How do we reverse winkles as we age? Bringing your skin from rough and/or wrinkly to more youthful skin is controlled by something called GAG – glycosaminoglycans. This is a chemical in your body that keeps the skin and collagen electrically hydrated. It helps repair proteins and collagen in your skin and helps you make healthy, vibrant collagen and skin. If you don’t have GAG, your skin will sag and droop. Believe it or not, it’s not sunlight over the years that just makes your skin wrinkle. In fact, the sunlight will give you vitamin D and protect the skin. But it really is a deficiency in GAG as we age. GAG is also responsible for the discs in your spine to be really healthy and hydrated. So, if you’re shrinking as you’re getting older then we know you don’t have enough GAG. But you can’t just take this as a supplement and see the change because what controls this hydrating, anti-wrinkle chemical is IGF-1 – (insulin like growth factor-one). It’s a hormone made by the liver that is controlled by growth hormone which also is the anti-aging hormone. So, this is an extension of growth hormone. Some people actually take growth hormone as a supplement to get youthful but there’s some side effects to that, so we want figure out how to naturally trigger this IGF-1. Let’s take a look at seven ways to do it.
Reduce Insulin
IGF-1 works inversely with insulin. So, if insulin is high IGF-1 will be low. Healthy young individuals need 100 times more concentrated IGF than insulin. So, if you have insulin resistance for example, or diabetes you’re going to have higher insulin and IGF-1 will go down. This is really important to help you reduce insulin problems and even diabetes. So, you want to reduce insulin. The way we do that is to change the diet. This means cutting out the carbs, try intermittent fasting and avoiding the hidden things that trigger insulin like MSG (monosodium glutamate)
Enhance Sleep
You need to fix the reason why you can’t sleep because sleeping will increase IGF-1. Even if you have to take a nap. Also, lowering cortisol-the stress hormone, that actually prevents you from sleeping. Increased stress will decrease your sleep and age you.
HIITS
High intensity interval training will also increase IGF-1. You want to do full body exercises and involve as many muscles as possible whether you’re doing a spin bike, burpees, pushups. Whatever exercise it is, you want to do very short bursts followed by a rest phase. Every other day or every third day is plenty and make sure you don’t overtrain. This type of training will also increase growth hormone.
Moderate amount of protein
A moderate amount of protein will be enough to improve the quality of your skin. Too much will stimulate insulin so generally 3 to 6 oz is a good amount to take per meal. You also want to make sure it’s a high-quality protein, not soy protein isolate. You need high-quality, grass-fed protein, if you can get it or least organic.
Enhance the liver
There is a lot of factors for a healthy liver and it’s important because the liver makes IGF-1. Some basics are avoiding alcohol because it will make you age. Eat organic as much as possible and make sure to eat a lot of vegetables. Some supplements to support the liver are milk thistle and dandelion root.
Intermittent fasting
You can follow this link to understand more about intermittent fasting. But the end result is that when you’re not eating, you’re stimulating growth hormone and IGF-1. Unfortunately, the older we get the harder we have to work at this because over time the liver becomes more unhealthy.
Fat Soluble Vitamins
Vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin K2 are all important for healthy skin because they enhance IGF-1. The best sources of fat-soluble vitamins are egg yolks from pasture raised organic eggs. You can also try cod liver oil and grass-fed butter.
As a retired registered massage therapist, I’ve always been interested in health. I grew up loving sports so that carried into my adult life in my chosen career paths and in my personal life. I now stay active with weight training, hiking and biking. My professional life has always been in health care. This has inspired me to seek out and adopt a life of natural health and wellness.