The Fruit That Fights Wrinkles

Go ahead, feed your face. Eating the right stuff makes you look younger, and one fruit in particular leads the charge: papaya.

What makes it so perfect is that it's brimming with vitamin C. And getting lots of that vitamin may mean more youthful skin. A recent study of women over age 40 found that those who consumed vitamin C had fewer wrinkles and less dryness and thinning of their skin. (You can also put that vitamin, in the form of a 10% L-ascorbic acid preparation, right on your face. But do it at night -- it rapidly breaks down with exposure to UV light.)

Vitamin C is a natural friend to skin. The nutrient is essential for making collagen, the protein fibers that give skin its strength and resiliency. C also disarms free radicals that would otherwise chip away and weaken those fibers.

Getting a little extra vitamin C isn't the only way to turn back your skin's clock. Nourish it with these strategies:

• Munch on walnuts. In the vitamin C study, researchers also saw that diets rich in linoleic acid -- an essential fatty acid in walnuts -- meant moister, plumper skin.
• Ease up on saturated fats and refined carbs. Both can turn your skin old too soon.
• Think whole grains. The magnesium and B vitamins you get from them help with the regeneration of skin cells.
• Keep the fruits and veggies coming. To stay smooth and healthy, your skin needs a whole slew of antioxidant-rich produce.