The Story of Your Skin's Second Chance
Imagine a rubber band. You stretch it, over and over, past its limit. One day, you let go, but it doesn't snap back. It just hangs there, loose and lifeless. That is exactly what happens to your skin when it has been overstretched to the point where it cannot return to its original form. This is the reality of loose skin, and it comes down to two main problems deep within your body: your collagen, and an even deeper fiber called elastin, which is supposed to give that collagen its spring and elasticity.
Now, you might be thinking, "Should I just start eating more collagen to fix this?" It is a natural thought, but it typically is not a lack of consuming collagen that causes this problem. The real culprits are far more complex. This condition often arises from getting older, losing a lot of weight, excessive sun exposure, pregnancy, smoking, being a diabetic, or even going through a lot of stress. All these things can create a breakdown of those precious collagen fibers. So, let's go beyond the simple answer and explore the different parts of this story, starting with the very hormones that rule your body.
The Hormonal Dance of Breakdown and Build-Up
You have two sets of hormones at play. There are those that build up your collagen and elastin, and there are those that break them down. The main hormone that tears things apart is cortisol. Cortisol is a catabolic hormone, meaning it breaks tissue down, breaking proteins down. And since collagen and elastin are proteins, you can see the problem. The stress in your life directly activates this destructive force.
On the other side of the dance, you have anabolic hormones that do the opposite. The most notable is growth hormone, which is everything about anti-aging and burning fat. But it serves a very specific purpose: helping proteins grow, including muscle, collagen, and connective tissue. To spike this powerful builder, you need three things. First is high-intensity exercise. The more intense the effort, the more growth hormone you stimulate. Think sprinting, plyometrics, or a spin bike, but keep it short. You are looking for high-intensity interval training—short bursts with plenty of rest in between, sometimes resting for two, three, or even five days to ensure proper recovery. Second, you must remember that glucose inhibits growth hormone, which is why a low-carb, ketogenic diet is so crucial. And third, you must get enough sleep. If you cannot sleep, building up growth hormone becomes nearly impossible.
There is another fascinating anabolic hormone: insulin. You might be shocked to hear this, but insulin actually triggers new elastin. That is the very tissue that gives your skin its ability to stretch like a rubber band. The problem arises with insulin resistance, which is the majority of the population today. When you are insulin resistant, you have a situation where insulin is not working effectively inside the cells, leading to a functional deficiency. This deficiency creates a real problem for your skin. So, how do you correct this? You fix insulin resistance with a ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting, and exercise. The deeper issue is that insulin resistance blocks your body's ability to get fuel, nutrients, and amino acids to the cells. The very building blocks of protein you need to build collagen and elastin are being blocked. So, part of this plan must include fixing your insulin resistance to pull in those amino acids and prevent the loss of muscle and skin tone.
The Vital Cofactors: What Your Skin Needs to Thrive
To build collagen and elastin, you need specific nutrients called cofactors. The most important one is vitamin A, but not the beta-carotene you find in plants. I am talking about the active form, retinol, which only comes from animal products like egg yolks, cod liver oil, fatty fish, and butter. Beta-carotene from spinach has to be converted into the active form, and unfortunately, many people do not convert much of it. This is a critical distinction. All the fat-soluble vitamins are incredibly important for your skin. This explains why a low-fat diet is terrible for skin health.
Consider a diet I saw people doing called Ideal Protein. It was low-carb, like a keto diet, but it was also very low in fat. The healthy version of a ketogenic diet is not low fat—it has higher amounts of fat with moderate protein. In this diet, people were eating low-fat, low-carb packaged foods made from soy protein isolates. I noticed these people just looked older. Their skin looked unhealthy, dried out, and wrinkly, and so did their hair. You can tell so much about what is happening internally by just looking at the outside. The more low-fat you go, the fewer fat-soluble vitamins you will have, and your skin needs a good amount of fat.
The next important cofactor is iron, but specifically heme iron—the bioavailable form found in red meat and shellfish, not in vegetables. The fact that these two cofactors, retinol and heme iron, are essential tells you what kind of diet you need. You need animal products that are not lean, that have a bit of fat. If someone is going to try a plant-based vegan diet, they need to figure out how to get these key nutrients. It is possible, but it is much more difficult. Unfortunately, many people on a plant-based diet end up eating too many grains and omega-6 fatty acids, which just fills their body with inflammation and worsens the whole situation.
The last cofactor is vitamin C. Most people think of vitamin C for collagen, but most are taking a synthetic version that is not the same as what comes from nature. The best way to get your vitamin C is to use a food-based concentrate or eat foods high in it. One of the absolute best foods is sauerkraut, which has hands down more vitamin C than any other food—about ten times the amount our bodies need. You can also get it from peppers and berries.
Exercise, Fasting, and the Power of Stress
Exercise is a necessity, but you must not over train. When you exercise, you create new vascularization, bringing new blood vessels that carry more nutrients and circulation to your skin. You also build up muscles just underneath the skin, filling the gap created by overstretching, which gives a nice appearance of less loose skin. And, as we discussed, high-intensity exercise stimulates growth hormone.
Then there is prolonged fasting. This gives you what is called an epigenetic effect on your skin. You put your body into a state of autophagy, where it recycles old, damaged proteins. Imagine a person with insulin resistance or diabetes. They have a lot of glycation going on. This is where protein combines with sugar, making the protein unavailable and damaged. This happens in the eyes, kidneys, arteries, brain, and nerves—but it also happens in the skin. If you have glycation in your collagen and elastin, it makes that tissue unavailable and unable to stretch. The amazing thing is that when you do a prolonged fast of three days or longer, your body starts to clean up this damaged protein, recycle it, and rejuvenate it.
This process is part of a larger concept called hormesis. You add a little bit of stress to the body to cause it to adapt and become stronger. Prolonged fasting creates this hormetic effect, as does exercise. There are other things too, like heat and cold. Putting ice-cold water on your face and then warm or hot water in a back-and-forth rhythm can create a hormetic stimulation of your skin cells, causing the tissue to tone. This works well for loose skin on the face, but for the rest of the body, you would need to apply it to the whole body.
I also want to mention the sun. Too much sun, to the point of burning, is very bad. But a little bit of sun, just before the point of burning, can be a good thing on a regular basis. It creates a hormetic effect that stimulates healthy skin. This depends entirely on how much melanin you have. If you are very fair complected, you will burn easily, so you have to be careful.
You now have many things you can do to improve your skin. Pick one or two of them and get started. Work on them over time. But of all these points, I believe the most important one for your skin is prolonged fasting. If you are going to do that, there is an additional thing you should consider if you have loose skin. You can take certain amino acids that are very low in calories. This way, you do not break the effectiveness of your fast, but you still get the building blocks to help build that connective tissue and elastin.