perricone, with the Perricone "Face Lift". At eDiets, there is a free profile you get after leaving your name, height, weight, age, zip code, email, etc. and answering six questions. The "profile" calculates your BMI and daily calorie guide for your weight loss goal.

You are led to believe that the next step is to sign up for Dr. Perricone's special diet plan, but instead you're led to the regular sign-up screen for the eDiets program at $2.99/week. This is a little misleading, in BestDietForMe.com's opinion.