Why You Should Be Avoiding Sugar.

Sugar is a part of life we certainly shouldn’t fear it. but we should be mindful of how much we are putting inside of our body and be knowledgable of the effects that it has on our skin and nails!

To put it quite bluntly, sugar is a disaster for skin health. Sugar upsets your blood sugar levels, creates acidity in the body, promotes inflammation and accelerates the ageing process which is evident in our skin, hair and our nails.

Sugar can contribute to acne. When we consume refined sugar our blood levels spike quickly, causing a rise in insulin as well as the release of a second hormone called insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1). If you’re susceptible, IGF-1 activates sebaceous glands in the skin and increases the production of oil (sebum), leading to congestion and making the skin more prone to breakouts. Sugar also stiffens collagen fibres in the skin, and collagen is extremely important for skin healing and minimising scarring.

Here is a list of ‘sugars’ /hidden sugars that you should be avoiding or minimising.

• Agave nectar

• Corn sweetener

• Corn syrup

• Dehydrated cane juice

• Dextrin

• Dextrose

• Fructose

• Fruit juice concentrate

• Glucose

• High fructose corn syrup

• Honey

• Invert sugar

• Lactose

• Maltodextrin

• Malt syrup

• Maltose

• Molasses

• Raw sugar

• Rice syrup

• Saccharose

• Sorghum syrup

• Sucrose

• Syrup

• Treacle

• Turbinado sugar

• Xylose

Try to also avoid too many commercial fruit juices and dried fruits as they are very high in sugar.

This goes for Sweeteners too. Artificial sweeteners are chemicals that wouldn’t normally be found in the diet, this means that the body processes them as if they were toxins. The most common ones to avoid are:

• Aspartame

• Acesulfame-K

• Saccharin

• Sucralose