Minute by minute, your beauty endures an endless array of assaults from the outside. From every angle, your hair, nails, and skin take a beating from the sun’s UV rays, environmental pollution, toxins in your products, and stress.
Not to mention, the self-infliction of blow-drying, scrubbing, tanning, and well you get the picture.
While you can’t eliminate these outside beauty betrayers from your life completely, you can prevent additional beauty burdens from happening inside the body. How? By weeding out the foods that undermine your beauty, foods that I like to call Beauty Betrayers.
These foods may taste great, but these seemingly harmless foods aren’t doing your health or beauty any favors. Rather than providing amino acids, antioxidants, enzymes, minerals, and vitamins to support your healthy vanity, Beauty Betrayers steal your energy and burden your body with pesticides, preservatives, and synthetic dyes, trans fats, and other ingredients that promote aging. To add insult to injury, they leave you feeling exhausted, moody, and craving even more. The only way to stop this vicious cycle is to toss them off your plate.
Alcohol – Every time you consume alcohol, you take in empty calories that offer zero nutritional benefits to your body. Alcohol disrupts your hormone balance, stresses your liver (a vital organ for a glowing complexion), and affects your blood flow, leaving you with a flushed appearance and broken capillaries.
Caffeine – That cup of coffee may perk you up and temporarily boost your energy, but it also increases the stress hormone cortisol, a major contributor to wrinkles and belly fat. It’s also acidic which prevents your body from absorbing key beauty minerals.
Dairy – Conventional dairy products contain antibiotics and added hormones that can lead to acne, affect digestion, and cause a hormone imbalance in your body. Dairy is also one of the most common food intolerants, which can cause bloating and gas, as well as prevent your body from properly breaking down and assimilating essential nutrients from your food.
Fried Foods – Instead of healthy fats that feed your skin and fuel your body, fried foods contain unhealthy fats that are a primary source of aging free radicals. Free radicals have been linked to inflammation, wrinkles, and a host of other beauty concerns.
Gluten – Gluten is another common food intolerant that can lead to digestive issues and inflammation. A gluten sensitivity is hard to diagnose but can manifest itself in headaches, fatigue, redness, and advanced aging of the skin.
Processed Foods – Processed foods are loaded with additives, preservatives, and other ingredients that offer very little beauty fuel; instead, they trigger inflammation and load your body with free radicals. Not to mention, most processed foods rank high on the glycemic index, meaning they can cause a spike in blood sugar, which contributes to acne, aging, and hormone imbalance.
Soda – Just one can of regular soda contains approximately ten teaspoons of refined sugar. Thought you were doing well with diet soda? Diet soda is loaded with artificial sweeteners that slow your metabolism and cause weight gain. The caramel color in soda is a direct source for Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) formation, a process that ages you by breaking down collagen, the main structural component of healthy skin.
Sugar – Refined sugar, a source of inflammation, is bad news for your waistline and is a leading cause of AGEs formation, causing sagging and wrinkles. Even the name says it ages you! Artificial sweeteners aren’t any better.
Unfortunately, they can cause bloating, headaches, weight gain, and sugar cravings. Stock your pantry with these healthier sweeteners instead: stevia, raw honey, or coconut sugar.
Conclusion
Your diet can speed up the aging process, or serve as your body’s greatest defense against premature aging. Take time to select fresh foods that make you look and feel your best, and create a lifestyle that allows you to nourish your beauty and pamper your body from the inside out every single day.
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