Sweet Spot
Wait! Maybe don’t eat that chocolate egg you stashed in your bag to enjoy later. It is not worth the stress, especially when you hear the long-term effects sugar has on the skin.
Friends, family, food, an extra day off work, Easter is a weekends worth of pure self-indulgence it is the sweet spot of holidays. Those painful pimples or ‘sweet spots’ that pop up after a sugary bender, are not as pleasant though. It’s no secret that added and processed sugars are bad for your skin and health, yet it can be difficult to get your diet and exercise back on track after Easter. Here is what you need to know so you can keep your skin and body healthy this Easter and avoid those not so ‘sweet spots’.
To you it may be sweet but to the body sugar is highly acidic.
An inflammatory food, sugar creates an acidic environment that puts the body under stress. There are many inflammatory foods but sugar is one of the worst because it makes your blood sugar levels spike and then drop dramatically causing inflammation. Any form of stress on the body leads to fluctuations in your hormonal levels, specifically the levels of androgens and cortisol both of which are recognised breakout triggers1. This is why it is best to avoid added sugars such as white and brown sugar, agave syrup, molasses, maple syrup and honey as well as sugars found in processed food. If you are already prone to breakouts than you really should not be consuming sugar.
Not able to be broken down by the body beyond a glucose molecule, sugar puts a lot of pressure on your digestive system, as it is difficult to process. Feeding only the bad bacteria sugar is often the source of imbalances in the guts micro biome putting even more stress on the body (we all now know how the body responds to stress). Additionally food that is not digested properly needs to go somewhere and that is often up and out through the skin as the skin is part of our excretory system, meaning it works to rid our body of toxins. Hello unsightly sweet spots!
Beat the sugar cravings by cleansing the gut of the bad sugar-munching bacteria. These bad bacteria have one purpose and that is to survive and populate your digestive system and they will do anything to achieve that. Including sending signals to your brain to feed them more sugar. This is what causes sugar cravings. Regul8® Digestive Tune-Up® not only works to cleanse your gut of these bad bacteria but it also restores a supportive environment, which the new good bacteria can thrive in.
Blame your age on AGEs
In more severe cases when a person’s insulin levels are too high and the excess sugar is unable to be absorbed a process called glycation begins. This is when excess sugar molecules in your system begin to bond with protein molecules to form Advanced Glycation End products, aptly named AGEs for short. Not recognised by the body AGEs incite the production of antibodies, the body’s defence mechanism to protect it from the foreign invasion. As the antibodies attack the AGEs they are also destroying the collagen and elastin proteins in the dermal layers of the skin where the AGEs reside. Consequently, effects of ageing such as sagging skin and wrinkles are exacerbated while inflamed skin conditions like rosacea and eczema are aggravated. This is why when treating such conditions, it is important to approach it holistically, not just looking at the skin but at a person’s diet and mental state as well.
Your skin is a mirror for what is happening within
Others ways sugar affects your skin
- Consuming too much sugar can impair the body’s ability to store water, dehydrating the skin.
- The skin’s complexion can become dull.
- Dark circles may appear under the eyes and the skin becomes puffy.
- Sugar can speed up the ageing process
How to beat the temptation
- Buy quality over quantity. Still enjoy your Easter but don’t gorge on the chocolates and other goodies that come with the holiday. Treat yourself and ask the Easter bunny to deliver just a few of your favourite chocolates.
- Make sugar-free alternatives such as brownies or bliss balls using stevia, rice malt syrup, banana or sweet potato as a substitute sweetener. Sugar-free is a big trend in the food industry at the moment and you can find plenty of cookbooks and recipes online.
- Keep up the exercise. It can be difficult to keep up your routine if you go more than three days without some form of activity. This could be as simple as following a yoga video at home or going for a walk.
- Stay hydrated. This doesn’t just mean drinking your standard two litres of water a day, keep your skin hydrated as well by supporting its water retention capability. DMK’s EFA Ultra, Herb & Mineral Mist and Seba-E are an excellent combination for supporting this both from the inside and out.
- Stop the sweet spots in their tracks if you do breakout by using Acu-Therm. DMK’s powerful night spot treatment works to soften and dissolve any blockages