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Face facts: Sugar is screwing with your skin
“Some people hear little voices in their head. I hear the sound of little chocolates being unwrapped.”
That sweet tooth! Or sometimes it feels more like “sweet teeth”. Who knew it could get us into so much trouble? And with the current stay-at-home situation we tend to be reaching for the sweet stuff more than usual for comfort.
When we consume sugar in all its forms — especially the refined type — it attaches itself very quickly to proteins and fats in our bodies. This is called Glycation. The real bad news is that sugar has a particular affinity for dermal proteins, the deeper layers of the skin. The by-product of glycation is known as advanced glycation end products (or AGEs) and age us it does, causing stiffening of the connective tissue, inflammation, wrinkles and sagging. Ugh!!
Cross linking in proteins is part of the natural aging process, but if you add poor lifestyle to the mix — smoking, UV exposure, drugs and alcohol abuse, lack of exercise and poor diet especially sugar — then you have the perfect storm.
Here’s how to keep your skin’s youthful glow:
- Eliminate refined sugar
Eliminating all sugar from our diet is not advisable. Complex carbohydrates supply much needed glucose to fuel cellular activity throughout the body. But we…
