Sweet surrender

One of the most popular questions I am asked in the spa is which foods are the ‘enemy’ for the health and appearance of your fragile skin. The skin is your bodies largest organ, and will readily reflect a healthy and balanced lifestyle: eating a nutrition-rich diet, getting plenty of sleep (eight hours), regular exercise and keeping stress to a minimum.

The foods you eat fuel the regeneration of your skin cells, which renew themselves every twenty-eight days. Your skin reflects the nutritional quality of your diet (a diet deficient in Omega-3 fatty acids is more likely to make you appear older than your age).

For a radiant complexion during the holiday season be strong and stay away from those sweet temptations that will leave your skin a little less youthful.

Too much sugar (refined sugar especially) and high-glycemic foods cause unnecessary wrinkles due to a process known as ‘glycation’ (where sugar molecules attach and bind themselves to collagen and elastin proteins). The skins collagen is the first to be affected by the glycation process, reducing the collagen fibers ability to regenerate, thus leading to wrinkles, creping and sagging that characterize skin ageing.

The glycation process degrades type III collagen (the strongest, plumpest kind that we have), leaving only type I, the final stage of a collagen cell’s life. Advanced glycation end products (AEG’s) are harmful molecules that cause inflammation and effect every cell in your body, known to be major factors in ageing as well as age related chronic diseases.

Blueberries enhance skin renewal

Cosmetics and foods rich in Vitamin C help to overcome skin glycation, leaving you with firmer and more youthful features. Blueberries possess supercharged antioxidant and anti-inflammatory powers and are packed with phytonutrients called anthocyanins (responsible for their deep color). Recent scientific studies have revealed that these anthocyanins naturally avert glycation-induced damage by stabilizing the collagen matrix.

Research also suggests that topical nutrients - blueberries, pomegranate, vitamin C, tea blends, and hyaluronic acid, help to protect against the damaging effects of glycation and oxidative stress on the skin.

I know it’s a challenge (but not impossible) to give up your favorite sweet treats, try replacing rice, pasta and bread with a whole-grain equivalent (brown rice, quinoa) and keep a bag of seeds (organic sunflower, pumpkin) nuts (almonds, brazil) or pre-sliced fruit at hand for a quick healthy snack - for the sake of your skin.