We’ve all seen commercials and read magazine ads that parrot the same message over and over again, your skin is aging and in order to have and maintain beautiful and youthful skin, you need to purchase the latest creams and serums that promise to take 10 years off your skin in no time.
Well, do these creams and serums really work, and is giving your hard-earned money to these multi million-dollar beauty companies the best way to maintain healthy and youthful skin? The short answer is no. Your skin is an organ, and like any other organ in your body, it’s health and appearance mainly depend on what you put into your body. Yes, you can apply creams to hydrate and help your skin, but if what you are putting into your body is causing your skin to prematurely age, not a serum on the planet will undo that damage.
Let’s take a look at what really damages our skin. What ages skin prematurely is something called advanced glycation end products (AGE). AGEs are proteins or lipids that become glycated as a result of exposure to sugar. Glycation is a natural process that occurs when sugar binds to certain proteins and interferes with the proper function of that protein. The most common protein in your skin is collagen type 1, this is the protein that is responsible for skin elasticity and tightness for the youthful smooth appearance of young skin. When you eat too many sugars, the levels of sugar in your blood rise. This increases the risk of glaciating the collagen in your skin. When this sugar binds to the collagen, the collagen molecule changes its shape, it does not work, it is not springy, it is not youthful. Decreasing the production of Advance glycation end products is crucial in order to maintain young and healthy looking skin.
The advanced glycation end product to worry about are the ones created naturally in our bodies and in our skin and what we’ve just learned is that this is directly tied to sugar binding to proteins. So lets talk about sugars. There are three basic sugars we should discuss; glucose, fructose, and galactose.
Glucose is the sugar the body likes to burn the most when burning sugar for energy. We make glucose every day through a process call gluconeogenesis and throughout other processes as well. Basically, if our cells need glucose, the body will make it. You might have heard that humans need 130 to 150 grams of carbohydrates each day to feed our brain, body and skin. This is simply a myth, it is not true at all. There are many people who have been dedicated to the carnivore diet for long periods of time, who have not eaten a single gram of carbohydrates in decades. I myself have not eaten any carbohydrate for the last seven to eight months, and I am doing just fine. This is because of the process called gluconeogenesis.
The second sugar that we need to talk about is fructose. Fructose mainly enters our bodies through the consumption of fruits, it also comes from soft drinks, fruit juices and fruit smoothies. This sugar is actually more glaciating than glucose, which is something you don’t hear about a lot and but is very important when discussing skin appearance or if you are trying to eat or drink a healthy diet.
The third sugar is galactose. This is the sugar found in milk and milk products. If you are drinking a lot of skim milk or low-fat milk, you are getting lots of lactose which breaks down into glucose and galactose. This also contributes much more to the glaciation of collagen than glucose does. The two sugars that glaciate collagen the most and cause the most advance glaciating end products are glucose and fructose.
Now I hear everyone saying, “but isn’t fructose found in fruit?” Yes it is and even though there are lots of articles saying that, if you want a healthy youthful appearance, you should eat a lot of fruit, this isn’t quite true when it comes to your skin (sorry fruit lovers). Researchers that study skin aging use fructose as a skin aging model in rats, this is how they get the rat’s skin to age faster, and they will give the rats a high fructose diet to make their skin age quickly. It’s also well known with skin aging researchers that galactose is an excellent way to advance glaciation in your skin, this will make your skin look older.
So, we’ve discussed what causes your skin to age faster, but what do we need to do to maintain healthy and youthful skin and to slow down this aging process?
The first thing we need to address is our diet. Our skin is made up of what we eat, and our skin cells are replaced every one to three months. So, if you are eating the right foods and avoiding the wrong ones, then your skin is going to look younger and better than before you started. The problem is we get tricked into thinking that we are eating a better diet we give up soft drinks and donuts. We are led to believe that consuming skim milk and eating lots of fruits is overall better for us. The problem with this is that these “diet” foods are actually higher in fructose and galactose and are causing more of the AGE.
Another thing that can increase the rate of aging in your skin is going on a vegan diet. You can look at many vegan YouTubers and compare their appearance from five years ago to now and it often looks like they are aging at an accelerated rate. I respect the fact that they are trying to eat a better diet, but if you actually look at their diet, they are eating a lot of fructose, which will make your skin age faster.
To achieve younger and firmer looking skin, you must first make the right changes in your diet. Remember, the creams and serums the ads have you buying will not work, it does not matter if the cost $50 or $500, if you are consuming high amounts of sugar in your diet.
First and probably the most important step is to stop smoking. Smoking has been shown in meaningful research to increase AGE and free radicals, it also causes collagen break down. The next step is to get all the sugars out of your diet, whether its added sugar or natural sugar from eating fruit. The next step is to get all the vegetable oils out of your diet, our skin is made up of proteins and fats, you must get good healthy fats in your diet like duck fat, beef tallow and bacon fat, these are healthy fats we have been eating for over a quarter million years. The next step is to eat a lot of high-quality proteins. Proteins from fruits and vegetables are not bioavailable and are non-nutritive, best source of protein comes from animal proteins. Finally, go outside and get some sun! Try and get five to thirty minutes each day, sun screen is important and you don’t want to burn, but sun exposure will increase the amount of Vitamin D in your skin and nitric oxide as well. There is research that say if you burn the skin it may prematurely age your skin but the right amount of exposure is vital for optimal skin cell function. Make sure to get plenty of collagen from animal sources, if you are eating a carnivore or ketogenic diet, you are getting the most nutritionally dense food on the planet.
At the end of the day, if you are not going to make the appropriate changes in your diet, save your money and forget the creams. It will not save you from the inevitable damage a high sugar diet will do to your skin. If you are serious about rejuvenating your skin, stay away from the sugars and have a steak.