Beauty=Health
We’ve all heard the saying “Beauty comes from within.”
That is of course referring to personality, but in all seriousness, it is also true for clean skin, shiny hair, a vibrant glow and feeling well overall.
I don’t mean that your personality dictates whether you have acne. I’m talking about what you put in your body. What you eat and drink has a huge impact on more than just “being healthy.”
This article will be the first in a series about beauty as it relates to health.
For starters, let’s talk about sugar. Of course we all know it is bad for us; it is a lot of calories with no nutritional value. Did you know it is more than that?
“It has nothing to do with its calories,” says endocrinologist Robert Lustig of the University of California, San Francisco. “Sugar is a poison by itself when consumed at high doses.”
This quote is taken from a recent National Geographic article that does a fantastic job explaining in detail the toxicity of sugar. I encourage you to read it by following this link: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/08/sugar/cohen-text
If you aren’t inclined to educate yourself about sugar, an interesting point of the article is how sugar overworks you liver. Not only can this lead to diabetes, but also because your liver filters and cleans your body, if it is not working properly, other things can go wrong. Namely, your skin can express an unhappy liver. Whenever I eat more sugar than normal, if I have a couple cookies in the space a three or four days, I always notice my skin reacting. My skin gets pimples or blackheads and loses its healthy glow.
Right, so sugar is bad, do not eat it, and everything will be fine.
As much as I would like to think we could all just stop eating sugar, I know that it is not realistic. So, I present you with a challenge.
For one week, do not consume ANY refined sugar and see if you notice a difference in the health of your skin.
This means, sugar in ice cream, in bread, in pasta, in pickles, in cookies, and especially in soft drinks. And do not think that diet soft drinks are an acceptable alternative; the artificial sweeteners are far worse that sugar. That will be my next topic in this “Beauty=Health” series.
This challenge shouldn’t be too difficult; it is only for one week. I know you can do it!
Good luck!
Cohen, Rich. “Sugar Love (a not so sweet story).” National Geographic. National Geographic Society. August 2013. Web. February 13, 2014.