Eating Sugar and high-glycemic foods Causes Wrinkles!

We all know that eating refined sugar and carbohydrates is not good for our health, especially our waistline…but we eat it anyway! If keeping your body fat in check (or reducing it) isn’t enough of a motivator to keep the sweet stuff out of your mouth, maybe this will be: Eating sugar and other high-glycemic foods (foods that quickly raise blood sugar and insulin levels) causes age-related changes to collagen! This means wrinkles!

Every woman I know wants to keep her skin clear and beautiful and avoiding pro-inflammatory sugar is one way to do that.

Here’s what happens when you do eat sugar and high-glycemic foods

1.  Sugar is consumed which increases blood sugar and the hormone insulin.

2.  When your insulin spikes, so does inflammation and this produces glycation – the binding of sugar molecules to proteins.

3.  Glycation creates advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) which pump out free-radicals and becomes a never-ending source of inflammation in its own right.

4.  When glycation occurs in skin, the sugar molecules attach to collagen fibers and results in cross-links between collagen molecules. This creates loss of elasticity making the skin stiff and inflexible.

Now you’ve got stiff, inflexible skin with wrinkles! It’s better just to avoid the sugar and high-glycemic carbs because there is only so much repair work you can do!

Sugar-protein bonds accumulate in our bodies as we age

Besides damaging the collagen through glycation, the over-consumption of sugar will cause stiff-binding sugar-protein bonds. These bonds of sugar and protein glue themselves to veins, arteries, joints and even the brain. As we age these bonds accumulate causing hardening of the arteries, stiffening of joints and organs.

Action Steps:

1.  Stay hydrated – so you don’t reach for junkie snack foods and the quick energy boost that sugar gives you.

2.  Eat meals complete with non-starchy carbs (vegetables, fruit), lean protein and  healthy fats – so you don’t reach for junkie snack foods and the quick energy boost that sugar gives you.

3.  Get 7-9 hours of sleep – so you don’t reach for junkie snack foods and the quick energy boost that sugar gives you.

source: The Perricone Promise: Look Younger, Live Longer in Three Easy Steps. Nicholas Perricone, MD.