This weeks beauty tip will not only help you with your weight loss resolution but will help your skin look and feel younger! I came across this amazing study from the British Journal of Dermatology about sugar and the effects on the skin. Did you know that sugar actually attacks the elastin and collagen in your skin? Sadly it is true. I love sugar! So this is going to be especially challenging for me. But I have to say after researching and surfing the web over the last few days looking for details on this subject I am going to be watching my sugar intake much more carefully. Originally I was only looking for evidence on the effects it had on skin but after much digging I am more concerned with my overall health. Here is a video I watched that surprised me.
But to the reason you are really here... The beauty part.
Here are five reasons you want to stay away from sugar as much as possible!
- Sugar speeds the degradation of elastin and collagen. Collagen and elastin are both key proteins that your skin needs.
- Sugar triggers a process in the body called glycation. The molecules bind to your protein fibers and make them brittle rather than elastic.
- Glycation causes your proteins to mutate, creating new molecules that are harmful and cause inflammation and damage.
- Sugar has been linked to cataracts. We all know those are not pretty!
- Sugar has been linked to arthritis. Again not a pretty look.
There are a number of things that we can do to combat the sugars that are bound to get in there. Sugar is hidden in almost every thing you can imagine. Check this link out to see what I mean.
To fight the sugar war in your body try these tips.
- Don’t drink your calories. Most drinks are full of sugar check this link to see what I mean.
- Avoid condiments. Try using vinegar and oil or make your own dressings.
- Avoid processed, prepared and packaged foods.
- Take vitamin B1 and B6 to help combat the effects of sugar on your system.
- Green Tea and white tea are good antioxidants that will help to neutralize the sugars in your system.
- Eat omega-3 fatty foods such as salmon, walnuts and flaxseed.
- Take a daily DHA tablet; fish oil or krill oil.
At the end of the day I have no intention of passing up an occasional cupcake or drinking my favorite red wine. But I will have to say this has had an eye opening effect on the way I will be feeding myself and my family from now on. We will still be celebrating on occasion. But maybe I just need to find less reasons to celebrate with food and drink and more reasons to celebrate with a outing to the lake or a hike on the trails.
Since we can’t use all that sugar up for eating let’s make a quick and easy body scrub of it?
Lemon Green Tea Scrub
1 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1 cup of strong green tea, cooled
one fresh lemon
Brew two green tea bags in hot water. Remove bags and place aside for future use*. Add coconut oil to warm tea. Stir until coconut oil is dissolved. Allow tea to cool to almost room temp.
Add zest from one lemon to tea and begin to add sugar 2 Tablespoons at a time. Stir in entire sugar a couple spoonfuls at a time to ensure complete absorption. Voila!
Put jar in your shower and use at least twice a week to slough off that dead winter skin on your legs and feet and entire body. *Place the teabags in baggie and save up to three days in the refrigerator to use as a toner after cleansing to close pores and add antioxidants to your skin or use under eyes for bags!
Add zest from one lemon to tea and begin to add sugar 2 Tablespoons at a time. Stir in entire sugar a couple spoonfuls at a time to ensure complete absorption. Voila!
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| Not the prettiest presentation but it is just for me. I will have to work on some labels and make it pretty to sale someday. |
Put jar in your shower and use at least twice a week to slough off that dead winter skin on your legs and feet and entire body. *Place the teabags in baggie and save up to three days in the refrigerator to use as a toner after cleansing to close pores and add antioxidants to your skin or use under eyes for bags!
One of the tricks that I loved as I was searching the net for all the amazing body scrubs out there was found on this blog. I loved her suggestion of mixing them together in the container you are going to be using rather than transferring them after it was all mixed.
Thanks for stopping in and please feel free to share any ideas or tips in the comments below on what you strategies are for eliminating sugar from your diet are if you have any! I would love to hear what has worked for you or not worked for you in the past.
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