No One Wants a “Sugar-Face“
Sugar-Face is Sorta Like Sushi-Face…
Last week Oliver and I had what we call chill-date-night at our favorite sushi restaurant, a couple blocks down from the house. We love it here. It’s an old converted beach cottage with sun bleached wood floors, cool music, amazing rolls and that quintessential, laid-back SoCal beach vibe you’d imagine. It’s always packed with surfers and locals just chilling and having a roll or 2.
Per the usual we ordered our favorites, dipping them in low-sodium soy sauce in an effort to at least try to mitigate Sushi-Face. You know what I’m talking about…. That not-hot, puffy, bloated face we get the morning after eating sushi? Sigh – it’s the sodium and white rice. Ugh.
“Sugar Face” – Same Idea
Sugar Face is a riff on this same concept – that is, the indelible effect that the foods we eat have on our skin. By far, SUGAR is one of THE the worst offenders when it comes to aging our skin.
Putting it bluntly – a high-sugar diet
exacerbates the aging process and ruins
your skin. Straight up.
All the pricey creams & skin treatments in the world, are a waste of money if we’re still eating a high-sugar diet.
Sure, there are other factors that age us, like too much sun, smoking, alcohol & stress – but sugar is the worst. To be clear – we are not talking about the natural sugars that occur in whole fruits, veggies and some dairy. Natural sugars in those forms do not cause insulin spikes.
We’re talking about added-sugars which are the refined sugars added to packaged food and drink during production AND sugars (including honey, maple syrup and agave) we choose to add when baking or cooking for ourselves at home, obvi.
Dermatologist to the stars, the late Dr. Frederic Brandt,
famously said that giving up sugar would take a good
10-years off of our face.
Sometimes a video is more fun 😉
When you understand the science behind what sugar actually does to our skin and body, then actually cut the sugar from your diet for even a week – the proof is in the pudding. Pun intended. Here’s why….
3 Ways Sugar Ages Us:
Without getting all Bill Nye the Science Guy on you, essentially sugar ages our skin through a process called GLYCATION. Glycation occurs when a sugar attaches itself to a protein (like collagen and elastin) producing harmful free radicals called Advanced Glycation End products, or AGE’s for short. (Paraphrasing Wikipedia.)
The more sugar we eat, the more AGE’s we develop
– effectively damaging collagen and elastin.
1. Sugar Damages Collagen and Elastin
Collagen is the protein that “plumps” our skin giving it a fresh, youthful look while Elastin (just think of “elastic”) is what allows our skin to snap-back into place after we smile, frown or make a funny face. When we eat a high-sugar diet, it causes the collagen and elastin to become more brittle and stiff. Consequently, our skin breaks down and looks thinner and more wrinkly! It also becomes more prone to environmental and UV ray damage….yeah. That’s not a good thing.
2. Sugar is dehydrating
Sugar is a dehydrating agent, which causes increased oil production in our skin. In addition, sugar affects water binding – which is why our skin can look less 0xygenated, less fresh and dull. Instead, skin takes on a lackluster, sallow appearance with dark under-eye circles.
3. Sugar is an inflammatory
Yup – it’s good ole’ inflammation again. Because Sugar is an inflammatory food, it causes inflammation within our body. When we eat high-sugar foods like baked goods, soda, flavored yogurts, most bottled smoothies (yes!) – they go directly into our gut for processing, then into our bloodstream causing our insulin to spike. This insulin spike subsequently increases the inflammation in our skin which can aggravate skin conditions like psoriasis, rosacea, eczema and result in acne flare-ups. It is your body reacting to something that it knows is harmful.
Kick Sugar – Change Your Life!
Look – it’s not like I’ve ever thought sugar was an important part of a nutritious breakfast or anything, but the gravity of the incredible damage sugar is wreaking upon us as individuals AND as a culture – never really hit home until this Christmas, when let’s just say….. I REALLY overdid it on the dessert buffet. I basically strapped a feedbag to my face and settled in.
The way I felt after, was my wake-up call. I had a raging headache, and was so irritable – I could barely stand myself. I started feeling overly emotional for no reason – like I couldn’t ground myself. It was awful. I knew the culprit (sugar) and decided “That’s it. No more.”
NOW! If you’re ready to kick Sugar – check out 5 Ways to Cut the Habit
Want more Inspo & Info? You HAVE to watch these 2 Ground-Breaking Documentaries on Sugar:
On Prime Video
Ground-breaking documentary with Katie Couric. If you haven’t seen it, you must! It talks about why sugar is so prevalent in our food eco-system (follow the money), what it does to our body and the effect it’s had on our society over the past 30 years. SO interesting – if you’re into Wellness, you’ll love it!
On Prime Video
My 2nd favorite documentary! It’s sort of like “Supersize Me.” The filmmaker, who had given up sugar 3 years prior, uses his own body in a 60-day experiment, chronicling the effects he experienced eating a typical high-sugar diet. Watch what happens….. you have to see it!
Try kicking sugar for a month – and watch how amazing you look and feel! Sometimes it’s just little small changes that can make a huge difference in the quality of our lives, and our ability to engage fully – achieving our highest potential.
Live your best life…… You are more than deserving!
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