Sugar, Glycation and Skinflammation

SUGAR, GLYCATION & SKINFLAMMATION

Sugar is said to be up to eight times as addictive as cocaine. Having sugar makes us want more and make us reach for that sugar more regularly. Not only is this bad for our health and demotivating, it also accelerates the skin ageing process through a process known as glycation. Add this to the hormone demands of periods and menopause, which can also affect your skin and overall wellbeing, and it becomes essential that we understand just how damaging sugar actually can be.

How does sugar affect your skin?
Sugar is one of my top ‘SKINFLAMMAGERS’ - an ingredient that causes inflammation, structural weakness in the skin, leading to damage and premature ageing. Consumed sugar results in glycation, a process where the sugar binds with our collagen, the collagen becomes brittle and can break. No longer able to support our skin structure, elasticity and bounce back. Sugar causes collapse, collapse of strength, collapse of elasticity and collapse of the fundamental matrix that supports our skin.

It’s also down to our pH levels. Our bodies need to be slightly alkaline – between 7.35 and 7.45 whilst our surface skin needs to be slightly acidic - between 4.5 to 5.5 to host the protective biome and appropriately named 'Acid Mantle’. This is the very fine, slightly acidic film on the surface of the skin that acts as a barrier to things like bacteria and viruses.

Creating this balance is key, as is understanding the triggers that throw us (and our skin) off balance. This really is an essential to have as part of your daily skincare routine.  And sugar plays a key role in creating or un doing this delicate balance, both inside the body and out on the surface - our skin.

How does sugar affect your health?
In general, we all know that too much sugar is bad for us, especially when it comes to weight gain. However, sugar isn’t just bad for our weight - it’s bad for us in a lot of different ways and it’s best avoided.

Having sugar in your daily diet changes your body’s pH levels from a healthy, thriving alkaline state to an acidic environment. That’s when the trouble starts. Too much sugar starts to accelerate the natural ageing process and the skin's ability to cope with an internal acid state. This shows up on the surface of our skin as a lack of structure with sagging, dullness, breakouts, visible pores, wrinkles and eventually deeper lines appearing.

Too much - and honestly, any sugar is too much - refined sugar in our diet leads to glycation. This causes a reaction in the skin that causes loss of both collagen and elastin, leading to a breakdown of the skin’s support matrix. The more glycation we have, the faster our skin ages.

Sugar in the body causes inflammation too. This equals puffier skin and water retention, as the lower pH creates an imbalance between sodium and potassium, the electrolytes that monitor and regulate water retention. This imbalance affects how our body absorbs water, which is essential for every part of the body.

Sugar is also a stimulant. It causes an acidic environment in our bodies, putting us under oxidative stress and damaging our general health. This can mean sleepless nights and disruptive sleep patterns, which again affects the body. Lack of sleep is one of the biggest stress causing age accelerators we can be subject to. It’s not called beauty sleep for nothing!

Sugar stress is also a thing. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s when you consume a lot of sugar and processed foods and become stressed as a result. This is because you’re creating a high acidity environment in your body, this then releases more of our stress hormone, cortisol, which - yes, you guessed it - will lead to anxiety and chronic inflammation.

Making the microbiome work harder
Our bodies are designed to deal with this overload, constantly working to create balance within our systems. However, this is why if we don’t feed ourselves correctly, our body's ‘to do’ list grows and it has to work harder. It’s at this point that your body and skin start to struggle. Making sure you consume foods that feed the gut microbiome, as well as maintaining it with pre- and probiotics in our foods, help us to naturally maintain correct pH levels for both our body and our skin.

You don’t need fancy supplements either. It can all be done through a diet rich in whole foods, fruits, vegetables and omega rich nuts, pulses and fish. Healthy food helps to grow a healthy person.

Is it easy to cut out sugar?
Quitting sugar isn’t as easy as you might think. It’s hidden everywhere, especially in processed foods, because it adds flavour and more importantly it has us coming back time and time again. Remember, sugar as an ingredient causes a reliance or a desire to keep consuming more of it.

Processed foods are famously high in sugar and sugar ‘wins’ over alkaline foods, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, every time because the alkaline forming ‘good foods’ have a longer, slower and more continuous effect on our long term health. Processed sugars and carbohydrates give that immediate ‘hit’ and instant ‘high’ that feels so good and has us coming back for ‘just one more’.

How to start going sugar free?
It’s no surprise that sugar free foods like fruit, vegetables, omega rich foods and oils (omega 3 in particular is known as the ‘brakes’ for oxidative stress) are all alkaline pH balancing foods/. Eating food means a healthy body, and that includes your skin. Healthy diets put you in control of your ‘drivers’, preventing reliance or even addiction to sugary, damaging foods.

The first step in going sugar free is the hardest because sugars and refined carbs in your diet start a cycle of wanting more of them – these sugars are sneaky little suckers!

You have to break the cycle and reduce your reliance on sugar slowly, limiting the amount of sugar whilst introducing alternatives like nuts, seeds and whole foods. These alkaline forming foods will help to tip the balance in the alkaline direction, decreasing the oxidative overload your body and skin is experiencing, bringing you back to strength and balanced health.

Steps to go sugar free.
Starting to go sugar free but not sure of the steps to take? Here are some hints on how to start to take sugar out of your diet, for better skin and a healthier body:

• Become a label detective. Read the ingredients list to see what’s going into the foods you’re choosing and eliminate any with sugar included.
• Be aware that the ‘alternatives’ to sugar like honey, maple syrup and agave syrup are all high in sugar, they’re just less refined versions.Check your drinks. Alcohol is full of sugar and syrups in coffee can be full of sugar.
• Replace canned drinks with fizzy water and fresh fruit or cucumber for sugar free flavour.
• Beauty sleep literally decreases and helps prevent glycation from happening by up to 50%.
• Think about what you’re eating and use your common sense when it comes to glycation. Cake, for example, is glycation on a plate.
• Instead of sugar, think about relaxing. Chill and enjoy your skincare routine, taking time to relax in a masque and enjoy some self care. Stress releases cortisol which causes glycation, sleepless nights and oxidative stress for your skin.

When people say they’re addicted to sugar, or chocolate; they probably are. It isn’t their fault, or yours. Many processed foods and drinks are designed to leave us craving more. Be kind to yourself and watch how reducing and then eliminating makes the hugest HUGEST difference to your skin and your wellbeing and energy levels.