Enemies of the Skin Sugar, Alcohol, Smoking, Caffeine, Dehydration, Constipation, Hormone imbalance, Chemicals in general, Nutritional deficiencies, Blood sugar level imbalances, Too many white flour products, Being too thin! Is there such a thing? Yes.
Super enemies of the skin and any anti-aging program These are the really nasty devils that will cause serious aging and a horrible dependency! They take us unaware, they don't seem that bad.
Seriously, they have been proven to cause us to become slaves to them, coupled with the things listed above you don't stand a chance.
I know some of you will think I am crazy, but the evidence is clear.
Even the New York Times reported recently (something Naturopaths have known for years) artificial sweeteners are addictive, cause craving for sweet and fatty food and you put on weight! Plus other substances Maltose, Dextrose, Hydrolyzed Protein, Evaporated Cane Juice, High fructose Corn Syrup, MSG monosodium Glutamate), Partially Hydrogenated fats and oils.
Addictions and cravings Don't skip this section, you might think because you don't take recreational drugs or don't smoke cigarettes or drink too much alcohol that addiction doesn't apply to you.
However, I am talking about the everyday substances you find on the supermarket shelves, enemies of the skin! Do addictions and cravings keep sabotaging your good intentions? Sabotage your good intentions of losing weight, getting healthier, and changing your habits of a life time, habits that speed up your aging and degeneration process.
Being addicted or having powerful cravings is a real problem for many people.
Here are some of the typical foods and drinks you might be addicted to: Chocolate - some people think the chocolate they eat is good for them, that it is healthy.
There is some chocolate on the market that could be classed as healthy, but most people eat the standard chocolate that certainly isn't going to slow down the aging process, or do anything good for your skin, it is going to do quite the opposite.
The average chocolate on the shelves is going to speed up aging.
The average chocolate is about 27 to 30% cocoa (chocolate) the rest 73% is highly processed fats and sugar! Read the label.
If you can find 70 to 80% cocoa rich chocolate - eat this occasionally.
White flour - covers a vast amount of different foods, from bread, cookies, crackers, pastry, biscuits, pizza bases, paste, wraps, rolls, bagels, cakes and so on, that are all basically the same.
This substance is destructive and highly addictive for some people.
Sugar - is found in so many foods these days.
A couple of hundred years ago sugar was worth its weight in silver and was kept under lock and key, because it was then recognized for how addictive it was.
For many decades sugar has been subsidized making it very cheap, hence why it is found in such abundance.
This is another highly addictive and totally destructive substance that will encourage aging and degeneration of the skin and the body in general.
Sugar comes in many different guises, so be vigilant.
Caffeine - found in tea, coffee, and more soft drinks (sodas) than you may realize, even in soft drinks where you wouldn't expect to find caffeine, like in orange flavored soft drinks.
Caffeine keeps us wanting more.
It causes indirect aging of the skin.
Artificial sweeteners - much research has made it clear that products with artificial sweeteners will encourage a craving for sweet and fatty foods, the very foods that will act like a catalyst to encouraging a skin to age quicker.
Besides, these sweeteners are artificial chemical sweeteners.
Do not be fooled with the advertising hype about these substances.
These sweeteners or the products that contain them are addictive substances.
Processed, highly refined fats - these are also found on our supermarket shelves in abundance.
Found in so many products, it takes studying the labels to uncover them.
Hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils or any oil unless it is cold pressed, first pressed, extra virgin, or expelled.
Never buy your oil in a plastic bottle! The molecular structure of processed oil has been altered causing accelerated aging to the cells, including the skin.
Alcohol - we already know that alcohol can be addictive.
The latest figures from the health department show we are drinking too much and it's on the increase.
Alcohol is like a super sugar.
The Pancreas Enter the pancreas and the two little adrenal glands, they rush to the rescue, they are the emergency team.
What do I mean by this? Every time you eat foods that are high in sugar and/or white flour our blood sugar levels get elevated, giving us a boost and for a short while we feel better.
Sounds good you think.
The trouble is most foods and drinks people choose, are processed in the body too quickly and overwhelm our systems, blood sugar levels become too high, the system is flooded.
This is not a good situation, especially if this happens all day on a daily basis.
At the clinic we see many people that were hooked on various foods and drinks to keep them going, that are now free and feeling so much better, with much more real energy.
We have all heard of insulin, it's a hormone produced by the pancreas.
Most people think of diabetes when they hear the word insulin.
The pancreas is an organ and a gland.
One part of the pancreas produces digestive enzymes needed by our digestive system to continue the process after the food leaves the stomach.
The enzymes enter the digestive system via a tube targeting a specific area.
The part we are talking about here produces insulin which enters the blood stream where it circulates and has an effect on the whole body.
The adrenal glands produce hormones to make sure your blood sugar levels don't drop too low, forcing the liver to get involved.
When you make poor food choices your system is put under a lot of unnecessary work.
Sooner or later your adrenal glands will start to suffer.
This is especially so if you also lead a stressful life, eat badly and drink too much caffeine and are short of nutrients.
As you start to feel worse you will end up consuming drug-like foods and drinks more often.
This state of hypoglycemia is a common problem amongst women but is also experienced by men.
What are some symptoms of Adrenal Exhaustion? Sensitivity to fumes or chemicals, mood swings, dark circles under the eyes, dizziness on standing up a little too quick, lack of alertness, tendency to catch a cold easily during the change of seasons, headaches, salt cravings, sleep disturbances, tired after a night's sleep, feeling stressed, need for caffeine to get you going in the morning, startle easily, food intolerance, recurrent chronic infections such as yeast, low tolerance to alcohol, sensitive to bright light, feeling weak, chronic heartburn or other digestive problems, lack of thirst, sweet craving, alternating constipation and diarrhoea, nervousness, exhaustion, depression, forgetfulness, anxiety, rapid pulse, muscle aches, crying spells, leg cramps, and blurred vision.
Our adrenal glands help us to deal with all sorts of stress.
They also help the thyroid to regulate our weight.
Here are some of the things that affect our adrenal glands in a negative way; going hungry, skipping meals, fasting, eating too many refined foods, eating too much salt, sugar, overworking, drinking caffeine, too much alcohol, too much stress, and not enough sleep Step by Step 1.
Food is converted into glucose 2.
Glucose is needed by every cell in the body to produce energy (ATP) 3.
Insulin unlocks the door of the cell allowing the glucose to enter 4.
Too much of a good thing - chronic high levels of insulin and we end up with a situation of insulin resistance 5.
Health problems including inflammation and accelerated aging Question.
How do we end up with too much insulin in our systems to bring about the above reaction? Answer.
Eating a typical amount of refined carbohydrates and sugar found in the average diet, which most people do every day and often several times a day.
6.
This causes a dramatic rise in blood sugar levels as large amounts enter the blood stream too quickly 7.
This triggers the production of insulin and levels remain too high for too long 8.
Triglyceride levels increase 9.
HDL increase (the so called 'bad' guys) 10.
Eventually creating insulin resistance 11.
Over the years this can lead to the destruction of insulin-secreting cells in your pancreas Result Accelerated destruction is not due to your years but due to your diet all resulting in something called ADVANCED GLYCATION END-PRODUCTS = AGEs - the perfect name.
This is a very important aspect to aging or anti-aging.
Often words that have been in use for decades suddenly become the latest in advertising blurb.
Our bodies use glucose as a form of energy which it converts into other substances by a process called the Krebs cycle or the citric cycle.
This enables the body to utilize it fully.
However, the typical Western diet is overloaded with sugars and refined carbohydrates, alcohol (super sugar), soft drinks that encourage vast amounts of glucose to enter the blood stream causing a huge problem virtually all the time.
Our bodies are designed to handle a certain amount of imbalance, we have built-in safety mechanisms but not for a constant over-load.
This has very serious consequences to our long-term health of your skin.
This scenario is like a catalyst for aging, we are speeding up our own aging process! This may seem far-fetched but we are encouraging free-radical damage on a scale a grand scale.
Excess in the system can cause damage to our protein.
What does this mean? We are damaging our skin, muscles, organs, brain etc.
Our very foundation is being weakened as our cells are being damaged to such an extent that there is cross-linking (Advanced Glycation End-products).
This cross linking speeds up destruction from wrinkly skin to problems with organ function.
This could mean impaired function of our organs, the very organs that produce a delicate balance of hormones, the hormones that slow down aging and destruction.
The more damage there is the more they cause damage so the situation escalates.
It's like the 'domino effect'.
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