Sugar and Your Beauty
August 14, 2010 No CommentsCare is taken to delay the onset of wrinkles. We gals spend a fortune on the maintenance of our looks. The more conscientious amongst us would go for the full skincare suite : cleanser, toner,softener, serum, moisturizer, sunscreen, scrubs and masks.
All that doesn’t come cheap.
Then we give in to our sugar cravings.
Chocolates. Ice cream. Cakes. Desserts.
Did you know that excessive consumption of sugar leads to earlier appearance of fine lines and wrinkles?
That makes my heart sink too. I’ve got a sweet tooth. My chocolate cravings, sugar and all, lasts all year long, not just that time of the month.
The problem with sugar lies in AGEs.
Sugar ages you. Sugar molecules combine with protein molecules in a chemical reaction. In food, you get caramelization. In your body, in the long run, you get the stiffening of your tissues that characterizes aging.
The harmful molecules it forms are called advanced glycation end products (AGE). These weaken your skin’s supporting structure, leading to wrinkles and the loss of firmness in your skin.
AGE is harmful to your health.
I found this wikipedia article about AGE
Many cells in the body (for example, endothelial cells, smooth muscle or cells of the immune system) from tissue such as lung, liver, kidney or peripheral blood bear the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End products (RAGE) that, when binding AGEs, contributes to age- and diabetes-related chronic inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis, asthma, arthritis, myocardial infarction, nephropathy, retinopathy, or neuropathy. There may be some chemicals, such as aminoguanidine, that limit the formation of AGEs by reacting with 3-deoxyglucosone.[16]
On the other hand sugar can be used in physical skin scrubs that exfoliate the skin gently. Mixed with olive oil or honey, it makes an excellent skin smoothing body scrub. Or facial scrub. It dissolves in water making cleaning up after use a breeze.
Sugaring is a form of hair removal where you use sugar to wax your skin.
1. Heat 1 cup sugar, 1/8 cup vinegar, 1/8 cup water and mix them together to form a liquid. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
2. Dust skin with talcum powder
3. Spread the sticky paste on skin
4. Press a strip of paper over the paste
5. Yank off the paper in the direction of the hair growth, taking the hairs away with it.
Personally, I prefer to either go to the salon for hair removal or use readily made waxing strips – see waxing for hair removal.
To stay off sugar completely is pretty drastic, unless you are diabetic. Everything in moderation. Just have your food with less sugar.
Beauty, Skin Care
