Skin care can come in many forms. Sun-blockers protect the skin from UV rays, moisturizing creams protect the skin from dryness, and cleansing soaps protect from suface dirt. But one of the best beauty secrets is often ignored: watch out for processed sugar in your diet!
Sugar is found in natural foods, and is usually healthy in its original form. For example, an apple has natural sugars, and these accompany a high fiber content (5 grams). Most people would find a couple of apples to be filling, and it would be hard to take much of an sugar overdose in this form. But if the fiber is removed, for example in apple juice, the sugar content of twenty apples could easily fit in the stomach, (and still not be filling a half-hour later). When sugar is extracted from sugar cane, corn or beets, then dried, refined and bleached into white granules, an enormous amount of damage can consumed in one sitting.
Large quantities of processed sugars have an inflammatory effect on every cell in the body, including the skin. Normal cells have clean margins when seen under a microscope. Inflammed cells look like they are on fire, in much the same way as your throat looks during an attack of pharyngitis. On the face, this inflammation causes puffiness around the eyes, and a soft dough-like pudginess to the cheeks, and a general palor to rest of the face. One of the reasons for a shocking post-hangover "morning-face" is the sugar consumed in the drinks the night before. Not only the sugar in wines and spirits, but even worse with popular sweeteners like sodas, syrups, and juices added to mixed cocktails.
So if you are looking at your aging face and wanting to look a bit younger, try this beauty secret: stay away from processed sugar.
Options for those who have a Sweet Tooth:
-Natural honey (just a spoonful) is a good substitute for sugar in coffee or tea.
-Whole fruit is far better than fruit pie.
-Cultivate a taste for rich dark chocolate, over 75% fat; it has far less sugar than milk chocolate, and usually a square or two will satisfy the urge for sweets after a meal.
-If you love ice cream, try a small taste of a very rich brand. Cheap ice cream has much more sugar!
-Learn to reinvent desserts. An apple baked in the oven or microwave tastes much sweeter than a raw apple. A chilled orange can be peeled and sliced as a refreshing desert.
-Try to limit juices to a glass a day, and drink more water, and eat the whole fruit instead.
-Avoid sodas, and even sports "electrolyte" drinks, because they are disastrously high in sugar. Often sodas will have 8 spoonfuls of white sugar in 8 ounces, which would be difficult to dissolve in a cup of tea or coffee.
-Don't shop when you are hungry, it is hard to resist temptation walking past your favorite cookies. Even worse, don't eat those cookies from the bag before you even get home!
-If you cook, don't buy industrial sized bags of sugar.
-If you buy pastries or candies, don't kid yourself. These are NOT for the youngsters in your family, and they are NOT in case company drops in. Once they are in the house, these will be eaten by you, so don't buy them!
Action tip: Consume sugar as it was intended, as a minor component of whole foods. Remember there is no comfort in comfort foods. But if you are hooked on sugar, even knowing the effects it has on dental cavities and obesity, remember to consider your face. In my practice, my patients are impressed that the first week they stop their sugar habit, their faces start to look better. Even before they notice a meaningful loss of weight. Surprisingly, even the most avid addict can quickly lose the taste for processed sugar.
This information is brought by www.peterhansonmd.com, and www.facemaster.com. Please send us your comments!
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