How Sugar Affects Your Skin
Sugar can come in many forms and has many effects. Forms includes cane sugar, cane syrup, corn syrup, glucose, aspartame, stevia and agave. The effects are numerous and vary in severity. Sugar in scrubs and skin care is one thing, but in your food is another.
When you have too much sugar in your system, your body breaks it down and turns it into glucose. This causes an insulin spike and triggers inflammation throughout your body. The result is the formation of enzymes that break down your collagen and elastin proteins in a process called glycation. And when that happens, we begin to see wrinkles, sagging skin, and a dull complexion.
Alongside this, is the negative contribution sugar has toward skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema, acne, and rosacea. The bad news is the more time that passes, the more damage is caused, making it difficult for your skin to renew itself.
Yet ever more important than this is the risks that consuming sugar poses to your health. Sugar has many negative health effects including increased risk of cardiovascular disease, liver disease, diabetes, and even cancer. If we were to suggest one habit change in a daily routine, it would be to decrease the intake of sugar.
The American Heart Association recommends “no more than 6 teaspoons a day for most women, and 9 teaspoons a day for most men.” This equates to about 25 - 36 grams respectively on a nutrition label. Foods that contain added sugars like soft drinks, grain-based desserts, and dairy desserts are also known to contribute to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity. Let’s not forget that sugar hides in inconspicuous places too like potato chips, smoothies, sauces, and breakfast foods.
To reduce sugar intake you can:
- Track your sugar through out the week and see if there is a specific category of food or time you consume more
- Eat an accurate portion size. Some foods come in packs of two even though only one is a serving.
- Slowly eliminate processed sugars from your diet. This includes high fructose corn syrup, aspartame and any other sugars you can't make yourself (i.e. cane sugar/agave syrup)
- When eating out, ask for sauces on the side or eliminate them completely
- Always check labels before purchasing a product. If a serving of that juice has 22 grams of sugar in a cup, don't get it.
We recommend you get in the habit of checking nutrition labels to see where the sugar is hiding; see how you feel after about a week of the recommended dose. Positive effects of decreased sugar intake is limber body movement, higher energy, clearer thinking, and weight loss.