But I was surprised to read lately that there is another item in the list of the damage that sugar creates. It also accelerates the aging process.

Sugar speeds up the degradation of elastin and collagen, which are key skin proteins. It starts a process in your body called glycation in which the sugar molecules bind to your protein fibers — those nice, springy, resilient fibers that are the building blocks for your skin. Sugar attacks these fibers, making them less elastic which results in your skin starting to sag and look old.

As if that’s not bad enough, glycation causes your skin proteins to mutate, creating harmful new molecules called Advanced Glycation End products (AGES). These accumulate and cause further damage and inflammation. Glycation also inhibits your body’s ability to protect itself from the harmful effects of the sun.

If you eliminate sugar from your diet — or at least drastically cut down how much you get — you most likely will notice increased radiance to your skin and better elasticity, a couple of the items we fight so hard to retain ... or get back through skin treatments.

Skin isn’t the only item in your body that takes a hit when glycation occurs. AGEs have been implicated in nearly every disease process associated with diabetes and aging.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t ever again imbibe those tasty morsels of white stuff again! You just need to decide what is worth it and what is not. Too many of us have some form of sugar for breakfast (juice, sugar in coffee, sweet rolls), sugar for lunch (a dessert after a sandwich, milkshake, more sweetened drinks), sugar for dinner (again, dessert, drinks, you name it!) and then treat ourselves with sugar for a snack after dinner. That’s a tad bit too much! (said very sarcastically)

The more you stay away from sugar, the easier it becomes. The darn stuff really is addictive. And, no, please don’t replace real sugar with fake sugar. Putting fake chemicals into your body isn’t going to do it any favors either.

If you’d like to try a natural sweetener, I’d recommend stevia. Now that I use it, I prefer its taste to sweeten things like tea or smoothies. It brings out the flavor without me having to risk the harmful effects of sugar or chemical sweeteners.