Sugar by many other names

The following is an excerpt from my second book, Skin Care A to Z. It’s a list of known and not-so-known sugars. This list is used by permission from an excellent book on sugar and how to get it out of your diet, The Sugar Addict’s Total Recovery Program by Kathleen DesMaisons. She has also written another great book, Potatoes Not Prozac, which I also recommend. And now, the different names for the same thing—sugar:

amasake
apple sugar
barbados sugar
bark sugar (zylose)
barley malt
barley malt syrup
beet sugar
brown rice syrup
cane juice
cane sugar
cane syrup
carbitol
caramel coloring

caramel sugars
caramelized foods
concentrated fruit juice
corn sweetener
d-tagalose
date sugar
dextrin
dextrose
diglycerides
disaccharides
evaporated cane juice
Florida crystals
fructooligosaccharides (FOS)
fructose
fruit juice concentrate
galactose
glucitol
glucoamine
gluconolactone (may be found in tofu)
glucose
glucose polymers
glucose syrup
glycerides
glycerine
glycerol
glycol
high-fructose corn syrup
inversol
invert sugar
isomalt
karo syrups
lactose
levulose
“lite” sugar
“light” sugar
malt dextrin
malted barley
maltose
maltodextrins
maltodextrose
malts (any)
mannitol, xylitol, maltitol
mannose
microcrystalline cellulose
molasses
monoglycerides
monosaccharides
nectars
neotame
pentose
polydextrose
polyglycerides 

raisin juice
raisin syrup
ribose rice syrup
rice malt
rice sugar
rice sweeteners
rice syrup solids
saccharides (any)
sorbitol (aka hexitol)
sorghum
sucanat (evaporated cane juice)
sucanet
sucrose
sugar cane
trisaccharides
unrefined sugar
zylos

Malts, syrups, and most things ending is “ose” are going to be sugar—of some kind. And as you can see by the size of this list, there are numerous variations of what we think of as sugar. No matter what name it goes by, sugar causes skin problems in many people.

For more information, see:

• Sugar Addicted? Try a 3-day sugar fast
• Helpful hints to lessen sugar intake
• I’m sensitive to sugar—are you?

MYTH: Aging is bad

I truly believe aging is not the terrible thing it is represented to be in the consciousness of this country. Aging is inevitable, and it is the most natural process in life—one to be heralded, not condemned. A pervasive perception in our society today is that there is something inherently wrong with getting older. Yes, it can be disheartening to see the lines start to form or get deeper. Slowing down, losing your 20/20 vision, and waking up to stiff joints is not what you would choose for yourself. Although degenerating is the part of the process that is perhaps the hardest to take, what about what you gain with age?

The big question is “What is wrong with aging?” If you spend your whole life fighting the aging process, are you really living? What are you comparing old to? How will you grow old? Do you know older people who seem young? People who haven’t caved in to some society-driven illusion of how “old is bad.” The adage about wine getting better with time—isn’t this true for people as well?

Aging with grace is what I’m striving for in my own life, and it is what I discuss with my clients. You can struggle with what is happening and put up a big fight, but the bottom line is the aging of your body will occur anyway. There are no miracles to be found in a jar of cream, nor is there a Fountain of Youth at the doctor’s office. You are your own living miracle, and how your body functions is the daily affirmation, the absolute proof. The Fountain of Youth is inside.

For more information, see:

• Trends & fads in skin care
• Ageless Beauty—Part I
• 20 Ways To Keep Your Skin From Aging

Eye Cream Quick Tip

Buy more than one package of eye cream. Keep an extra one at work, on your nightstand, in your purse, or all of the above. I now keep one under my pillow because my cat kept rolling it off my bed table! It doesn’t really cost more to purchase several eye creams since you will be going through each container slower than if you had just one to use. Put it on sparingly throughout the day to keep the delicate under-eye tissue soft. It’s that important.

For more information on this all-important area, see:

• EYE CREAM: WHY you want to use it & HOW TO apply this all-important skin care product
• Eye Creams 101: What to use?
• Forgotten Places: The Eye Area

Yonka’s Gommage Instructions—This is Very Important Information!

The instructions inside the box of Gommage are slightly different than those listed below. Based on results, the following is the most effective way to use the this product. The instructions I’m giving you here, by the way, are the originals from when Gommage was called Desincrustant back in the 80s.
 
Exfoliation is paramount to healthy skin, therefore Gommage is one of the most important in your routine. Gommage needs to be used at least once per week, however it can be used as often as every day. Twice per week would be great. The gommage process takes about five minutes start to finish, but due to how your skin will look and feel afterward, it’s worth every second! 

Note: When sampling this product, USE ONE WHOLE SAMPLE per application (one sample = one application—only!). In others words, use the whole sample! If you don’t, you will not get a proper gommage. Using the sample will give you an idea of how much to use.

THIS IS IMPORTANT: Your skin and the air around you needs to be DRY—no moisture in the air (for instance if the shower is on or you’re in a steam room) and no moisture on your skin (be sure after washing your face you get all the water off before applying Gommage).

• Use a quarter to a half dollar-sized dollop
• Warm Gommage between your hands and apply to DRY face and neck

The gommage starts out as a sticky gooey gel. After massaging into your skin using light, circular movements for a minute or two, the product will start absorbing into your skin:

• When it starts absorbing, it gets a bit sticky and you’ll lose the easy gliding ability. Keep massaging, but do not rub your face raw!

• If you feel you have to rub hard, you didn’t begin with enough product. Don’t remove what you’ve got on your face, but apply a bit more, then continue...

• You will start to notice pencil eraser-type flakes appearing as the gommage dries

• Get over a sink and use brisk movements to eliminate the impurities. When complete, no more flakes will appear

• Rinse the residue off with tepid water, and you’re done!

• After rinsing, pat your skin dry, use your Yonka spray toner, then use your favorite Yonka moisturizer.

Your skin will feel extremely soft and look very clear and healthy. If you wear makeup, it will go on smoothly. Whenever someone comes in for a facial, I always tell them they will be amazed at how soft their skin feels the next time they go to cleanse. Many times after a facial the client won’t have touched their skin since the last time they washed it. 

QUICK TIP:
In a hurry and need to gommage? Before your shower, apply Gommage. Massage until the flaking begins, step into DRY shower, and flake off completely. Start water, and rinse residue off as you shower.

• Gommage when you can’t come in for facials
  
• Gommage when your coloring looks dull
  
• Gommage when your skin looks flaky
  

When in doubt—GOMMAGE! It is essential to your healthy skin program! 

For more information, see:

• What IS Gommage?
• Gommage in the shower? helps you understand why your skin needs to be dry before gommaging 
• Q & A: How to use Yonka’s Gommage (this is very helpful information!)
• GOMMAGE YONKA (formerly Gommage 305)—Soft Peel Miracle 

Remember—don’t rub too hard

Do you have Rosacea?

How do I know if I have rosacea?

The symptoms of rosacea vary from person to person just like the triggers* will vary for each individual, but there are certain common symptoms that are characteristic of this disease. Separately the symptoms don’t necessarily indicate rosacea, but if you have several together they can add up to rosacea. Not always, but potentially. (*A trigger is something that causes the classic red face or flushing associated with rosacea. For instance, using hot water on your face could trigger deep redness to cover your face—especially the cheeks—if you have rosacea.)

The number one symptom is flushing. This is where you are blushing, but in the case of rosacea it is not necessarily just when you are embarrassed. Flushing is when a large amount of blood flows through the capillaries very quickly and the vessels expand (dilate) in order to handle the load. This causes a definite redness to come over your entire cheek area, making you look flushed. If flushing occurs a lot over a long period of time, the capillaries become damaged and blood will stagnate within the vessel, giving you a permanent redness in the cheeks.

 

Flushing in a rosacea candidate can occur at any time and due to any number of reasons, only one of which is embarrassment. You can become flushed when you are hot; especially while exercising, receiving sun exposure, or sitting in a sauna, steamroom, or whirlpool. Also a peri- or menopausal woman who is experiencing hot flashes may produce flushing. Driving with the top down or sailing (sun plus wind), cooking in a hot kitchen, or sitting by the fire can also cause you to flush. You can also flush for no apparent reason at all.

Some other common symptoms of rosacea are telangiectasia (capillary damage), swelling or puffiness in the cheek area, sometimes blemishes where the swelling is, and always sensitivity. This redness, more than anything, is due to flushing. A swelling of the nose can also appear due to rosacea, more commonly occurring in men, which is a condition called rhinophya. Not only the skin on the face but sometimes the eyes can become affected, causing them to become irritated, red, and bloodshot. This is called ocular rosacea. 

The most unusual characteristic I have consistently seen with rosacea is the aforementioned swelling—something you really don’t find with telangiectasia, simple breakouts, or even acne (other than the swelling at the site of the actual blemish). The type of redness is also distinct: deep red, almost bluish.

Another symptom I have found from working on clients with rosacea is their skin in the affected area (namely the cheeks) is hot, or at least very warm to the touch, and it is different in temperature than the rest of the face. It is like when someone has a fever, but the warmth is only on the cheek area. This is a condition I used to call hot, red skin. Now I think what I had been seeing in years past was actually rosacea.

Classic couperose skin.

With couperose, you can see the capillaries; they look like spider legs—thin, red, and defined. The redness I see with a rosacea client is more mottled, not defined, and the area around the capillaries is red as well. The redness is widespread and not confined to the capillaries like it is with simple couperose.

Why am I making such a big deal about whether or not you have rosacea? If you think you have rosacea and you don’t, you will be mistreating your skin based on an incorrect self-diagnosis. You may be missing out on finding what is causing the problems you are experiencing with your skin. Even if you have incorrectly diagnosed yourself as having rosacea, hopefully you will pay close attention to your daily intake of food along with other factors linked to rosacea. In the long run, this awareness may pave the way for your skin to clear up.

Here are a few more articles with more information about this sometimes frustrating skin condition:

• Who gets Rosacea? 
• What is Rosacea?
• What is NOT rosacea?