Besides, of course, the fact that carbs are yummy. :-) According to a 2005 study by Beisswenger, the collagen of patients who were put on the Atkins diet aged faster than the collagen of patients who were not on the diet. Specifically, it was found that the rate of advanced glycation endproduct (AGE) formation, responsible in part for the hardened aged state of collagen, was actually doubled in patients who were following the Atkins diet from those who were not. (It was verified the patients in the diet group were following the Atkins diet by the presence of ketones in their urine.) It seems that ketosis doubles the presence of methylglyoxal in the body, which reacts with Amadori products, forming twice the collagen-aging AGE products that would normally be present. It is further notable that methylglyoxal is 40000 times more reactive than blood sugar itself, so it seems that avoiding sugar in hopes of decreasing AGE formation is incredibly counterproductive!

So what is a body-conscious, skin-savvy patient to do? According to über nutritionist Joy Bauer, MS, RD, CDN and author of Food Cures, the best bet is to consume high-quality carbohydrates, such as vegetables, fruits, beans, peas, lentils, brown and wild rice, barley, oatmeal, whole grain cereals, whole grain breads, whole grain crackers, quinoa, amaranth, wheat berries, and millet, rather than eliminating carbohydrates. These carbohydrates allow blood sugars to rise gently, stay even over a longer period of time than their simple carb counterparts, and then fall off slowly.

So don’t age your skin to make your body leaner - simply cut out only the simple carbs, switch to all complex carbs, and get healthier, leaner, and still have younger skin as a result.

http://www.futurederm.com/2008/05/2...diet-of-choice/