The 5 Foods You Didn't Know Were Bad For Your Skin

That old "you are what you eat" saying your mother used to scold you with? Turns out it holds true for your skin. Fill up on refined sugars, carbs, and trans fats and you may find yourself gasping at the mirror in the morning. A poor diet, according to Patricia Farris, MD, can cause inflamation. This process eventually will damage collagen in the skin and result in a jump in fine lines and wrinkles. 

We all know the usual culprits. Fatty foods, anything that claims to be "diet" or use artificial sweeteners. Health news outlets bombard us with the negative effects of parabens and pesticides on the fruit that we eat, but we were surprised to find that some foods we thought were healthy are in fact horrible for your skin. 

1. Rice Cakes 

According to Valori Treloar, author of The Clear Skin Diet, when it comes to your skin, eating rice cakes is as bad as taking in a spoonful of sugar. Rice cakes cause blood sugar to spike, which speeds up the formation of wrinkles. The sugar, once ingested, is converted into glucose which in turn damages wrinkle fighting proteins like collagen. 

2. "Healthy" Cereal

While whole grains are an important part of your diet, most self-proclaimed "healthy" cereals are actually loaded with sugar and unhealthy fats that can also lead to wrinkle-forming glucose spikes.

3. Milk

"Milk can be full of growth hormones and growth factors that remain biologically active even after pasteurization," explains Treloar. "Studies show that they appear to make their way into our blood stream where they can affect insulin, cause inflammation, and ramp up oil production." If you are lactose intolerant, the ingestion of milk can also cause an inflammatory reaction in the body, leaving skin, especially around the eyes and face, looking dull and puffy. If you are still getting breakouts even though you have a rigorous skincare routine, dairy products may be the culprit. 

4. Sugary Smoothies

Jamba Juice and all the other fancy smoothie places win you over with kale and greens, but there's a reason why they still taste like an ice cream cone. Most smoothies are made with high fructose corn syrup, especially if not all of the ingredients are whole fruits and vegetables. 

5. Agave

 "Fructose is metabolized by your liver where it not only turns into fat, but is much more efficient at breaking down collagen than regular table sugar," says Farris.