Ladies, if you’re reading this I have good and bad news for you.
First the bad news…
You know those creams, oils and serums you’re spending $70.00 on trying to get rid of those fine lines and wrinkles? Well, they won’t do the trick. The reason is, it’s not a cream, oil or serum deficiency that you’re dealing with.
Your body isn’t in a deficit of rose hips extracts, spirulina co-factor enzymes or Jerusalem wild-dandy lotus juices. I promise. So why are you spending so much money trying to get those into your body?
Well, here’s another harsh truth, someone tricked you. Likely some genius marketing man with a business plan. However, don’t sweat it, I’ve come to help you out.
On to the good news…
Those fine lines and wrinkles are not genetic and they are not permanent. I’m not saying you won’t grow old and die; however, unless you’re pushing 90, wrinkles do not have to be a reality.
Wrinkles and what we modern folk call aging is not a natural phenomenon. It’s completely life-style induced from our crappy habits and therefore, can be fixed.
What Really Causes Wrinkles
What many do not know is that wrinkles, fine lines and other signs of aging actually occurring within the gut. In fact, wrinkles aren’t just a sign of aging skin. They’re just a symptom of an underlying issues — a distress signal from the body about something going on under the works.
Typically, what really causes wrinkles is excess stress. It’s not the sun, genetics or anything else alone. When we do things in excess, we hit a point of diminishing returns. For example, physical exertion is great for the body, unless we’re under slept and overworked. Sunlight is one of the most healing substances in the world, until you fry yourself in it without taking a break.
The same goes for the foods we eat. Food can be potent medicine but if eaten incorrectly can age us, make us fat, sick and tired. If we eat foods that are full of sugar, we place extra stress on your body.
This causes a process of glycation in the body, which is the physical stress of eating too much sugar. It releasing free radicals and inflaming the body.
Glycation hardens blood vessels and makes tissue stiff and fibrotic. While many of the wrinkles that we get are a result of a high-sugar diet, the literal stress of a sugar habit can hurt the body in more ways than one.
For example, too much sugar can:
- Damage organs, especially the liver and kidneys.
- Generate free radicals and inflame the body.
- Cause breaks in strands of DNA.
High levels of sugar in the diet causes these breaks in DNA, otherwise known as glycated DNA. Broken DNA triggers the immune system, and scientists now tell us that it may be one factor leading to autoimmune disease.
Not All Sugar Is Created Equal: The Good and The Bad On Sugar
Even though fruit sugar is unprocessed and natural, that doesn’t make it “safe to consume, especially all day. A fruitarian diet is not a healthy diet. Fruit sugar, otherwise known as fructose, is found in many plants. Foods with high levels of fruit sugar include:
- Agave
- Honey
- Maple syrup
- Fruits from vines and trees
- Root vegetables, like sugar beets
- Sugar cane
- Corn
- Condiments, baked goods, and deli meats that contain high fructose corn syrup
Fruit sugar is eight times more likely to glycate, or create AGEs, than glucose. Glucose is a sugar that our cells use for energy. It is also the most basic sugar in starchy foods.
For optimal wellness, hormonal balance, gut-health and preserving your natural beauty I recommend only sour fruits that contain low levels of fructose, including:
- Lemons
- Limes
- Berries
- Unsweetened juice from cranberry, pomegranate, and black currant
Tips on Eating Fruit
There are two ideal ways to eat fruit for optimal digestion. First, I suggest that fruit be eaten alone and on an empty stomach since it can easily ferment in the small intestine. However, for anyone with sensitive blood-sugar, I suggest pairing your fruit with coconut or avocado. These are actually fruits with an exceptionally high amount of fat, which makes them great for balancing blood sugar.
Another tip, pomegranate and it’s juice (unsweetened) is a fantastic addition to the diet. It contains compounds that stop the process of wrinkle-causing glycation. As well as most dark pigmented berries (blueberries, raspberry, cherry and wild berries) all are rich in anthocyanin, an anti-oxidant that repairs and regenerates skin.
Lastly, eat your fruit at night for dessert. When eaten for breakfast they set you up for unstable blood sugar. However, consumed at night, carbs are eating toward the end of the day they help you sleep better.
If you crave sweet foods, stick to berries and desserts sweetened with stevia, like this one! It will give you that sweet taste without raising blood sugar dramatically. Stevia is the cleanest sweetener on the market, it’s just an herb like mint. Also, unlike agave or raw honey, it’s fructose-free making it ideal for the liver. Stevia also lowers blood sugar, reducing the risk of wrinkles and other hormonally rooted signs of aging.
For beating a sugar craving, eat healthy fats and consider adding fermented foods to your diet. Fats balance the blood sugar, taking us out of survival mode state that makes us crave sugar. A sour tasting probiotic beverage like coconut kefir can reduce a sweet tooth big time, and it has many beauty properties such as reducing the signs of pores.
3 Tips For Reducing Glycation and Wrinkles
- Eat sour fruits and more healthy fats.
- Use a stevia liquid concentrate to make desserts or add to teas.
- Neutralize your desire for a sweet taste with fermented foods and probiotic beverages.
So I know a lot of sounds terrible, we all love sugar, it’s engrained into our survival brain to love the sweet stuff. How dare it give us wrinkles? No worries, the past is over and I have good news, there are plenty of healthy sweet-tasting desserts you can make that not only satisfy your cravings, stop the formation of wrinkles but also reverse them! This recipe is one of them…
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 1 can of full-fat coconut milk (or make your own using a high-speed blender a young thai coconut, and nut milk bag. It just might not be as creamy!)
- 1/2 cup of unsweetened pomegranate juice.
- 2 tablespoons grass-fed butter
- 2 tablespoons grass-fed gelatin
- 1 tablespoon grass-fed collagen
- 1 tablespoon BrainOctane
- 1/4 tsp Vanillamax
- Stevia to taste
Here’s how you make it:
- Heat up your coconut milk in a pan. Do not boil, but get it noticeably warmer than your own body temp. Just dip a clean finger in to test. It shouldn’t burn you!
- Add your heated coconut milk to a blender.
- Mix in the rest of the ingredients: juice, fats, collagen, gelatin, vanilla and then stevia.
- Blend everything until mixed well. Test taste for sweetness, add more stevia if not to your liking and blend again.
- Pour into a mason jar, mold or a glass bowl, cover then place in the fridge for a few hours until firm. It will be the consistency of jello, perhaps a little more dense.
Eat this for a nourishing dessert that will hit the spot, rejuvenate your skin, and help you sleep!