Effects that sugar has on your skin!
By producing free radicals in your body, sugar is one of the main culprits in damaging your skin. Glycation is the process in which the sugar in your bloodstream attaches to the protein in your blood and produces harmful free radicals known as AGE’s (Advanced Glycation End-products).
Glycation can damage elastin and collagen.
Collagen and elastin are the most vulnerable proteins that are damaged by sugar. Elastin and collagen create firmness and structure to your skin. AGE’s attack these proteins and make them lose their strength. These proteins become brittle, stiff, and dry and result in fine lines, sagging, and wrinkles. Ironic isn’t it that AGE’s also contribute to AGE as in “looking older”! Sugar can also trigger acne breakouts! The more you eat sugar, the more it causes damage to your skin.
Sugar can also shut down antioxidant enzymes.
Your skin's antioxidant system protects your body from the damage of free radicals. AGE’s shut-down the body's natural defense against free radicals. Without this protection, your skin is vulnerable to the damage caused by environmental factors like pollution, ultraviolet lights, and blue lights.
Sugar affects your skin’s aging process.
Sugar actually speeds up the aging process of your skin.
Let’s say you lay a banana out unpeeled. The sugars within the banana begin reacting with proteins that cause the banana to start turning brown. This is the same reaction happening within our bodies.
We frequently consume table sugar made of glucose and fructose, and fructose accelerates that “browning” reaction in the banana by seven times. This happens from the inside-out in our bodies that speeds up the age process.
Here are different ways to detect if sugar is aging your skin and their side effects:
- The surface of your skin looks hard and shiny.
- Deep, cross-hatch lines appear along your upper lip.
- Discoloration and hyperpigmentation mark your skin.
- Deep crevices appear, especially around the laugh line area.
- The skin around your jowl area is sagging.
Sugar affects your gut.
You probably have never heard of microbiomes. The microbiome is defined as the collective genomes of the microbes (composed of bacteria, bacteriophage, fungi, protozoa, and viruses) that live inside and on the human body. We have about 10 times as many microbial cells as human cells.
Your gut microbiome keeps your digestive system healthy, but sugar can actually harm a healthy gut microbiome and negatively impact your overall gut health. Sugar is inflammatory, which harms the bacteria in your gut. It’s important to protect your gut health for so many reasons, so cutting back on sugar is essential for good health. If it’s not good on the inside, it’s not good on the outside.
Here's the good news! It’s never too late to repair the damage sugar has caused.
The first way is to cut the sugar from your life! Yes, from your life! I know it will be difficult for you to keep the use of sugar to a minimum. If you must have dessert, do what the Europeans do: have fruit, cheese, and nuts. Or, have a little fruit with some yogurt on it for dessert. Natural foods are always best as they help with gut healing.
Also, a huge amount of our sugar consumption comes from drinks (regular and diet sodas, especially) that are known to produce the most AGE’s. So, try to stick with water. Increasing the amount of water into your routine can help eliminate tons of sugar, produce collagen, elastin and keep the body hydrated. If you need a sweetener, try using local raw honey as the best alternative to table sugar. Stevia and similar natural products are also a decent alternative.
Let’s take a moment to talk about ASPARTAME. It has been clinically proven that aspartame basically turns into formaldehyde once it enters the body. Not only is diet soda damaging your skin on the outside, it IS killing your body from the inside!
Another way to prevent sugar damage is to get enough sleep. While you are sleeping, the skin goes into overdrive, regenerating, and repairing any damage done during the day. Summer Nights Serum exponentially increases the reaeration and repair process.
Summer Nights Night Time Serum
Skin detox is another way to prevent and minimize the damage done by glycation. Detox allows skin a fresh start and leads to a healthier environment for the skin and encourages the increased production of collagen and elastin. We have two products that are wonderful exfoliants that encourage cell rejuvenation.