Are Your Intolerances Affecting Your Face?

Tags

acid reflux, appearance, bacteria, biome, bloating, body, carbs, chicken skin, chin, complexion, dairy, dairy alternative, dark circles, Decleor Anti-Dark Circle Multi-Brightening Eye Care, Dermalogica Breakout Control, Dermalogica MultiVitamin Power Firm, Dermalogica Stress Positive Eye Lift, digestive discomfort, dry, Elemis Body Detox Skin Brush, Eyes, face, food, gluten, gut, inflammatory, intolerance, Keratosis pilaris, loose skin, pimples, puffiness, rough, skin, spots, sugar, tighten, wheat

Royalty-free image

There are many food intolerances which affect people and it’s a common misconception that the effects of these intolerances are mainly gastric. It is, however, normal for certain intolerances to affect your complexion and there are specific ways that each one can affect you. Today, we’re looking at some of the most common intolerances and the effects that they can have on your face.

Sugar

Sugar is in just about everything these days because it’s cheap and makes things taste better (and makes foods more addictive), but it can really mess up your gut biome and this in turn can have an effect on your skin. If your system is sensitive to sugar, the bacteria which live in your gut can go a little bit haywire, causing dry patches and pimples on your forehead, bags under the eyes, a lack of tautness in the skin and even thinning skin. Obviously, cutting out sugar (or at least cutting down) is a must, but Dermalogica Stress Positive Eye Lift can also drastically improve the appearance of eye bags, while Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Firm will help to tighten loose skin.

Dairy

Dairy intolerances are really comon and many people report uncomfortable bloating, digestive issues and acid reflux, but it can also cause an inflammatory response in other parts of the body. This means that you could end up with puffiness in the face, as well as dark circles under the eyes and even pimples on the chin. After switching to a dairy alternative, use Dermalogica Breakout Control to deal with the spots and Decleor Anti-Dark Circle Multi-Brightening Eye Care to brighten the eye area.

Gluten

Gluten can be a hard one to avoid, especially if you’re keen on carbs, but a gluten intolerance can have an impact on the whole body. In terms of your skin, one of the most common signs of a gluten intolerance is keratosis pilaris, a rough, chicken-skin effect which affects the skin on your arms, thighs and occasionally your abdomen. We highly recommend using Elemis Body Detox Skin Brush to brush the whole body before bathing or showering which will help to reduce the rough appearance of the skin and help to stop extra skin cells from forming around the existing problem areas.

What Happens to Your Body When you Give Up Sugar?

Tags

acne, bloating, cortisol, energised, energy, insulin, low energy, quit, quitting, sluggish, sugar

December is almost over which means that most of us are ready to switch out of ‘over-indulgence’ mode and into a far more virtuous mind-set. With Christmas goodies all around, it’s so easy to eat more sugar than during the whole rest of the year and January is a great time to think about seriously reducing your sugar intake, or even giving it up altogether. Today, we’re taking a look at what happens to your body when you quit sugar, to give you an idea of how it might benefit you.

Acne

When you suffer with acne, there are often one or a number of triggers which are personal to you, which can include hormones or any other number of things. However, most people who suffer with acne report a marked improvement when they cut all sugar out of their diet, so if you’re a sufferer it could be well worth a try to improve your outbreak frequency.

Anxiety

It’s been largely proven that the whole “sugar makes kids hyper” thing is a myth, but many adults report that high levels of sugar can really aggravate feelings of stress and anxiety and that cutting it out can improve anxiety levels overall. Reducing stress is important for your heart and overall health, so this could have a knock-on effect in other areas, too.

Weight Loss

In the past, we were taught that fat was the thing to cut down on if we wanted to lose weight, but the most up-to-date research shows that it’s actually sugar which needs to be cut out in order for our bodies to effectively shed weight. Quitting sugar and other simple carbs is the best way to lose weight, feel healthier and even possibly reverse type 2 diabetes.

Bloating

Eating a lot of sugar can encourage the body to hang on to excess fluid, leaving you feeling bloated and over-full. The good news is that as soon as you cut down, your body will release the excess fluid and help you to feel slimmer and less bloated almost immediately.

Energy

Eating large volumes of sugar floods your body, needing a high level of insulin to process it, which then causes your body to crash and feel super low. Sugar also interferes with cortisol production, which can affect your sleep cycle, leaving you feeling incredibly low on energy for the whole day. Quitting sugar and eating a high protein diet will help to keep you feeling energised.

The Benefits of Garlic

Tags

bloating, blood pressure, cancer, food, garlic, hair, health, heart, immune system, nails, vitamins

Okay, so we’ll be the first to admit that garlic isn’t the most glamorous of ingredients and it’s certainly one to avoid when you’re still in ‘first date’ territory, but believe it or not, garlic offers a whole host of health benefits. We thought we’d take you through the ways in which garlic can help you (and try to convince you that the benefits of the STINK outweigh the negatives!)

Digestive Health

The stinky part of the garlic comes from a compound called ‘allicin’, which is also the part which offers the most benefit to your health. Amongst other things, allicin is excellent for maintaining good digestive health, helping to keep you regular and reduce bloating.

Nutrition

Although garlic contains barely any calories, it’s massively high in a number of vitamins and minerals, such as Manganese, Vitamins B6 and C and Selenium, as well as Calcium, Copper, Potassium, Phosphorus, Iron and Vitamin B1. This means that by adding it to your food, you’re effectively taking a completely natural multivitamin, which is excellent for your hair and nails.

Immune System

Although there’s no cure for the common cold, it’s widely accepted that garlic can be a potent ally against the symptoms. One study into the effects of garlic on the common cold showed that the length of the cold was reduced, on average, from 7 days to just one and a half with a daily dose of garlic.

Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is a huge problem which is estimated to affect over one in four adults in the UK and garlic has been shown to drastically improve it. In fact, in some studies, a high daily dose of garlic has been shown to be equally as effective as certain pharmaceuticals which are regularly prescribed by GP’s for the condition.

Improving Your Workouts

It seems crazy but garlic has actually been shown to improve performance during levels of high activity – one study showed “subjects with heart disease that took garlic oil for 6 weeks had a reduction in peak heart rate of 12% and improved their exercise capacity” while another study showed quicker recovery rates with a daily dose of garlic. We’re not suggesting that you wolf down a garlic bread before your step class, but investing in some capsules could definitely help!