Does Drinking Alcohol Make Me Ugly?
DOES drinking alcohol make me ugly? Unfortunately, the answer is; more than likely, your drinking is wreaking havoc on your looks. Now, before you shoot the messenger, let me tell you HOW that is happening. After all, knowledge is power.
Alcohol is a neurotoxin, a drug. Consuming alcohol may negate all of the expensive products and procedures that make up your beauty routine. "Alcohol is actually one of the worst, most aggressive compounds to destroy your skin. If you want to get older, go ahead and drink" New York Nutritionist, Jairo Rodriguez, told Vogue Magazine. We are learning more and more about what alcohol does to us from the inside out, and it isn't pretty.
First and foremost, alcohol accelerates the aging process. It causes dehydration. Our hands and face swell as our organs hold onto water as if they've suddenly entered the scorching desert. Inflammation takes over and brightens up our complexion in a tomato-paste-on-the-face kind of way. Our blood sugar begins to spike and then dip while the glandular and endocrine systems become disrupted. “Brittle and dry” will be the only way to describe the state of our hair, skin, and nails. Many women have reported irreversible hair loss due to alcohol consumption. And don't even ask your overworked liver how she's feeling!
This wicked funny article with a similar title gives you the ugly truth
ALCOHOL ROBS YOUR BODY OF MANY VITAL NUTRIENTS -
For some reason, alcohol loves to steal Vitamin A, an antioxidant that's critical for cell renewal and turnover. Zinc gets soaked up with your cocktail, and before you know it, you're finding Cousin It from the Adams Family living in your hairbrush. Hair loss is hard to undo, girls. The B vitamins all take a beating from booze, and your skin, eyes, and brain suffer. Vitamins C, D, and E are losers too.
If you're anything like I was, you believe you have to consume your weight in Cosmos to have your liver be affected. WRONG! At the risk of sounding like a famous tweeter, that, my friends, is FAKE NEWS. Our livers each have a personality of their own. One may be able to swim in tequila for days before getting soaked, and another may feel as if she's drowning in one glass of vino. You do not know how alcohol is affecting your liver. It would be great if our liver would invite us in for a visit so we can ask her how she's doing, but she can't. She's trying to do her job. Her role is to detoxify, help with digestion, metabolism, and synthesize proteins.
Your liver does her work by breaking down alcohol. Bear with me for a moment, as I put on my (wannabe) lab coat to try to explain. Our livers metabolize the alcohol we consume into acetaldehyde. The acetaldehyde is then oxidized into nontoxic acetate by aldehyde dehydrogenase and glutathione. Um yeah...say that ten times fast.
All you really need to know is our liver only has a small amount of these enzymes reserved. If we hurriedly consume alcohol, this can cause a buildup of acetaldehyde in our system. We are pickling ourselves. How pleasant.
ROSACEA, BREAKOUTS, AND PUFFER FACE…OH, MY!
Facial flushing can be permanent. Again, not to scare the crap out of you, but knowledge is power. Adam Friedman, MD, says, "Facial flushing is probably the most common skin sign of drinking alcohol, as intake causes the blood vessels in the skin to dilate even with moderate intake, increasing blood flow. Over time, dilation of blood vessels can become permanent, leading to the formation of ectasia (ie, spider veins). These affect mainly the face, chest, abdomen, arms, and hands. The permanent dilation can be caused by not only the direct effect of alcohol on the blood vessels but in some cases, due to liver damage from long-term overindulgence. Furthermore, damage to these small blood vessels can cause them to be leaky, allowing for fluid to enter soft tissue like the skin, giving us the puffy, swollen look.
Alcohol increases inflammation in our bodies. Rosacea is a chronic, inflammatory skin condition that is exacerbated by drinking. Our blood vessels dilate, causing all-over redness. Dehydration and damage to these small blood vessels can cause them to be leaky, allowing fluid to enter soft tissue like the skin, turning us into a puffer fish.
WEIGHT GAIN -
Alcohol is the second most calorie-rich nutrient after fat — packing about seven calories per gram. It comes as no surprise that your nightly wine habit is adding numbers to your weekly weigh-ins. It's not as simple as calories in, numbers on the scale go up. The calories in alcoholic beverages are considered empty- they hold no nutritional value whatsoever. The number of calories in alcohol and the mixers do add up. The chart below will show you where your favorite libations line up:
As we learned above, your liver processes the alcohol you dump into your system. During a massive drinking weekend, your liver has no choice other than to turn some of the toxins into fat. The fat gets leaked into your bloodstream and turns into fat in your body.
Have you ever had margaritas on a Saturday night and then started searching for chips and guacamole at midnight? That's because alcohol is an appetite stimulant. It also lowers our inhibitions, so heaping cheese on those chips may happen as well. It's not until morning that we begin to feel regret over our midnight fiesta.
If the alcohol industry had marketed the ugly TRUTH to us, they'd never made it off the ground. The industry would have been required to post a skull-and-crossbones symbol on every bottle sold. However, billions of dollars have been spent to lure us in. "With alcohol, we will have more fun, be more spontaneous, and glow with youth well into our 60s." Or so we've been led to believe for decades. Now, with the backing of scientific evidence, we are learning that is not true.
The GOOD news is, much of the damage done by alcohol can be reversed and corrected. If you are willing to give your body even a 30-day break from booze, you can reclaim some of your youthful glow.