Get the *alcohol free* glow
In addition to that face cream you got for Christmas the best ingredients for a healthy complexion are hydration and essential vitamins. Lots of us have a tendency to spend a lot of time and money on how we present ourselves. This is no bad thing. Why not look your best to feel your best?! But we are at risk of counteracting our best efforts when we drink too much alcohol. Alcoholic drinks come with a real risk of causing damage to not just how we feel but how we look as well.
The more well known and obvious side-effects are caused by the dehydrating effects of alcohol. Because alcohol is a diuretic it encourages the body to release more water from the kidneys and dilute our system. As this happens it expels vitamins such as vitamin A which is a prime supporter of skin health.
The lack of precious water in the system also means your skin dries out. This is exacerbated by the harmful effects of digesting alcohol in the liver, a process which creates byproducts which can be toxic to our body tissues. Dry skin is more prone to cracking and wrinkles and also leaves a dull appearance. By opting for alcohol free drinks we can avoid this by maintaining the hydration in the layers of the skin. This will work wonders to slow down the natural ageing effects on the skin.
A further effect of dehydration of the skin caused by alcohol can be the bloating effect. This is usually most prevalent in the face and occurs as the body desperately tries to hold onto water that the alcohol is causing your body to dispense with. Whilst puffiness in the face is most recognisable the bloating can occur elsewhere in the body as well.
A common element of our appearance that we frequently become aware of is our weight. A basic ratio involved in weight change is between our energy expenditure and our calorie intake. There are a couple of ways that alcohol interferes with this balance.
Firstly, the body will prioritise the processing of the alcohol before it can deal with processing other food and drink you might have consumed. This means there is a higher chance that these are stored as fat. Secondly, the stress and inflammation that alcohol can cause to the stomach and intestinal tract means your body has a hard time performing its usual breaking down of the food into micro and macro nutrients to be used by the body. So not only are we risking depriving our bodies of essential nutrients but the calories become excess weight we didn’t intend on gaining.
The morning after a few too many alcoholic drinks and we look in the mirror. We might see ourselves looking back questioning our judgment from the previous evening (judgements which can include poor food choices). But we will also see ourselves with bloodshot eyes! A typical and very visible side effect happens when the tiny blood vessels on the eyes dilate so more blood flows through them and they become prominent on the whites of your eyes.
The benefits of an alcohol free drink in place of an alcoholic one in terms of appearance are quite obvious. But there is a further effect that is also key to how we present ourselves. It comes about because of the way the body excretes alcohol. One of these methods is through the breath and through the skin. As the body breaks alcohol down into acetic acid it expels much of it through urine. But the remainder is forced out through the pores of our skin in sweat and sometimes through our breath. Whilst these are not side-effects
you can see, they can be very obvious to those around you.
Taking care of what is on our insides goes hand in hand with taking care of what's on the outside. Avoiding toxins and instead providing hydration for your skin with alcohol free drinks leads to results you can literally see. Your skin will love you for it. Look in the mirror and you can love it right back!
