Glycation | Sugar And Its Effects On the Skin

Sugar.  It’s a necessary part of our diet.  The good sugars anyway.  The naturally occurring sugars from fruits and vegetables are actually fuel for our cells and provide us with much needed energy too.

Refined sugars on the other hand – not so much.  Yes, sugar tastes Oh  So  Good in treats of all kinds, but – it’s not not.  Here’s why.

Once ingested sugars give your body an almost immediate, and unnatural, rise in blood glucose.  Your body tries to moderate your blood sugar levels by releasing insulin.  This Insulin turns all that glucose into fat cells for storage; and then all of a sudden you jiggle where you didn’t before.  But, extra fat’s not all you get from Sugar.

Sugar of all kinds ( fructose, sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, white sugar, brown sugar, etc.) also increases risk factors for high LDL cholesterol, Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease, Hypertension, Cancer, and more.

That’s not all sugar has to offer you either.  Sugars have been shown to excel the process of glycation. Glycation, sugar molecules in your system attaching to fats and proteins, is actually a natural part of life.  It results from sugars of all kind, even the good ones you need; although they don’t excel the rate of glycation that would happen as we age anyway.  Refined sugars do.

This is not a good thing.  Once these sugars attach themselves to the fats and proteins, they form what’s called Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) .  These AGEs make the protein fibers stiff and malformed which causes a myraid of issues including connective tissue damage and chronic inflammation.  When you eat refined sugars and accelerate this process this damage is increased and brought on much earlier.  This means increased wrinkles, poor skin tone, redness, and lots of other skin issues you might even be attributing to another cause.

So, is it worth it?  That tasty cookie, that yummy cake.  Is it worth what that awesome taste does to your body?  It’s your body, only you can answer that.  But remember, no matter what beauty products or procedures you try, they’ll never be fully effective as long as the food you eat is working against you.  And, by that same token, when you take care of yourself with proper diet, exercise, meditation, natural beauty products, etc, you’ll feel and see the positive benefits inside and out!