How to Get Rid of Cellulite, Plus the Six Most Common Myths

DITCH THE SUGAR

It is said that “sugar is the new smoking” – and for good reason. Sugar causes skin ageing and blood vessel damage throughout the body by boosting inflammation and collagen -damaging glycation, which makes skin aged and grey. Worse still, sugar provides calories for your fat cells and also stimulates insulin which leads to the accumulation of that fat in your subdermis, what is commonly known as “cellulite”. Glycation and inflammation, mentioned above, are also hallmarks of cellulite.

STEP UP

Interval training refers to intermittent intensity running, cycling, uphill walking, elliptical training, swimming etc. This sort of exercise helps you burn more calories and boosts your metabolism way more than steady speed training of the same duration. It’s THE best exercise for cellulite. Interval running, specifically, is even better, and uphill interval running is the ultimate anti-cellulite exercise.

JUICE IT

Vegetable juices and berry smoothies contain highly concentrated plant chemicals and very little in the way of calories. The polyphenols and carotenoids in those juices and smoothies possess multiple anti-ageing, collagen boosting, blood vessel supporting and anti-cellulite properties. Just make sure you don’t include ANY other juice in them (eg apple, carrot, beetroot, banana, grape etc.) to avoid ingesting too much fructose, glucose or sucrose (sugar). Your legs will thank you, by looking less puffy, firmer and healthier.

DISCOVER GOOD VIBRATIONS

Vibration is the most important cue for collagen and elastin production for your skin and blood vessel cells, so it is no wonder that vibration plate training is the ultimate skin firming/circulation-boosting exercise. Tightening your gluteus maximus, i.e. your main butt muscle, is the single best thing you can do for your butt, as it lifts, firms and improves the shape of your butt more than anything else in the world. By doing squats on the power plate you combine internal muscle tightening with external skin tightening. What could be better?

GET SOME HELP FROM MOTHER NATURE

Several plant extracts and nutrients are proven to help fight multiple aspects of cellulite, including escin, asiatic acid, caffeine, ruscogenin, forskolin, curcumin, EGCG and retinol, among many others. Creams with high concentrations of those extracts can offer valuable help in the fight against cellulite. The Celluence® creams contain a total of 40x such natural actives, the highest concentration of actives in a cellulite cream in the world.

TAKE UP KNEADING

Massage is great for your legs, and even simple amateur skin massage can help keep your legs healthy and bump-free, as long as it is strong and it is applied on skin, NOT muscles. Kneading massage movements alternated by long upward strokes for 20-30 minutes will improve poor circulation and help break down fibrous tissue, both important aspects of cellulite. Always allow one day between massaging sessions to allow your skin to recover.

FRESHEN UP WITH HOT AND COLD SHOWERS

Contrast showers, also known as hot and cold showers, produce a profound increase in circulation and metabolism and summer is the optimum time to benefit from them. The alternation of hot and cold water constricts and dilates blood vessels, respectively, producing a powerful blood vessel pumping effect. Skin itself reacts in much the same way, and the overall metabolism is boosted by the cold water via a process called thermogenesis. Start with hot water for a few minutes and then alternate with hot and cold every 1-2 minutes, ending with five minutes of lukewarm water.

PLUS, SIX CELLULITE MYTHS

GROUND COFFEE SCRUB COMBATS CELLULITE
Caffeine does not just travel out of its own volition through the fibres of the ground beans onto the skin’s surface, just because you rub the beans against your skin. In fact, no caffeine is expressed out of the beans when you have a coffee scrub.

DRY BRUSHING COMBATS CELLULITE
Dry brushing is supposed to help boost lymphatic flow, but the truth is that normal upward massage movements with your hands and some nice oil will do a far better job in boosting circulation and lymphatic drainage than skin brushing.

CAFFEINE CAUSES CELLULITE
The truth is that caffeine has a triple anti-cellulite action when applied directly on the adipose tissue (e.g. as an active in a good anti-cellulite cream). It is lipolytic, anti-fibrotic and circulation enhancing i.e it acts on three aspects of cellulite at once. It is also absolutely innocent when consumed in moderation (up to 4 cups of coffee per day, i.e. 400mg/day).

CERTAIN EXERCISES CAN ERADICATE CELLULITE
Let’s make it clear once and for all: you can perform vigorous whole body exercise (e.g. interval training, running, swimming, uphill walking etc) to reduce overall cellulite. But doing hip extensions (butt exercises, such as the one in the picture) to remove cellulite on the butt is futile. Yes, it will tone your gluteus maximus muscle and lift your bum, but never in a million years will it specifically reduce butt fat or cellulite.

CELLULITE IS JUST FAT
No it isn’t. What people call “fat” is subcutaneous adipose tissue, i.e. fat under the skin, and does not normally cause any bumps to pop out of the surface of the skin. Cellulite, instead, is fat within the skin itself and is characterised by unsightly small and large bumps, accompanied by fibrosis (scar tissue), inflammation and water retention. Normal subcutaneous fat is not fibrotic, it is not inflamed and has good circulation. Physiologically, normal fat and cellulite are two different things.

LIPOSUCTION GETS RID OF CELLULITE
Another myth arising form the fallacy that “cellulite is just fat” is that liposuction can get rid of cellulite. This could not be further from the truth. As I described above, cellulite is INSIDE the skin, while subcutaneous fat, the fat that liposuction reduces, is UNDER the skin. Cellulite is part of the skin itself. No liposuction can get rid of it, because it would have to remove the skin itself.For full article visit lipotherapeia.com