It’s been well established that the sun ages you.
It makes your skin thinner, bronze, dull, and it causes redness and age spots and blemishes. Another thing that ages your skin faster is sugar! Yes, consuming sugar is terrible for your skin. Sugar is inflammatory and adds to ‘glycated end products’ that damage collagen. Remember that alcohol and carbs and fruit (even juices) are all high in sugar. For optimal skin health, lower your intake of all sugar.
The average North American consumes 3 pounds (or 6 cups) of sugar per week. It sounds shocking, but consider that a can of Soda has 8 teaspoons of sugar in it; energy drinks and trail mix and granola bars all have high sugar contents.
Outside of obesity, diabetes, and cancer (which are at an all-time high), consuming sugar is terrible for your skin.
Sugar is inflammatory. You may notice your joints are stiff after sitting in one position for a while – this is one sign you have inflammation.
Sugar binds to proteins in your body. This leads to the formation of ’advanced glycated end products’ (AGEs) that damage collagen, which is a protein.
Damaged collagen is less firm and you see it as skin sagging. It also affects elastin, which controls skin elasticity. Your skin appears less supple.
(AGEs affect many other parts of your body and linked to many chronic diseases).
Skin inflammation can be seen in rosacea, eczema, acne, and rashes.
Sugar hides in many foods that you may not think of.
Ketchup, cereals, instant oatmeal, canned soups, breads, sauces, salad dressings… the list is endless. Almost all processed foods have sugar added to them.
Learn to read labels and look at the carb count as well as the sugars.
2 other commonly overlooked places you find large amounts of sugar in are low-fat foods and natural fruit juices.
A ‘healthy’ breakfast of cereal and orange juice is not so healthy! It’s mostly sugar.
Remember that alcohol and processed carbs like bread and pasta are also high in sugar.
For optimal skin health, lower your intake of all sugar. It will improve your health, your waistline, and your skin.
Eating for beautiful skin:
- eat more whole foods that are prepared at home. Think ‘how God made it’. Not processed and altered foods that can sit on a shelf.
- focus on a rainbow diet of brightly colored vegetables and low sugar fruit eg. Apples, berries, kiwi, apricots, peaches.
- eat adequate protein, the building block of collagen.
- avoid processed foods
- avoid sugar and hidden sources of sugar. Use erythritol and monk fruit as sweeteners.
- drink water! avoid fruit juice and sodas.
- eat good fats. Fish, coconut oil, avocados, nuts and seeds, butter, and olive oil are good sources of healthy fats. When you increase your intake of healthy fats and protein, you will naturally crave less sugar and carbs.
Reversing damaged collagen and elastin:
Skin treatments are effective at tightening weak and damaged collagen.
Thermage™ is a safe and effective treatment to tighten weak collagen and firm skin.
An alternative to Thermage™ is Skintyte™.
Testing:
Functional medicine testing can help assess your rate of skin aging.
One test that is helpful and commonly available is Hemoglobin A1C. It measures the glycation of hemoglobin over a 3 month period.
Allopathic medicine accepts a higher number, especially in diabetes. In Functional Medicine. whether or not you are diabetic, our targets are set lower.
Another test that can help understand collagen breakdown is urine telopeptide. It measures the breakdown products of bone, which infers breakdown of collagen.
8 hydroxy-d guanosine is a measure of DNA breakdown. This is another Functional Medicine test that we can use to assess skin aging.
Wearing sunblock is great!
But…!!! Do you apply it to your arms? Your hands? Your neck and chest?
What about other areas that see the sun? Maybe you golf, or dive, or hike. Consider all of your skin that sees the sun.
Sun damage starts before you are a teenager, and most people were not wearing sunblock as kids.
More important is that almost everyone wears sunblock on their face, a floppy hat… and it does is protect your face. Only your face!
Have you seen women with lovely skin on their faces and their chest and neck look ten years older?
Even their hands can look old and give away their true age.
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Forever Young BBL is a unique treatment that is scientifically proven to make you younger AND stop you from aging.
It turns off the gene of aging in your skin cells.
It tells your skin to be younger by turning on the youth gene.
Now is the perfect time to do this treatment!
You need to be away from direct sun to get the best results.
Contact us to make an appointment.
