Is your diet written all over your face?

I'm sure you’ve heard me talk about sugar and how that’s really the only type of food I really strive to keep out of my diet 98% of the time (unless it’s an exceptional occasion like my best friends wedding and I want cake or my sons birthday and we’re sharing a donut, life, right?!). I’ve talked on Instagram before on and on about how it’s not great for your mood, weight, and energy.

But did you know that sugar could be behind your breakouts and wrinkles? Your skincare routine and stress certainly factor into the quality of your complexion. But what you consume affects your skin more than you might think.

Clients will come to me and say,

“Should I remove dairy to get rid of my breakouts”
“Should I remove gluten to get rid of my rashes?”

And depending on your gut health, maybe. But we can ALL remove sugar to improve our skin. Sugar causes a process called glycation. To break it down, it means when the sugar digests, it attaches to your skin's collagen. Collagen is a structural protein that makes your skin stretchy and bouncy—qualities associated with a youthful appearance.

When you eat sugar, it goes right into your bloodstream. When that sugar in your blood attaches to proteins, it becomes a free radical called AGE, which stands for advanced glycation end products. The more sugar you consume the more AGEs you have and the more you actually LOOK OLDER.

If you consume too much sugar and processed carbs, here’s what it’s doing to your skin:

• MAKES INFLAMMATION WORSE
  • If you already suffer from certain skin conditions, like eczema, rosacea, or psoriasis, eating sugar makes it worse. This is because sugar in your bloodstream can contribute to inflammation, and each of these skin conditions is rooted in inflammation.

So does cutting sugar out cure these conditions? Maybe not completely, but it can definitely help. Some people see improvement from reducing or eliminating sugar, while others have a lot of factors contributing to their inflammation. One thing is for sure, eating a lot of sugar isn’t going to help matters.

• AGES YOU FASTER
  • Sugar is one of the main culprits of premature aging. Because sugar breaks down collagen, your skin starts to look wrinkled earlier and more saggy if you eat a lot of sugar. Collagen is what keeps your skin looking firm and taut.

• MAKES ACNE WORSE
  • So many of my clients deal with acne and it sucks because it impacts your confidence. Increased inflammation contributes to breakouts. This includes whiteheads, blackheads, and the larger painful cystic acne that lives below the surface layer of the skin. Sugar also creates hormone dysfunction which can create more oil production and lead to more breakouts.

So is sugar impacting your skin? What about your waistline and your hormones? Your energy?

Are you ready to kick sugar and look at what you can ADD to your plate to crowd out the sweet tooth you’ve had for a while now? Email me at [email protected] to learn more