Looking visibly aged now, more than expected.

i would bet on the swing shifts you work more than anything...lack of quality sleep does me in.

[QUOTE=Knifegill;1025875]Longevity is overrated. I want to feel all the awesomeness I can now, and drop dead when the time comes.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Knifegill;1031293]But I have to ask myself, if I'm not going to have kids until I'm almost forty, is it wise to spend all my youth now? Have I traded longevity for an awesome mid-life? Is all the extra protein messing with my organs, blood pressure, and other functions?[/QUOTE]

This is funny.

Yeah, the first post was awhile ago. I've been thinking. Hell, look at Choco's posts if you want to watch a person evolve.

[QUOTE=Knifegill;1031620]Yeah, the first post was awhile ago. I've been thinking. Hell, look at Choco's posts if you want to watch a person evolve.[/QUOTE]

Your not allowed to change your mind on anything ever!!!! Illegal!

[QUOTE=Knifegill;1031293]In spite of how good I generally feel, the lines on my face are getting deeper faster than seems normal. Could just be that I'm not a puffy balloon anymore, or the sun I've seen. At 28, I looked 25. But now at 30 I look 35. I've been doing Primal about three years now. I can't help but wonder if it's the excess protein? It's not just my imagination, people have been overguessing my age lately. Now that I've rebuilt my body and restored my health, I'm wondering if it's time to go higher-starch instead of glycating protein every day. I've ridden the ketosis train, and I'll ride it again. Heck, I might even be able to get away with cutting protein in half and not changing anything else. I just don't want to ruin the feel-good energy and stable mood I generally have these days. I mean, I FEEL awesome and perform physical labor really well. I've had gains on bike rides lately and nothing is really wrong - except my face! Even when my skin is clear I just look a little - haggard, stressed, something is off. And my eyes like to get bloodshot now and then, I still can't figure that out. But I have to ask myself, if I'm not going to have kids until I'm almost forty, is it wise to spend all my youth now? Have I traded longevity for an awesome mid-life? Is all the extra protein messing with my organs, blood pressure, and other functions?[/QUOTE]

Are you eating primarily grass fed or grain fed meat? Grain fed meats will have a much higher pro-inflammatory fatty acid composition plus a lack of antioxidants compared to grass fed.

Just a thought. I also like the idea that you are unbalanced: too much animal protein/not enough plant matter.

Stress has aged me. I used to look 10 years under my true age. Always. In the past 10 years I feel like I have aged 20 years regardless of my diet (marital stress and stress of raising Autistic child). Find some ways to reduce stress if it is a factor.

Assuming you don't smoke. ;)

If you have lost some weight and staying permanently low on carbs that may be the reason. Two main reason for this: Hormonal and also lack of glycogen/water in the face muscles. If I were you I would tried to go high on carbs and proteins and lower on fat for a couple of weeks. Also try out supplementing with creatine, 5 – 10 gram per day…

Wait til you have kids, that's what ages people the most! You ain't seen nuthin' yet.

I'd second the swing shifts stress, need for skin moisturizer, and effects of weight loss as the culprits. And if you use the moisturizer, use it every morning and night.

First place I lose weight is in my face. But if you take care of your skin, makes it more elastic and it gets better. I religiously use skin cream when I diet.

Before anything else, I'd get off the night shifts. People who work nights tend to experience significant health effects, and the shift cycling is even worse because you can't get a regular schedule settled ever. Then I'd deal with some of the life stress stuff. After that, yeah, try the moisturizing (with CO or whatever), and then look at your diet. But I'm pretty sure normalizing your sleep will help a lot.

And yeah, being super lean can make some people look older, and having a little more roundness in the face tends to plump out the wrinkles a bit.

However, I don't buy the whole "paleo people always look old!" argument. We've been doing this for a couple of years now, and people still think we're both about 10 years younger than our chronological ages.

When people commented on my weight loss at a party last weekend, and I told them about primal living, a doctor friend came up to me later and said for me to start religiously with the anti-wrinkle cream because looking old was a side effect of all that protein. I told him I was not over doing the protein but I would appreciate him gifting me some 3Lab cream, ya know, since it's Christmas.

So can someone provide some good links for this whole protein -> wrinkles stuff?

Because spontaneous googling seemed like its exactly the opposite.