What's Eating Your Skin?

While it's just one factor among many, the food that you put into your body can have an effect on the outside of your body, namely your skin. There are a few foods and drinks you might want to avoid if you're trying to maintain healthy skin. The five dirtiest skin-clogging culprits might be caffeine, alcohol, salt, sugar and preservative-laden foods like processed meats. While caffeine's benefits for rosacea sufferers and its blood vessel-constricting qualities may help skin look better, consuming too much of it has the opposite effect. It's also touted for its antioxidant effects - for some Americans, that cup of joe in the morning is the largest dose of free radical-quashing antioxidants they get all day! Everyone's seen that "W.C. Fields" nose - reddish with broken veins all over, associated with alcoholism. And it's not too far from the truth. Vasodilation is the technical term for the red veins that can pop out on the surface of the face, plus alcohol can make your skin look like how you feel during a hangover - dry, irritated and lackluster.