Plant-based eating is seen as a healthier option than consuming animal meats or fish from the sea. Is this wishful thinking by vegans who cannot wait to inform everyone of their eating preferences or are there visible negatives to being vegan? Do vegans look older? If you hang out with plenty of vegans, then they’ll likely chime in that it’s untrue. But let’s look a little more closely.
Do Vegans Have Better Skin?
Veganism Can Cause Saggy Skin
Does a vegan have better skin tone or healthier skin?
It’s easy to eat a restrictive, somewhat repetitive vegan meal plan that is lacking in appropriate nutrients. This can begin to affect healthy skin, which is deprived of the essentials that it requires.
It’s untrue that going vegan is only bad news for the skin. Removing dairy can be beneficial for acne sufferers, for instance, who usually have fewer breakouts.
The inclusion of more fruits and veggies gets additional antioxidants into the skin, which is also a good thing.
With that said, in a similar way to getting sunburned, the skin can suffer over the years when existing in a depleted state.
The lack of nutrients found in animal food products, including collagen, can cause the skin to sag prematurely. This can be especially true if you are living a junk food vegan lifestyle.
The sagging effect is what makes the face look progressively older as the years’ tack on.
The sagging effect is more noticeable in men who are overweight with substantial facial and belly fat and in more curvaceous women. Extra sagging and the effects of gravity are not their friends as a vegan.
Do Vegans Age Slower?
Drier skin and facial muscles lacking definition create a facial appearance that adds years on. Animal meat provides elastin and collagen. Both of these help the face retain its youthful appearance and elasticity for as long as possible.
Sorry, bad news, vegans do not appear to age slower.
Usually, they will look healthy – possibly with a glow to their skin – in the early years. However, when sustaining veganism for a decade or longer, and without adequate supplementation in all areas where a vegan diet is lacking, aging appears worse with time.
The skin will appear less reactive because of lacking elasticity.
Older vegans will see jowls near the bottom of their jawline sooner than non-vegans may do. The skin can also lack sufficient moisture too.
It’s worth pointing out that along with supplementation, both women and men need to moisturize to prevent the skin from drying out. And avoid the sun. Also, essential fatty acids like Omega-3 and multi-vitamins, especially vitamin B, are vital otherwise the skin tone will be duller and lack vibrancy.
Will Going Vegan Reverse The Signs Of Aging?
Becoming a vegan will not automatically reverse the visible signs of aging. If anything, it can sometimes worsen it.
Going vegan can remove the hormones added to meat products, animal fats, and other nasties that people wish to avoid.
On the flip side, not all vegan diets are healthier though. They commonly include extra sugars and an added dose of carbs.
Sometimes, they’re fattier than people expect too. Processed vegan meat alternatives exist, creating potentially unhealthy vegan diets.
Some vegans get a skin breakout because their new diet has introduced more refined carbs and is sweeter.
Both are acne triggers.
Plant-based foods can sometimes block zinc absorption, which can create pimples on the skin too. Even washed spinach, eaten raw, can prevent zinc from benefiting the body.
As such, a move to veganism may be better or worse from appearance, but it won’t in and of itself reverse aging indicators.
While supplementation is necessary for a vegan, that doesn’t mean multi-vitamins are absorbed well throughout the body.
Some vegans have a health crisis despite supplementation. Their bodies weren’t receiving the micronutrients that they required.
Few warnings are evident beforehand without a full health screening to know if your body is reacting like this.
So, Do Vegans Look Older?
Like most things in life: it depends…
For younger vegans who eat a balanced and varied vegan diet, and supplement thoroughly, it’s possible to look their age.
For long-term, now older vegans who haven’t always had a moderated, balanced diet or supplemented properly or consistently, the news is not so good.
Skin that’s sagged on the face won’t reverse course when doing veganism correctly – or switching back to a carnivore diet either. The damage, so to speak, is already done.
Adding biotics – pre and pro – along with collagen, can help to improve your skin’s vitality. Also, exfoliation is highly recommended to remove dry skin from the face to bring life back to it. This won’t be a miracle cure, but it can help stop looking noticeably older as a vegan.
