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“Hey, you! Let’s quit sugar.” – Your Skin

Do you hear that? It’s your skin asking you to lay off those sweets!

(And haven’t you heard? You’re sweet enough already, my friend.)

Because elevated and erratic blood sugar levels do not bode well for the skin.

While the connection between nutrition and skin health is missing from most conversations regarding skincare and in Western medicine, I’m on a mission to change that with my new book Glow: The Nutritional Approach to Naturally Gorgeous Skin.

The fact is: the skin is the body’s largest organ and everything in the body is SO intimately connected. Not only does the skin require certain key nutrients to build, protect, and repair itself, but a number of common internal imbalances often manifest in the skin — causing premature aging and triggering skin issues like acne and eczema.

Blood sugar imbalance in particular plays a significant role in skin health:

• Elevated blood sugar depletes some of the glow-getting micronutrients that skin cells need to regenerate and repair.
• Elevated blood sugar levels promote the formation of advanced glycation end products or “AGEs”. This acronym is apt since AGEs cause proteins – like the collagen and elastin that keep the skin smooth and elastic – to become rigid and snap.
• Elevated blood sugar causes an inflammatory spike in insulin (which the body produces to bring blood sugar levels back down). Inflammation ages the skin from the inside out, and triggers or worsens inflammatory skin conditions like acne and eczema.
• Dietary sugars feed the bad bacteria in the gut, throwing the gut microbiome out of balance. This impacts digestion, inhibits the absorption of glow-getting nutrients, and promotes “leaky gut” – a significant cause of chronic inflammation.
• Since the endocrine system is very delicate, chronically elevated insulin levels can throw the other hormones out of balance as well. This can have a tremendous impact on the skin.

Of course, skin health is just one of the oh so many reasons to keep blood sugar levels balanced.

Erratic blood sugar levels are often the culprit behind that afternoon energy crash, “hanger”, and crazy cravings, as well as more serious health conditions like insulin resistance and type two diabetes.

Full article: https://www.realfoodwholehealth.com/2017/09/breaking-up-with-sugar-will-make-skin-glow/