The Beauty Diet (34 page)

Whitening toothpaste.
This can make your teeth appear a little lighter by removing stains on the surface of the teeth, but it will not actually bleach your teeth.

Over-the-counter tooth-whitening products.
These range from "pens" to whitening strips to trays of gel you put in your mouth. These methods may be helpful for maintenance following a professional procedure.

Dental trays with gel prescribed by your dentist.
Tooth-whitening kits from the dentist produce faster results because they contain a stronger peroxide bleaching agent than anything you can buy over the counter.

One-time in-office treatment.
Your teeth can be whitened by several shades in under an hour, dramatically improving the appearance of your teeth. You may have three applications of whitening gel during one appointment. A special lamp is used to activate the whitening gel and speed up the whitening process. This approach uses a strong whitening agent, so there's more potential for temporary sensitivity.

The ADA advises patients to consult with their dentists to determine the most appropriate treatment to meet their needs.

Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical.

—Sophia Loren

If I had to guess, I'd say you probably would be willing to run to the grocery store with your hair quickly pulled back in a ponytail. You most likely would take out the dog wearing your boyfriend's oversized sweatshirt. You might even drop the kids off at school in the morning still wearing your bunny slippers. But leave the house without your eyebrows plucked? Not likely! If you got pinkeye, would you let other people see you without eye makeup—and wearing greasy eye medicine? Only if
you could wear dark sunglasses, right? Personally I don't like to do errands without at least some mascara and eyeliner. I never know whom I might see—and who might see me!

You probably spend extra attention on your eyes because they are so expressive. You look into other people's eyes to see if they are telling the truth, to find out what they are feeling, to show them you are fearless, and to let them know you love them. Your eyes not only see the world but also communicate to the world your thoughts, feelings, and intentions.

The way you present your eyes says something too. You may prefer the fresh-faced, minimal-makeup approach, showing that you are a natural beauty. Or you may prefer the ultra-glam, richly made-up look, complete with jewel-toned eye shadow and false eyelashes—including, if you're Madonna, $10,000 mink eyelashes with diamonds on them! Part of the beauty of eyes, of course, is that you can have it both ways and simply switch your palette to match your mood.

When you're healthy, your eyes are clear and bright. If you're not feeling well, other people will be able to tell immediately by your eyes. Sometimes the appearance of your eyes gives clues to systemic problems, like liver, thyroid, or kidney disorders. Stunning eyes say so much about you, and they are flattering to your entire look. Following is my best advice for keeping your eyes healthy and bright.

Our eyes put up with a lot. We expect them to be 100 percent reliable, and we count on them to see accurately under all sorts of conditions, from the deepest night to a day with blazing sun reflecting off white snow. We subject our eyes to all kinds of tasks, from reading the tiny print on medicine bottles and BlackBerrys to scanning the far horizon. As children we read under the covers with flashlights, sat too close
to the television, and had flashbulbs go off in our faces so brightly that we saw spots afterward. Now that youth is no longer on our side, it makes sense to give our eyes some extra nutritional support so they will stay clear and captivating.

When we laugh or squint, we get "crow's feet" at the corners of our eyes. Laughing is always beneficial, but squinting . . . not so much. The skin around the eyes is the thinnest on the body, and because it has very few sweat or oil glands, it tends to be dry. With repeated squinting, the wrinkles become more embedded, giving the face more character, but a less youthful appearance. To keep the skin around your eyes flexible and hydrated, use moisturizer and follow my nutritional guidelines for thirsty skin in
Chapter 3
.

The colored part of the eye is the iris—the unique aspect of another person's face that is so memorable. The pupil is the black circle in the middle of the eye that expands in the dark to let in more light and contracts in the sunlight to keep out excessive UV rays.

Behind the iris is the lens. The lens of the eye contains high levels of vitamins C and E, which suggests these are eye-healthy vitamins to include in our diets. The cells of the lens make a special set of proteins called
crystallins
that allow red, blue, green, yellow, and UV wavelengths to pass through the lens and onto the retina. The lens helps to focus light on the retina, which then sends to the brain an image of what we are seeing. The lens of the eye is the only organ that never sheds a cell.

The retina is a light-sensitive membrane that contains millions of light receptor cells. It lines the eye and receives images from the lens. The retina has high concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids; specifically, very high levels of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are present in the membranes of photoreceptor cells. The retina also contains zinc, plus
high levels of the related carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin. Lutein, a natural yellow pigment, is highly concentrated in the macula lutea, a yellowish spot close to the center of the retina. Lutein filters out blue light, which is believed to be damaging—hence, lutein has been dubbed
natural sunglasses
. Lutein has antioxidant properties as well. It is not manufactured by the body, so the only way to obtain it is by eating it. Spinach, one of my Top 10 Beauty Foods, is an excellent source of lutein.

Over time, free radicals damage the retina as well as components of the lens, including lipids and proteins. The eyes are protected in part by enzymes that digest damaged proteins. Antioxidants not only help protect the eyes from free-radical damage directly, but also keep the protective enzymes functioning longer.

When damage to the lens accumulates, opaque areas called
cataracts
gradually develop. Different kinds of damage to the retina—for example, problems caused by premature birth, diabetes, or high blood pressure—are grouped under the umbrella term
retinopathy
. When damage to the light-sensitive cells at the back of the retina—more specifically, to the area that produces the sharpest vision, called the
macula
—accumulates over time, the result is called
age-related macular degeneration
, or
AMD
.

Lots of research regarding ophthalmic nutrition has been done, with intriguing results. An early study researched the link between eye health and supplementary vitamin C, vita-min E, beta-carotene, and zinc. This landmark study from the National Eye Institute (part of the National Institutes
of Health) was called the Age-Related Eye Disease Study, or AREDS. Participants took high-dose supplements for six years. Scientists concluded the supplements were somewhat protective against macular degeneration, but they did not help restore vision that was already lost.

Some protection against cataracts was apparent in a sub-study of the federally funded Nurses' Health Study called the Nutrition and Vision Project, or NVP. This study showed that women with the highest intakes of vitamin C, vitamin E, riboflavin (vitamin B
2
), folate (vitamin B
9
), beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin had a lower prevalence of opaque areas in the eye. Those who used vitamin C supplements for 10 or more years were 64 percent less likely to have nuclear opacification than those who didn't take vitamin C supplements.

Several studies have examined the link between omega-3 fatty acids and age-related eye problems. A 2007 study from the National Eye Institute concluded that omega-3 fatty acids are protective against retinopathy in mice and suggested that increasing omega-3 fatty acid intake in premature infants may significantly decrease the occurrence of retinopathy due to prematurity. Scientists are hoping that, by extension, omega-3 fatty acids will also prove helpful against retinopathy due to diabetes, as well as age-related macular degeneration.

Not everyone agrees that nutritional intervention can help prevent age-related eye disorders. A 2007 article in the
British Medical Journal
reveals that researchers in Australia concluded from a meta-analysis of existing studies that the only lifestyle-related risk factor for macular degeneration established beyond a doubt is smoking. On the flipside, recent research on omega-3 fats is very promising. In June 2008, researchers from Australia concluded that a high dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids was associated with a 38 percent reduction in the risk of late (advanced) AMD, while eating
fish twice a week was associated with a reduced risk of both early and late AMD. The study, published in the
Archives of Ophthalmology
, was a meta-analysis of nine previously published studies, involving a total of 88,974 individuals.