Can You Eat Your Way To Younger Skin? Science Says You Sure Can

For true skin longevity, an inside-out approach is vital. All the expensive collagen-promoting treatments and topicals in the world won't have much staying power if you don't supply your body with the amino acids it needs to create collagen in the first place! A balanced diet is not the only thing you can do for healthier skin (don't get me wrong, I will not forgo my beloved serums or regular facials), but it is a foundational step you shouldn't ignore.

It's true that plenty of whole, nutrient-dense foods have complexion-changing properties. However, it's the absence of food that may have some targeted benefits for skin aging. Intermittent fasting, in particular, has been linked to skin longevity, but for those who don't want to stick to a specific feeding window, a fasting-mimicking diet (FMD) shows promise too.

The diet, developed by Valter Longo, Ph.D., at the USC Longevity Institute, essentially mimics the effects of fasting without entirely eliminating food. On the plan, you decrease calories to around 1,100 on the first day, then to around 800 the next four days (while eating specific, lower-carb, nutrient-dense whole foods). The point of this program is to mimic the physiological and metabolic effects of fasting1, including the cellular "housekeeping" process of autophagy. 

Quick refresher on autophagy: "Inside our cells, there can be a buildup of cellular waste products, like proteins, used organelles, and even discarded, old mitochondria that aren't functioning so well," says holistic plastic surgeon Anthony Youn, M.D., on the mindbodygreen podcast. "They can actually build up and cause our cells to function less efficiently—essentially, as if you were older." 

By stimulating this cellular recycling process, your body can use these waste products as fuel in the absence of other forms of fuel (like food). "By removing this from the cell, it causes the cell to function more efficiently, and essentially, more youthfully," notes Youn. "A lot of people look at [fasting] as a way to improve their metabolic flexibility, but a lot of people don't realize that that is actually a great way to help rejuvenate the skin and turn the clock back on skin aging as well." 

Research backs up the claim too. Take this randomized controlled trial2, which aimed to measure the effects of a five-day FMD protocol, administered once a month for three months, in a group of 45 healthy women between the ages of 35 and 60. After three consecutive monthly cycles of FMD, the women had a significant increase in skin hydration and a smoother skin texture.

You can order the ProLon Fasting Mimicking Diet kit, which contains everything you'll eat in that five-day period, including soups, nut bars, herbal teas, and whole olives; it comes with five labeled boxes so you know exactly what to eat each day. 

You can read our full guide to FMD here for more research-backed benefits and what to expect (for example: If you're allergic to nuts, this probably isn't the best diet for you!). Still, we recommend seeing a health care professional before embarking on any restricted eating plan, as it's not for everyone.