Feed Your Skin From The Inside

Your skin isn’t just reacting to what you put on it, it’s responding to what you put in your body and how you live day to day. We’re wrapping up our skin series by stepping back from the endless lineup of cleansers, serums, and “miracle” products and looking at what actually gives skin the raw materials to repair and thrive. If you’ve ever felt pulled into skincare rabbit holes and conflicting internet advice, this conversation is your reset.

We talk about why skin health is tied to the same systems that run the rest of you: gut, liver, hormones, immune function, and especially blood sugar. That’s where ultra-processed foods come in. No guilt and no “never eat a cookie again” rules, but we do get honest about the difference between an occasional treat and a diet built around packaged, engineered foods. We also break down glycation in plain language, think “sugar sticking where you don’t want it to stick,” and why that matters for collagen and long-term skin aging.

From there, we move into practical nutrition for glowing skin: prioritizing protein for tissue repair, adding vitamin C rich foods to support collagen production, and using supplements as tools instead of substitutes for whole-food nutrition. We also hit hydration, including what water can help with and what it can’t, plus the lifestyle basics that show up on your skin over time: sleep, stress, movement, and nervous system regulation.

If you want clearer, calmer guidance on skin care from the inside out, hit play, then subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show.

Transcript

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Welcome To Spandex And Wine

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello and welcome to the Spandex and Wine Podcast. I'm your host, Robin Hackney, and I'm so happy that you're here. This podcast is a place for conversations about balancing a healthy lifestyle and being happy. More specifically, happy hour. Together, we'll explore all things wellness and wine. I hope you learn a little, laugh a lot, and along the way, know you're not alone on this balanced wellness journey. Ready to jump in? Pour something in your glass that makes you happy because it's time for Spandex and Wine.

Skin Care Starts Inside Your Body

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Welcome back to the Spandex and Wine Podcast. We are wrapping up our series on skin, even though there are way more things that we could talk about. I have gone down so many internet rabbit holes with all of this. And again, like my intention with this is just to get you thinking. And I said in the beginning that, you know, I'm not a dermatologist, I'm not a physician, I'm not an esthetician. I am just someone that I saw a friend's post and it got me thinking more and more about what we put on our skin, what we put in our body, um, our nervous system. I think our entire series that we did on regulating your nervous system, I could have tied all of this together. It just made me really curious. And I hope this is making you curious too. So you will just look in and make better informed choices. Um, when we talk about, you know, food that we put in our body, how is that supporting our skin? We tend to think of just the outside. So we think about the cleansers and the serums and the moisturizers and the eye cream, all of that, and maybe the latest and greatest thing that flashed on your um Instagram as you were scrolling through. And it would be so nice if there were just one product that we could take and we, you know, erase our wrinkles or what it might be. Although, you know, I don't think it's that bad. You guys have watched me go from coloring my hair to gray. And while that ages me looking gray, I just feel like that's a really good choice for me. And so I'm trying to make those same choices with my skin. And I want you to think about your skin and your body making your skin as like building a house. So your body needs those raw materials. You can't build a beautiful house if you're sending a construction crew, a truckload of cardboard, and just say, okay, here you go, good luck. Build me a beautiful house. Your body, like that house, needs building blocks. So you need protein, you need essential fats, you need vitamins, you need minerals, antioxidants, water, and calories. Your skin is a living tissue, and you have to give it the supplies that it needs so it can replenish itself and just look its very best. So

Ultra-Processed Foods And Skin Health

SPEAKER_00 2:58

one of the posts that I saw that I shared with you guys was on ultra-processed foods. And this was a little frustrating for me because yes, I found several holistic sites. I um found so many more that were saying no ultra-processed foods, you can't say that that is necessarily bad for your skin. And that just unnerved me because we know, we know how bad ultra-processed foods are for us. And I'm not saying that you're never going to eat a cookie again. I do it too. Um, shameless plug for my sister, though, homestead uh cafe and bakery. She likes to use all natural ingredients as much as she possibly can. Um, and I know that there's other small local businesses out there that do that. So I would encourage you to look for those kinds of things. But anyway, I went off on a tangent there. Um, okay, so I don't want to give you the message that you can't eat that cookie again. And I think there's a difference between occasionally eating something highly processed and building your entire diet around foods that come in packages or have that long list of ingredients and are designed, literally designed, to make you want to have another bite. And there is research connecting ultra-processed foods with poor health, and that's growing and growing. Um, that's not new news to everyone. But, you know, everything that I read, they're like, oh, you can't not necessarily, I'm sorry if you heard my husband just sneeze. Um sorry about that. You can't necessarily link processed foods to bad skin. I disagree with that because you're not putting those whole good foods into your body. And when we think about just like blood sugar, your body doesn't have different departments that never speak to each other. We have already talked about how everything is connected. Your liver, gut, hormones, blood sugar, immune system, and skin are all part of the same organization. And you it all needs to communicate and it all does communicate and it all comes together. So, yes, there is a link, in my opinion, between ultra-processed foods and your skin. I, you know, I'm not gonna do an experiment and go and just eat. You hear these people doing uh McDonald's for 30 days or whatever it might be. I'm not gonna do that to prove my point. But again, we all know that that is going whole foods is the best way to um fuel your body, fuel your mind, and for your skin.

Glycation And Collagen Breakdown

SPEAKER_00 5:42

And another word that I wanted to throw out there is um glycation. And I don't want that to scare do scare you at all, but I want you to think about it as sugar sticking where you don't want it to stick. So imagine taking a piece of bread and just like leaving it in the toaster, it you know, get brown, it gets it browns, and that browning process is related to what happens when sugars react with proteins. And inside your body, chronic elevations in blood sugar can contribute to the formation of compounds called advanced glycation end products, so AGEs. And collagen is one of the proteins. I am having a hard time speaking, I am so sorry. That's not very good for a podcast. And collagen is one of the proteins that can be affected. You have heard so many things about collagen. I have no doubt whether you take a supplement or not, or you just focus on foods that have more collagen. Collagen is one of the major structural proteins in your skin. So I'm not saying that, you know, eat one cookie and you're gonna destroy your collagen. That's not true. Just like I said before, you know, you're not gonna not have a cookie again for the rest of your life. But I want you to think about the bigger picture of your metabolic health over time. And, you know, it really is interesting. I'm not, we're not all out there to create the, you know, perfect skin. We are trying to create a body that functions well. And I feel like as we age, we kind of get that more, right? Like I think 20 years ago, yes, I would have been a little more worried about my skin or my waistline or whatever it might be. But now I think we all are shifting to let's move better, let's live better. And your skin gets to be one of the places where all of this shows up.

Protein Plus Vitamin C For Skin

SPEAKER_00 7:36

So when we talk about what we should eat, what will really feed our skin, will fuel our bodies. Um, one of the things, you know, the first thing you guys hear me talk about this all the time is protein. So your body needs amino acids to make proteins, including collagen. So think about fresh farm eggs or fish or chicken or lean meats. And if you can tolerate Greek yogurt, fantastic. Uh, beans and legumes and other protein-rich foods that work for you. You also have to make sure that it works for your digestive system, although protein is very important for your digestive system. I've shared that before. And it's not just for your muscles, it is necessary. We think of that when you hear protein, everyone tends to think of yes, it's the building block for our muscles. But your body is constantly rebuilding, and your skin is part of that construction project, if you will, using that same analogy of the house from earlier. So we need protein in so many different processes. It's so good for our hormones as well. I could go back to the episode where I was sharing all of that about how protein is, you know, good for digestion and your hormones and yes, the building blocks for your muscles, but also for your skin. And vitamin C comes in as well. Your body needs vitamin C to make collagen, and vitamin C is required for collagen biosynthesis, and it's also an antioxidant. An interesting little tidbit if you are taking a collagen supplement, you'll want to make sure that you have vitamin C with that. I'm fortunate that the supplement that I use already has vitamin C in it. Um, but just make sure you think about that. And, you know, other things that contain vitamin C, your strawberries, your citrus, your bell peppers, uh, broccoli, let's see, tomatoes. You know, it's not, it's not just something that we needed and we learned in our nutrition books to keep us from having scurvy. I don't think we've heard of anyone having scurvy in a very long time. You, when you are intaking and eating and consuming vitamin C, you're providing your body with a nutrient that it will use to make collagen. And again, going back to that analogy of the house, I want you to think of collagen as the scaffolding. You do not have to take a supplement. Um, you there are so many different foods. I listed a few of those that you can eat to help build and boost the collagen in your own bodies. I do feel like our foods and our soils are depleted so much. I think that supplements do help in that, but I don't think that they replace uh whole foods and nutrition. So I want to make sure that that's clear that a supplement is a tool and it is not a substitute for nutrition. So going back to what I was saying about collagen, thinking of it as of scaffolding, it is essentially one of those structural proteins that gives our skin its framework. And as we age, collagen production changes and it definitely declines. And there are studies suggesting that supplements can improve skin hydration and appearance. They're coming out with more and more of those. So as you see those studies, I would take a look. Again, learn from your research. Do your own research. Don't just take what someone else is telling you and, you know, maybe thinking that that influencer is someone that you need to make sure that you follow and do everything that that person does, because that is not true. Um I feel like I'm going off on so many tangents. But with all of this, you know, yes, if you're taking the collagen powder, that is fantastic. But I'd also invite you to ask yourself if you're eating enough protein, if you're eating enough vitamin C rich foods, if you're getting enough nutrients overall. Women, especially as we age, we tend to eat less and less and less, and especially protein, and that's not doing us any favors. We need all of those nutrients, just like we need strength training, we need sleep. Your skin doesn't live in a vacuum. Again, it is all connected.

Hydration Without The Hype

SPEAKER_00 12:13

And I don't think I would be serving you well if we didn't talk a little bit about water. Um, your skin, you know, your body is made up of mostly water, and your skin has a water barrier, and hydration of the outermost layer of skin matters for its function and appearance. But I don't want you to think that drinking more and more water is like a magic eraser for your wrinkles. There is research that increasing fluid intake specifically can improve skin. Some of that is limited. Um, I do think that is very important for just overall hydration. Do you guys remember when I don't even know if this was on Facebook or what it was, but like just right now, look at your hand and pinch your skin, pull it up, and then let go. Does your skin go back quickly or does it go back slowly? The slower that it goes down, I mean, some of that is age, but it also will indicate hydration. So making sure that you drink plenty of water, not just for the inside, but for your outside as well. And, you know, some people, the amount varies. I try and get at least 64 ounces of water every day. I do like a good gallon challenge every now and then, but there are things that go along with that as well. I

Sunlight Claims And Internet Confusion

SPEAKER_00 13:37

have so many other things that we could talk about with skin, how sleep is important, how stress is important, how regulating your nervous system is important. I also wanted to throw in some other fun facts, but I just got so frustrated with the internet and the way that it was directing me. Like I have heard from holistic doctors that you should make sure that your fingernails and tail toenails get sunlight without polish, how important that is, or that your eyes actually need um sunlight, not like looking at the sun. We know that that's dangerous, but you need some time in the sun without your sunglasses. And first thing in the morning is the best when the sun isn't as strong. But then everything that I read on the internet, they're like, oh no, that is not true at all. And I'm like, oh my gosh, this is so frustrating. How did nature get that spin? Anyway, again, I'm going off on another tangent. But again, I want you to think about your skin is part of the whole system. I want you to start making choices that will serve you to move forward in life in a way that you would like for it to do as far as your skin. Absolutely. All of the things that we have talked about are so important for you. But don't forget about, like I said before, your nervous system and your sleep and your movement and your stress. Everything that you put on your skin that you put in your body will eventually show up. Just as I say, like when we're working out and how you hinge forward, how you squat, over time, if you're doing it incorrectly, you will start to feel it in your low back and your hips. Same thing with your skin. As you are putting things in and on your body, it will eventually make a difference. So make sure that they are good quality ingredients. Go as much whole as you possibly can. I want you to eat the food, the proteins, all the healthy things for you. Drink the water, do your workout, get a good night's sleep, cut back on the ultra-processed foods, get outside in nature, see how much color you can put on your plate. Just make wise choices where you can as much as you can. So

Practical Takeaways And How To Connect

SPEAKER_00 16:06

that's just going to wrap up our series on skin. Again, I was a little frustrated with the research, as I've mentioned multiple times on this episode, but I feel like I have given just a touch of information so that you can go down your own internet rabbit holes and um see what you uncover. And I would love to hear from you. You can reach out to me at info at spandexandwine.com or feel free to text me at 913-392-2877. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to follow Spandex and Wine so you don't miss an episode. To do this, just go to the podcast and click subscribe or follow wherever you are listening. Look for the plus sign or follow button. This is one of the best things that you can do for the podcast. If you'd also be willing to give a five-star review, that would be amazing and much appreciated. Lastly, please share an episode with a friend or five to keep the love going. And join the Spandex and Wine community in our private Facebook group by searching Spandex and Wine. Feel free to reach out to me at any time by emailing info at spandexandwine.com or text me at 913 392 2877. I appreciate you. Thank you.