Everyday habits that make us age faster

When we’re young and alert we don’t often dedicate a thought towards aging. We are out here living our bests life, and then all of a sudden we discover a wrinkle or a grey hair and we go bananas. Not that I’ve experienced my first grey hair yet, so I’m actually not the one to talk, but this is how I imagine I’d react. I’ll just start throwing a tantrum with bananas. Everything we do, from the day we are born until our first grey hair (well, actually until we die) determines how fast and how gracefully we age. That smoking and keeping an unhealthy lifestyle speed up the aging process most of us know, but what about the every day habits we do that makes us age faster?

Don’t worry, be happy

By singing Bobby McFerrin’s catchy song phrase “don’t worry, be happy” you’ll slow down your aging process tremendously! Wishful thinking, I know, but to smile, being optimistic, and looking at the bright side of life will press the pause button on aging. The power of the mind is more effective than we think and by giggling and sharing laughs you’ll both feel and look amazing.

aging

Tame your sweet tooth

Sugar is something hard to resist. Being a major sweet tooth back in the days myself, I can confirm this. Unfortunately you won’t look sweeter the more sweets you eat, especially not when it’s in the form of processed white sugar. Sugar spikes our insulin, and when this happens to often it puts our body under stress which results in premature aging. Not only does it increase our insulin dramatically, but sugar also has the sneaky habit of attacking our protein fibers within our cells leading to wrinkles. Because of this sugar is one of the worst things for our skin. It’s sad, but unfortunately true.

Of course there’s a difference between sugars and sugars. Natural fruit sugars from real unprocessed fruit provide us with vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Candy, cookies, and sweet drinks are the kind of bad sugar you want to cut down on. Remember that sugar is sneaky, and we can find it in unexpected places such as bread, yogurt, and cereal. Always read the ingredient labels.

Low fat diets

Now you might be thinking, “hell yes, bring on the french fries and nuggets!”, but no. That’s not the fat I’m talking about. It’s important to separate the different fat categories. We have healthy fats and we have unhealthy fats. Healthy fats like avocado, nuts, seeds, and olive oil contains omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin E and proteins which all work together to make our skin moisturized and smooth from the inside out. Healthy fats are also important because they make our bodies absorb other vitamins such as vitamin A and K, which both support a lot crucial functions in our body, not to mention keeping us looking young.

Binge watching Netflix

Well, it’s not actually the Netflix itself which makes us age, but more that we sit down. The more you sit, the more does your mortality rate go up. We know that movement is important for a healthy and long life, but the sitting itself can also increase the risk for blood clots and heart disease. But don’t go out and get scared of sitting down, there’s a lot of small things we can do to fit in movement in our daily habits.

Get yourself a standing desk at work, take brakes and walk around, stretch the first 10 minutes of watching TV, fill up your water bottle at the water cooler on another floor, etc. Get creative! We all know how we could improve our movements, we’re just lazy. It’s also important to have a steady exercise routine. By working out you add a lot of years, youth, and a healthier mind to your life.

aging

Sun bathing like your life depends on it

Suns out, buns out. We go all crazy as soon as summer sneaks up around the corner and the first sun rays hits our pale, winter derived skin. Do have in mind that every time you work on your tan you are speeding up the aging process tremendously. The strong UV rays from the sun are our skins worst enemy! I mean sure, the sun provides us with healthy vitamin D, but too much of the D will turn against us. Okay, it’s not the D vitamin to worry about, I just had to make a corny joke. It’s the UV rays we need to be careful of, and too much of their direct exposure to our skin is very dangerous.

Make sure to always use sun screen! Even in winter, especially on your face. Think about it, the sun is always shining no matter if there’s clouds blocking it. And because these rays are so strong, they still hit your face causing UV damage. Love your face! Use sun screen.

Exercising too much

Yes, exercising is one of the most important things we can do for our health and longevity, but as with everything, too much of a good thing can actually have the opposite effect. When we exercise too much we increase our cortisol levels, our bodies natural stress hormone. By putting to much stress on our body over a long period of time will speed up the aging process by causing insomnia, increase the chance for depression, and memory loss. Increased levels of cortisol might also be the culprit to why you’re not loosing that stubborn belly fat. When our body is stressed if holds on to fat as a survival instinct. So no, training too hard without the proper nutrition and recovery is deadly to us.

aging

Not getting your daily veggies in

We’ve been taught since we were young little shits that fruit and vegetables are extremely healthy and that we should eat more of them. Not only are they healthy, but they are crucial to aging gracefully and knocking away disease. Fruit and vegetables contains phytogens, a powerful antioxidant only found in plants which attacks free radicals and fights against cell damage. THey might not look much for the world, but plants are the most nutritious and disease fighting medicine we can eat. And we can eat them on a daily basis! It’s kind of mind blowing to think that every time we eat we have the power to fight or feed disease.

Now some of you might be thinking that it’s not as yummy as McDonald’s, but it’s all about what your taste buds are used to. Vegetables are easy to sneak into your meals. Add grated carrots to your bolognese sauce, sprinkle some berries on top of your cereal in the morning, and always add a salad to your meals. Eating more fruit and vegetables doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice anything else. It’s all about adding more nutrients, not taking anything away.

aging faster

Nourish your inner child

On paper we’re supposed to be and act a certain way depending on our age. This is pure stupidity! A number on a paper doesn’t determine when you should loose your imagination, stop playing, or take on crazy ideas with your friends. Never ever loose your inner child. Stay young and crazy, just in a more, responsible way depending on your environment.

By keeping your playfulness you’ll actually become more creative and more keen to solve problems in your career. Why? Because you won’t have a fixed mind. Children are bold, they try things, and they learn from it. Keep this mentality as long as you possibly can! Societies worst weapon is to silent our inner children. Don’t fall for the bullshit.

Don’t stress it

Last, but definitely not least I want to tell you to stop worry. Stop stress over the fact that we are getting older. As long as you’re focusing on staying healthy, feeling happy, and nourishing your soul with social relationships you will be fine. Aging is a part of life, and the more we try to deny it or cover it up the more it will show. Simple as that.

So get our in the world, grab it by the balls, live your best life while making better choices for yourself. Let’s become sexy old farts together!

https://bestlifeonline.com/faster-aging-habits/

https://www.nia.nih.gov/about/advances-aging-research

https://brightside.me/inspiration-health/10-everyday-habits-that-make-you-age-faster-239010/

https://www.journals.elsevier.com/ageing-research-reviews/recent-articles

Sugar in the body

Sugar in the body: are all sugars the same?

It’s a Friday evening, you’re tired after work and you can’t wait to get home and relax to the max! On your way back from the office you get a sudden craving after those Friday yummies, and you stop by the grocery store. With the intention to just “get a few snacks” you end up making it rain over at the candy aisle. Sugar. The first thing we crave when we’re hungry and the last thing we want after a big meal. It’s said that sugar is as addicting as cocaine, and well if you’ve ever been a major sweet tooth, I think you can agree. Not that I’m assuming you know all about cocaine addiction, but you know what I mean…

Sugar in the body

That sugar isn’t the most healthy thing you can eat, most of us already know. And if you didn’t know, or have been denying it, well, this should be your smack in the face wake up call. But why is sugar unhealthy and what does it do in our body? Keep reading to find out, and you probably want to keep your hand away from the candy bag while you’re at it.

Insulin and diabetes

Sugar spikes our insulin and blood sugar which is what affects our bodies first, and fast. Since sugar is easily absorbed by our intestine it shoots straight up in our blood and makes us go crazy. By fast, I mean fast! You know those roller coasters which goes up slowly about 80 m high up in the air, and then just drops you? Yes, like that kinda fast. Or like a bunch of buff Fast and Furious guys racing their hearts out. Ever felt jittery or even a bit sick after too much sugar? Or the classic one where kids are bouncing off the walls? Well, that’s the insulin and blood sugar going on roller coasters and drag races in your body.

When this happens frequently, you are at a higher risk for type 2-diabetes, which usually is the first disease we associate with sugar. What diabetes essentially is, is when the pancreas has gone too sick and tired of making so much insulin after each sugar spike, that it no longer can regulate and maintain normal insulin levels, and that’s why you as a diabetic need to take insulin shots to stabilize your blood sugar.

sugar in the body

Premature aging

If poor health wasn’t bad enough, sugar is also the worst thing for our beautiful faces as well. Sugar loves to pick a fight with our healthy cells, and unfortunately, they are stronger and knocks our cells out of the park, leaving us with damaged cells resulting in gloomy, wrinkled skin, and overall aging of our whole body. Take care of your cells people! Sugar does also include alcohol, people. Don’t forget that…

Different types of sugar

A lot of people like to lump sugar into just one category, and that category is called “unhealthy, get the fudge out” (literally, get the fudge out). If you’re sweet, you’re unhealthy (strictly food speaking. If you’re a sweet human being, you’re wonderful. Keep being sweet.), meaning that they put both candy and fruit in the unhealthy box and ditch fruits altogether. This, my friends, is a major mistake!

When we talk about sugar we call them either disaccharides or monosaccharides. This probably sounds like straight-up tooth fairy language, so to put it in simpler terms, a disaccharide is made up of two monosaccharides, and needs to get broken down by the body before it gets absorbed. A monosaccharide is a molecule in its simplest form, that doesn’t require to get broken down before absorbed into the body, which makes it easier for the body to absorb it. So, a disaccharide needs to get broken down into a monosaccharide and then get absorbed into the body, a monosaccharide just gets absorbed. Got it? Kinda?

Sucrose

This is the type of sugar that we find in most of our favorite processed foods. All those naughty treats that we love such as candy, ice cream, soda, cupcakes, and a lot of cereals and bread. Sucrose is basically the fancy science word for sugar, that white normal table sugar you can buy at the store.

Sucrose is made up of both fructose and glucose meaning that sucrose is a disaccharide. It’s made up of two monosaccharides (glucose and fructose).

Glucose

You’ve probably come across any of these expressions such as “glycogen storage”, “low glucose levels”, or “the brain runs on glucose”. And to make it simple, glucose is the sugar that we find in most carbohydrates. Bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, noodles, bananas, I mean you know what carbohydrates are. Glucose is a form of energy that our body and brain require to function, and is the type of sugars our body prefers. So yes, you could eat a bag of candy for that glucose spike, but you could also eat a whole grain avocado toast for a steady glucose spike while getting fiber, vitamins, and minerals. You see the difference?

Fructose

As the name kinda implies, fructose is naturally found in fruit, and we can also call it fructose for “fruit sugar”. Fructose is the sweetest for out of the three and is why it’s mostly used for sweet processed foods such as sweets and candy. Ever heard of the ingredient high-fructose-corn-syrup? Well, that’s the aftermath from processing fructose and what ends up in our candy.

sugar in the body

Processed sugar and natural sugar

So, since we can find sucrose, glucose, and fructose in a lot of stuff, both whole foods and processed foods, it’s easy to understand why people draw the line and ditch all sugars. That’s why we see the whole “low carb” diet trend going around, since every carb contains sugar, and sugar is unhealthy and makes you fat. But, this is not true!

The sugars we want to stay away from are the processed sugars. The guys who are derived from our natural whole foods to make up this sweet additive that gets sprinkled on everything we eat and drink. A lot of big brands love to sneak in processed sugar into their products to make us addicted and hooked on their products. Even the most unharmful products, like cereal, “healthy” granola, yogurts, “freshly squeezed” juice, ketchup, whole grain bread, just to name a few of all the items sugar is sneaked into. Yes, we actually live in a world that cruel.

What does this mean for you? You need to become the boss, take control of your grocery situation, and become the food label reading police. If one of the first three ingredients are sugar, NEXT! Most likely you’ll be able to find a way better option of the same item with less, or without sugar.

And then we have our natural, healthy sugars which occur naturally in a lot of foods. Fruits, vegetables, root vegetables, whole grains, these are the things you want to eat and should be eating. Whole foods provide us with a lot of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and gut-loving fiber which are essential to our body. Not to mention that our brain and body needs natural sugars to function properly, plus it makes our skin more radiant and keeps us looking fresh as fudgy budgy for longer.

So please, say it with me, fruits are HEALTHY. They are sweet, they are filled with fructose and natural sugar, but they are healthy! Eat them every day. And if you’re wondering about the insulin and blood sugar spikes from fruit, wonder no more! Thanks to all the fiber it slows down the spikes, making the insulin steady and chill. Our pancreas loves that. He’s not good with stress management.

sugar in the body

Alternatives to sugar

Now you might be thinking, jisses woman, are you telling me to stop eating my favorite sweet treats? What about my sweet morning tea? Birthdays? How am I supposed to bake a cake without sugar? Slap some fruits in there!? Don’t worry, I’ve got you. And no, I’m not going to tell you something like “you’ll get used to not eating sweet baked treats”, or “dark chocolate is just as yummy as milk chocolate” because let’s be real, it’s not the same thing.

In baked gods:

  • Dates: Not the ones you get on Tinder, but the edible dates you can buy in the grocery store (if only dating was that easy, huh?). Mix them up in a food processor and add them as a natural sugar to your cakes and treats.
  • Bananas: It might leave a bit of a banana taste, so if you’re not into that, then don’t use bananas as your replacers. Mash them up and add them to whatevs.
  • Agave and honey: If you’re strictly vegan then toss the honey out of the window. Agave and honey are as natural as it gets when it comes to that real sweet goodness of nature. It’s already a liquid and you don’t need much of it at all.

In drinks (coffee, tea, I mean even cocktails if you please).

  • Agave or honey

Snacks:

  • Fruits.
  • Dried fruits.
  • Raw treats.
  • Baking your own cakes: You can find so many recipes only for brownies, cakes, cookies, whatever you might think of that uses real whole ingredients. Black bean or sweet potato brownies? Yes, they are a thing, and no you actually won’t notice the difference. If you want me to post a sweet recipe, leave a comment below on what, and I’ll try to “whole food” it.
  • Dates in cacao powder (this is so darn delicious I promise you).

Obviously, snacks will be the toughest part so let’s get real. You are allowed to eat sugar. You can eat donuts, you can have a bag of candy, you can do whatever you want, and I want you to do it! Life isn’t about restrictions, it’s about balance. It’s definitely healthy to keep the processed sugar intake low, but if you are craving a twinkie or a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, eat it!! It’s also healthy to feed your craving, enjoy it, and then get on with your life.

Now, go ahead and have a sweet ass with your sweet ass!

Sources:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sucrose-glucose-fructose#absorption-and-use

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6215768/

https://www.rd.com/health/wellness/what-sugar-does-to-your-body/

Natural and Added Sugars: Two Sides of the Same Coin