Looking visibly aged now, more than expected. page

[Knifegill]

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?

[Forgotmylastusername]

High protein continually isn't necessary nor optimal. I cut my protein drastically after I reached my ideal weight. By the sound of it you're high protein/high fat but probably pretty short on plant foods which contain hundreds of potential antioxidants, caretenoids, polyphenols and other phytonutrients that protect you from and slow down the aging process.
The science on different protective plant nutrients that are being discovered by the day is so vast. I think that kind of stuff is extremely underrated/overlooked on here. I'm not suggesting you start living off goji berries and kale smoothies but sweet potatoes, berries,fruits, avocado's and other vegetables are amazing foods.

You probably have an excessive methionine content which wouldn't be doing you any favors.

[Derpamix]

You're aging rapidly for a variety of reasons.

1). Stress hormones are permanently activated
2). Excess tryptophan
3). Serotonin

Those three I know for a fact, and can make various other assumptions based on your diet alone. I'm about your age and get that I look like I'm 20 years old all the time. Genetics? Maybe, maybe not.

Lower your stress. Sugar, sugar, sugar.

[Knifegill]

Naw, I eat berries, baking chocolate, coffee, green tea and strong spices regularly. And a green apple most days, except for zero carb sprees which are rare. Not to mention organ meats have vitamin C and D, along with the usual awesome list of B vitamins, etc.

I just have to take it slow and give my body a chance to relearn how to digest starch again. I know what'll happen if I eat a big bowl of mashed sweet potatoes right now! Maybe some cooked carrots to get the system rolling again...

You're aging rapidly for a variety of reasons.

1). Stress hormones are permanently activated
2). Excess tryptophan
3). Serotonin

Those three I know for a fact, and can make various other assumptions based on your diet alone. I'm about your age and get that I look like I'm 20 years old all the time. Genetics? Maybe, maybe not.

Lower your stress. Sugar, sugar, sugar.

You're saying I should eat sugar on purpose?
Stress is right. Maybe I should drop coffee after all. And go back to day shift so I can quit flip-flopping back and forth. My toenails look like seashells because every other week I sleep by day and every other week I sleep at night. That's GOT to be stressful.
Tryptophan, huh? I'll look into that one!

[j3nn]

Any idea how your DHEA levels are? There's a correlation between low levels and aging skin. Supplementation has been proven to help decrease wrinkles but it comes with risks, so I'd use caution with supplementing DHEA as it could trigger unbalanced hormones.

Orange fruits and vegetables are also helpful in keeping skin youthful. I know a guy in his 50s who looks late 30s tops and drinks carrot juice daily. And he smokes! Pretty sure he's vegetarian also. Anyway, he inspired me to get a juicer.

[Derpamix]

You're saying I should eat sugar on purpose?
Stress is right. Maybe I should drop coffee after all. And go back to day shift so I can quit flip-flopping back and forth. My toenails look like seashells because every other week I sleep by day and every other week I sleep at night. That's GOT to be stressful.
Tryptophan, huh? I'll look into that one!

Use it as a medicine, sugar lowers ACTH stress hormones. Don't drop the coffee, it has anti-aging properties and is particularly protective against serotonin.

Better protein consumption would help you. Paleo diets are typically high in typtophan due to high meat consumption. Gelatin is good for this.

I can relate to the unstable work schedule, mine is the same way.

Also, look into taking pregnenolone. It will probably give you an immediate face lift.

[spuggygirl]

Do you look after your skin?

I know it works mostly from the inside out, but looking after the outside doesn't hurt either.

I'm very lucky and have the opposite - partly down to genetics (my mother looked much younger than her years until she was well into her 60s) but also because I had it drummed into me to look after my skin from a very young age.

How about rubbing some of that lovely coconut oil into your skin of a morning?

[Forgotmylastusername]

Google "methionine and aging". There's plenty of info.
Methionine oxidation and aging. [Biochim Biophys Acta. 2005] - PubMed - NCBI
Advances in aging research: why methionine restriction is an attractive life-extension strategy - Pittsburgh Medical Technology | Examiner.com

[Barefoot Gentile]

Just by observation, the people who follow a primal/peleo eating diet consistently do age rapidly I ran into someone who I havent seen in years, he dropped a lot weight, but looked about 10 years older. He is a die hard primal eating machine, follows it 100%, besides his weight lose he looks unhealthy. You don't have to be a scientist to realize that too much protein intake will eventually destroy your body.

[Derpamix]

It's not protein, it's the composition of amino acids in the protein that is commonly consumed on a paleo diet. Tryptophan, methionine, and cysteine are all consumed in abundance.

Gelatin has no tryptophan, and very small amounts of methionine and cysteine. Of course one can't just get all of their protein from gelatin, so it should be balanced out with consuming your muscle meats with gelatin. I personally get moderate protein with most coming from dairy or gelatin, with some beef from time to time.

Paleo dieters just think "OH MEAT PRIMAL EAT" without thinking of how inflammatory it actually is. I know someone that goes through 2 packages of bacon a day. Pork has the highest concentration of arachidonic acid, which is very, very inflammatory.