The 5 Best Questions for Hiring/Interviewing for EQ
Asking the right questions and a strategic approach can make hiring fun and no longer a nuisance to be avoided. We tend to enjoy what we're good at. Hiring is a skill that must be learned, so get out there and get what you need to do your very best and enjoy it along the way.
1. "Describe a time when you were unfairly criticized and tell me what the details were."
This question is designed to uncover two things: the candidate's Self-Awareness and their definition of criticism. Be sure to get a specific example from them. The word "unfairly" is important to include as you will be assessing how justified the feedback they received was against their actions. Would a reasonable person think it was fair or unfair criticism? You also want to understand how sensitive they are to receiving negative performance information. Does the example they share represent criticism or feedback? What does your company culture provide most often - criticism or feedback?
2. "Think of a time when you had to work with a headstrong co-worker and tell me how you handled it."
Many candidates are concerned about sharing a weakness or failure. Interpersonal communication and proper conflict management skills are vital for team members and interviewers must do an effective job of validating skill level in these areas. The power of this question is that it asks about someone else, giving the candidate permission to share struggles due to other personalities. It also gives you a chance to glimpse their empathy/understanding of others...do they offer an indication of trying to understand better or help the person or just a superficial judgment based on self-centered reactions? I love to ask this question after a candidate tells me they have "great people skills."
3. "Share with me the last time you went above and beyond the call of duty.  Tell me about the details and why you did it."
This question is designed to provide understanding about what the candidate defines as extra effort. Is the example they share something you consider to be of substantial heroics or actions you would expect on a routine basis? Knowing how recently it occurred will also reveal their level of engagement in the recent or distant past. Lastly, it will be critical to know what motivates this employee to work at peak performance. The hiring manager must ensure that the motivation drivers are present in the current workplace in order to match with the candidate, and not only that but it also reveals what will retain them in your company and whether they would be a fit for your leadership style (a biggy). See our Performance Pointer - "Motivation Matching" for more on this.
4. "When was the last time you had to act when there was no policy or formal procedure to do so? Tell me what you did."
We always recommend that small companies ask this question, most of whom have little in the way of formalized policy and procedure manuals. This question helps you assess the candidate's comfort in "thinking on their feet" when they have come from a large organization or will be working in an environment with little direction or daily support. Their response may indicate how much they will seek out and need direction from others versus working independently. In highly regulated or high risk environments, the "right" answer may be a candidate who avoids working outside formal standards of conduct.
5. "We have all had times when we unintentionally insulted or offended someone at work. Tell me about a time when this happened to you."
This is a great roll-up question because is reveals several EQ skills. Do they have the Self-Awareness to know when their behavior has a negative impact on someone else? Do they have the Empathy to see things from someone else's point of view? Do they have the Social Skill to work through conflict and maintain effective relationships? This question requires interviewer confidence and the tenacity to tough it out through uncomfortable silence or a candidate who tries to sidestep answering, but the benefit in doing so shows what you are made of and proves to the candidate who is really in control.
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Change Management is the process of managing most changes that can have an effect on any IT environment, both infrastructure and systems/apps. All changes to a production environment or application need to be documented and communicated.
Each production change requires a ticket (most will already have one) and the Change Control document must be attached to the ticket, along with populating the Scheduled Start Date and Scheduled End Date.
Change Management is the documentation of changes to production IT environments. All of the required information can be found on the Change Control Form which can be found at:
Change Event Management\Change Control.docx
Every change to production must be documented in a Change Control form, except for data changes. Data Changes require a Change Control form if more than 10% of the records in a table are affected.
The Change Control Form requires arrangements be developed for support, preparation to backout, coordination with other changes, coordination with Change Administrators, etc.
Change Control is designed for visibility into all the changes being made to our production environments.
Instructions:
Change Control form required for all changes to production, both infrastructure and system/apps.
One Change Control form per change to production (multiple changes on one form must implement together.)
Data Changes are not applicable.
Attach the Change Control to the ticket, if applicable.
Store the Change Control at IDocumentation\Change Event Management.
Completing the Change Control form:
Ticket ID (if applicable):
ID number assigned to Incident, Service Request or project
Request Date:
Date the customer requested the service or change.
Scheduled Start (date/time):
Date/Time change is planned to begin implementing. Assumes a system outage will begin.
Scheduled End (date/time):
Date/Time a change is planned to end implementing. Assumes a system outage will end.
Change Administrator:
Person administrating the change to production. May include multiple Change Administrators:
Project Manager
Person managing the project. May the Manager of the programmer or infrastructure personnel for Incidents and smaller projects.
Stakeholder(s)
Person(s) interested in the change implementing.
Type:
Change to Hardware, Software, or Both.
Change Description
Description of the change. Include a reason for the change.
Support Information
List the people supporting the implementation and contact information. (Primary, support, vendors, consultants, etc.).
Area of Impact
List the hardware and apps being affected. If an outage is occurring, list the duration and the departments affected. (Hardware, Applications).
Testing Completed
List the testing completed. Reference test scripts or PQ’s, if appropriate. In the case of infrastructure changes, testing will be completed after implementation. List the testing to be completed.
Installation Plan
List the necessary steps to implement the change. If possible, script the changes. Use the appropriate Change Administrator.
Backout Plan
List the steps necessary to backout the changes if production does not work correctly. All backups and precautions should be part of the Installation Plan.
Change Administrator
The Change Administrator role is important to the overall process. IT is a customer service organization. We provide highly available systems to our customers and ensure their security. Maintaining permission restricted production environments assists by ensuring only authorized changes occur to our systems and they are well thought out, executed, and auditable.
Infrastructure has numerous pieces of equipment and system software. Many of these systems require various permissions to configure. All members of infrastructure have access to the appropriate passwords to perform their responsibilities. The infrastructure administrator is listed as “infrastructure personnel” because any one of the infrastructure staff can make the necessary change. The Infrastructure Manager will assign a person to the project.
The DBA role also fulfills a lot of Application changes.
The Application Administrator is dependent on the type of application being changed. Applications implemented prior to 2014 are the Legacy applications. Applications implemented after 2014 are the Modern applications.
The Change Administrator for Legacy applications is a Programmer Analyst 2 or greater, unless assigned by a manager. The Change Administrator will request elevated permissions by the Infrastructure Department. The change will be implemented and verified. The permissions will be removed shortly have the verification is complete. Infrastructure will be responsible for ensuring permissions are granted and removed appropriately.
The Change Administrator for new applications is designated. They will maintain appropriate permissions at all times.
All Change Administrator roles may be designated to a different person, by management, if the standard person is unavailable for the change.
Coordinating the change with the Change Administrator’s schedule is the responsibility of the person submitting the Change Control form or the Project Manager.
Scheduled Outages
Outages to production should be kept to a minimum, meaning, the duration of the outage should only be as long as required and the number of customers affected should be minimal.
This is the standard for scheduling outages for changes to production.
Changes that affect only one or a few departments and can be implemented in a short amount of time may be implemented during business hours after the notifying and coordinating with the departments.
Changes affecting more than two departments, numerous customers or external customers need to be scheduled outside of business hours, unless approved by the Director of IT.
Emergency Change Control
If an emergency requires a change to production immediately and the change can not wait for the Change Control form to be completed, verbal approval must be provided by the Director of IT. If the Director is unavailable, escalate up the chain of command. After the emergency has passed, the change must be documented on the Change Control form and noted that verbal approval was received prior to implementing.
If a change is required to production, during business hours, and it affects more than two departments, numerous customers, external customers, or an extended outage, approval must be provided by the Director of IT. If the Director is unavailable, escalate up the chain of command.
The longest prospective study of physical and mental health in the world found relationships, education, and generosity greatly impact happi
Harvard followed 800 people over the course of multiple decades and found 6 things that make people live longer, happier lives
Barking Up The Wrong Tree
Harvard followed 800 people for their entire lives to see what actually makes people live happier, healthier, and longer.
One of the three samples of people — 268 Harvard graduates born around 1920 — was the longest prospective study of physical and mental health in the world.
A second sample was the longest prospective study of "blue collar" adult development in the world.
The third samplewas the longest prospective study of women's development in the world.
The overall study found six key factors that impact happinessand longevity, including relationships, education, and generosity.
There's a lot of good advice on how to be happier or more productive or how to have better relationships. But tips on how to improve your whole life — something that will last decades and experience countless unpredictable changes — those should be regarded with extreme skepticism.
The only way to really get some good insights would be to follow a lot of people for their entire lives and see what actually works. Luckily, somebody did ...
The Study of Adult Development combined three massive longitudinal studies — research projects that followed people from youth until old age — to figure out what makes a good life.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
The Study of Adult Development is a rarity in medicine, for quite deliberately it set out to study the lives of the well, not the sick. In so doing it has integrated three cohorts of elderly men and women — all of whom have been studied continuously for six to eight decades. First, there is a sample of 268 socially advantaged Harvard graduates born about 1920 — the longest prospective study of physical and mental health in the world. Second, there is a sample of 456 socially disadvantaged Inner City men born about 1930 — the longest prospective study of "blue collar" adult development in the world. Third, there is a sample of 90 middle-class, intellectually gifted women born about 1910 — the longest prospective study of women's development in the world ... Like the proverbial half loaf of bread, these studies are not perfect; but for the present they are, arguably, the best lifelong studies of adult development in the world.
George Vaillant is a professor at Harvard Medical School and led the study for over 30 years. His book is Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development.
With almost a century of data on nearly 1,000 people, there are plenty of insights.Â
We'll cover 6 big ones that can get you on your path to awesomeness. (Remember: skimming my blog posts voids the warranty. If you don't read the whole thing and your life goes on to be awful, you will know why.)
Forgive me for starting with something obvious, but it had such an impact that it cannot be ignored.
1. Avoid smoking and alcohol
Among the college men studied, heavy smoking was ten times more frequent among the "prematurely dead" than among the "happy-well."REUTERS/ Daniel MunozÂ
Hi, my name is Eric and it was never my intention to write after-school specials but here we go: Kids, smoking is bad.
It was the #1 predictive factor of health.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
In both male cohorts not being a heavy smoker before the age of 50 was the most important single predictive factor of healthy physical aging. Among the College men heavy smoking (more than a pack a day for thirty years) was ten times more frequent among the Prematurely Dead than among the Happy-Well. Yet if a man had stopped smoking by about age 45, the effects of smoking (as much as one pack a day for twenty years) could at 70 or 80 no longer be discerned.
And drinking too much doesn't only hurt your health. Over the long haul it makes you less happy and screws up relationships.
Some people drink because they have problems. But the study showed alcohol is also an independent cause of problems, not merely a result.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
... prospective study reveals that alcohol abuse is a cause rather than a result of increased life stress, of depression, and of downward social mobility ... Alcohol abuse — unrelated to unhappy childhood — consistently predicted unsuccessful aging, in part because alcoholism damaged future social supports.
Maintaining a healthy weight increased lifespan and regular exercise boosted both longevity and happiness. Plain and simple: those things you know you're supposed to do to stay healthy? Do them.
(To learn more about the science of a successful life, check out my bestselling book here.)
Okay, obligatory obvious stuff out of the way. You have to keep yourself healthy. But you also have to keep your brain healthy. And maybe not for the reasons you might guess.
2. Years of education = good
The study found that pursuing more education led to better habits and healthier lives.Paul Marotta/GettyÂ
It's probably no surprise that, on average, the Harvard men were healthier at age 70 than the underprivileged men. But here's the twist...
If you compared only the guys from both groups who attended college, the difference vanished.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
... the physical health of the 70-year old Inner City men was as poor as that of the Harvard men at 80. But remarkably, the health of the college-educated Inner City men at 70 was as good as that of the Harvard men at 70. This was in spite of the fact that their childhood social class, their tested IQ, their income, and the prestige of their colleges and jobs were markedly inferior to those of the Harvard men. Parity of education alone was enough to produce parity in physical health.
This wasn't due to family income and it wasn't due to IQ. Pursuing more education led to better habits and healthier lives.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
The components of education that appeared to correlate with physical health in old age were self-care and perseverance — not IQ and parental income. The more education that the Inner City men obtained, the more likely they were to stop smoking, eat sensibly, and use alcohol in moderation.
(To learn the two-word morning ritual that will make you happy all day, click here.)
Okay, prepare yourself: the next one can be a little sad for some people because we can't change the past ... or can we?
3. A happy childhood
The study found that "what goes right in childhood predicts the future far better than what goes wrong."Win McNamee/GettyÂ
How much someone was loved as a child predicted their adult income better than knowing what social class they were brought up in.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
... for both the Inner City men and the Harvard men the best predictor of a high income was not their parents' social class but whether their mother had made them feel loved.
Many say that you can find out what someone is really made out of by seeing how they handle a really stressful situation. The Study of Adult Development found that the people who aged the best had coped well with something so horrific you wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy:
Adolescence.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
Again, as I have followed the lives of the Inner City men, one of the best indicators of successful aging was how well they had adapted in junior high school. Of the 150 Inner City men with the best scores for coping in junior high school, 56 were among the Happy-Well and only 13 were among the Sad-Sick. Of the 19 Inner City men with the lowest scores for adolescent adaptation, only a single man was among the Happy-Well, and 11 men, three-fifths, were among the Sad-Sick or Prematurely Dead. Successful adolescence predicted successful old age.
Yes, all this kinda sucks for some people. Amazon doesn't sell Time Machines and me saying, "Well, you should have picked your parents better" is far from helpful. So if your childhood was less than perfect and your adolescence felt like a bad reality show, does this mean you're doomed?
No. What went right in childhood was much more predictive than what went wrong.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
A warm childhood, like a rich father, tended to inoculate the men against future pain, but a bleak childhood — such as with a poverty-stricken father — did not condemn either the Harvard or the Inner City men to misery ... Perhaps the best summary statement is, What goes right in childhood predicts the future far better than what goes wrong.
And there's even more reason for hope. Sometimes love and support come late — but that can be enough to heal old wounds.
When people found a loving spouse or trusted friends in adulthood, the damage of a tough childhood could be undone.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
It is not the bad things that happen to us that doom us; it is the good people who happen to us at any age that facilitate enjoyable old age ... For women, as well as for men, spouses could sometimes heal dysfunctional childhoods ... A good marriage at age 50 predicted positive aging at 80 ... After following disadvantaged Hawaiian youth for almost half a century, Emmy Werner explained that "the most salient turning points ... for most of these troubled individuals, however, were meeting a caring friend and marrying an accepting spouse."
We need love at every age. A warm childhood is a great blessing but, as with so many other things in life: "better late than never."
(To learn 5 secrets from neuroscience that will increase your attention span, click here.)
So if the study found one big thing you damn well better remember, what was it?
4. Relationships are everything
The study found that people aged successfully when they gave to others joyously and received from others gratefully.ShutterstockÂ
Plenty of the men and women who had smarts and family wealth didn't fare well. And many who had fewer advantages did just fine. It was people's ability to deal with others that made the biggest difference.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
The lives of all three cohorts repeatedly demonstrated that it was social aptitude — sometimes called emotional intelligence — not intellectual brilliance or parental social class that leads to a well-adapted old age. .... successful aging means giving to others joyously whenever one is able, receiving from others gratefully whenever one needs it, and being greedy enough to develop one's own self in between.
What's one of the biggest mistakes we make when it comes to relationships? Not working hard enough to create new ones when the old ones fade away.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
Successful aging requires continuing to learn new things and continuing to take people in ... a widening social radius at age 50 was just as important to successful psychosocial aging as emotional maturity.
Asked to summarize the results of The Grant Study (the Harvard group),Vaillant simply replied, "Happiness is love. Full stop."
(To learn 3 secrets from neuroscience that will help you quit bad habits without willpower, click here.)
So what separated those who succeeded with others from those who failed? It ended up being one of the most powerful predictive factors in the study.
5. Coping skills
Bad coping behaviors, like pouting and blaming others, sooth bad feelings in the short term but wreak havoc in the long term.REUTERS/Eric VidalÂ
Using "mature defenses." Basically that means how you respond to the painful thoughts and feelings produced by difficult people and this occasional horror show called life.
When things don't go their way, teenagers scream and pout and blame everyone but themselves. However, when people become adults well, sometimes they still scream and pout and blame everyone but themselves.
And this does not lead to good things. How you cope with the inevitable problems of life has far-reaching, long-term consequences.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
... In both samples mature defenses were common among the Happy-Well and virtually absent among the Sad-Sick.
Blaming others, being passive-aggressive, living in denial, acting out and retreating into fantasy were all maladaptive coping mechanisms associated with poor outcomes. These behaviors soothed bad feelings in the short term and wreaked havoc in the long term by ruining relationships and producing lousy life decisions.
Those who thrived chose more mature methods of coping like altruism, sublimation, suppression and humor.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
These four mature coping strategies are not only associated with maturity, but they can be reframed as virtues. Such virtues can include doing as one would be done by (altruism); artistic creation to resolve conflict and spinning straw into gold (sublimation); a stiff upper lip, patience, seeing the bright side (suppression); and the ability not to take oneself too seriously (humor). These latter behaviors are the very stuff of which Victorian morality plays are made and they provide antidotes to narcissism.
Adolescence always ends but, sadly, self-absorbed, attention-seeking adolescent behavior can continue long into old age. For some people it reaches truly tragic, pathological extremes like blogging.
(To learn the 5 questions that will make you emotionally strong, click here.)
So if you learn to use mature coping skills and don't act like a selfish brat, you're ahead of the game. But those who truly thrived took it to whole 'nother level.
6. 'Generativity'
The best way to selfishly improve your life is to focus on helping those around you.FreeBirdPhotos/ShutterstockÂ
Bottom line: "generativity" is giving back.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
Generativity means community building. Depending on the opportunities that the society makes available, Generativity can mean serving as a consultant, guide, mentor, or coach to young adults in the larger society. Research reveals that between age 30 and 45 our need for achievement declines and our need for community and affiliation increases.
When we're young, we're all a little selfish. And that's okay. We need to figure the world out, we need to figure ourselves out and we need to build a life.
But when that is done, the best way to selfishly improve your life is to be unselfish and focus on helping those around you.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
Among all three samples generative men and women at 50 were three to six times as likely to be among the Happy-Well in old age as among the Sad-Sick ... In all three Study cohorts mastery of Generativity tripled the chances that the decade of the 70s would be for these men and women a time of joy and not of despair.
Spend your first few decades building a good life and a well-rounded self — and then spend the remaining decades sharing with others what you have gained and learned.
(To learn the 4 secrets to reading body language like an expert, click here.)
Okay, we've covered a lot. Let's round it all up and learn what effect the big six actually have
Sum up
This is how to make your life awesome:
Avoid smoking and alcohol: Duh.
Years of education = good: Education seems to increase good habits (and being surrounded by smart, ambitious people never hurts).
Have a happy childhood: It's huge. And surrounding yourself later in life with people who love you can help repair a difficult youth.
Relationships are everything: "Happiness is love. Full stop."
Mature coping skills: Stop projecting and stop being passive-aggressive. Use mature defenses like humor when life gets hard. (Yes, immature humor is still mature coping. You're welcome.)
Generativity: Build a good life, a well-rounded self and then give back.
George Vaillant spent so long interviewing people who were receiving Social Security checks that by the time he finished, he was receiving them, too.
His father had been an archaeologist, an arena that he had no interest in. But looking around at the stacks and stacks of reports covering literally thousands of years of people's lives, he realized, in a way, he'd become an archaeologist too.
His book contains a startling number of insights into what does (and decidedly does not) create a good life. We covered the big ones. So what would happen if you could tell good ol' George your personal score on the above six recommendations?
On average, he'd be able to predict your health and happiness for the next thirty years.
From Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Study of Adult Development:
The protective factors a stable marriage, the ability to make lemonade from lemons, avoiding cigarettes, modest use of alcohol, regular exercise, high education, and maintaining normal weight — allow us to predict health thirty years in the future.
None of the above pieces of advice was "inherit a billion dollars" or "win the Olympic gold medal in ice dancing." They're things we all can do, even if that means forming new relationships or taking some college classes at night.
A good life is not outside your reach. It will take some effort — but you knew that, right? The important part is that it's in your control. Frankly, George said it best:
"Whether we live to a vigorous old age lies not so much in our stars or our genes as in ourselves."
more from Barking Up The Wrong Tree:
How To Solve Relationship Problems: 5 Secrets From Research
This Is How To Make Your Life Awesome: 6 Secrets From Research
How To Have A Happy Marriage: 7 Powerful Secrets From Research
5 Reasons to Curb Sugar Intake — Beyond Empty Calories
Â
 BY ELIZABETH MILLARDÂ
DECEMBER 9, 2018
When it comes to weight management, refined sugar in all its forms — high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose, rice syrup, sucrose and many others — is certainly one of the top items to get knocked off an eating list.
Harvard University’s School of Public Health suggests that to achieve a healthy weight, you should limit “lower-quality foods” including sugar-sweetened beverages, refined sugar and highly processed snacks.
But your waistline isn’t the only thing affected by excess sugar consumption. Overindulgence on the sweet stuff can affect you in some other surprising ways:
1
SLEEP INTERRUPTIONS
According to the National Sleep Foundation, an after-dinner dessert is a great way to get a terrible night of sleep. In fact, the organization notes, the more sugar you eat during the day, the more likely it is you’ll wake up during the night.
That’s because sugar lowers the activity of orexin cells, a neuropeptide that regulates how wakeful you are. More bad news: These cells also help control appetite, so if they’re feeling off-kilter, you’re more likely to eat more.
2
MORE COLDS AND FLU
When it comes to an effective immune system response — the kind you need to be on high alert during cold and flu season — sugar could be defeating your white-blood-cell army.
When you eat a big dose of sugar at once, like a soda or a candy bar, you temporarily suppress your immune system’s ability to respond to invaders, according to certified nutrition specialist Monica Reinagel of Nutrition Diva. If that happens occasionally, it may be no big deal, but since the effect lasts for a few hours, you may be sabotaging your immune system on a consistent basis if you eat sugary food regularly.
READ MORE:Â What Your Sugar Cravings Might Really Mean
3
INCREASED RISK OF HEART DISEASE
Sugar may be tough on your weight goals, but it’s even tougher on your heart. A major study published in JAMA Internal Medicine suggested a sugar-packed diet may raise your risk of dying of heart disease, even if you aren’t overweight.
In the study, done over 15 years, participants who took in 25% or more of their daily calories from added sugar were more than twice as likely to die of heart disease than those who consumed less than 10% of added sugar.
4
POTENTIAL DEPRESSION
Although much is made of the mind-body connection when it comes to health and wellness, less attention has been put on the mood-food link. But it’s a strong one, and sugar can be especially notorious for causing emotional fluctuations, including anxiety, frustration and even depression, according to Dr. Elson Haas, author of “Staying Healthy With Nutrition.”
He notes that refined sugar has been shown to deplete important nutrients, such as protein, vitamin B, zinc, chromium and manganese.
“These deficiencies can lead to lower levels of emotional and mental functioning,” Haas says. “When you don’t have these depleted from your system, you can really feel a difference in your mood and your emotional state.”
5
LESS-THAN-STELLAR SKIN
Refined sugar, as well as other high-glycemic foods, raises insulin levels in the body and that increases inflammation. When that happens, the inflammation produces enzymes that break down collagen and elastin, the structural “building blocks” of your skin, notes dermatologist Nissan Pilest, MD, of California-based Total Dermatology.
“Digested sugar permanently attaches to the collagen in your skin through a process known as glycation,” he says. “That results in sagging skin and wrinkles. Glycation can also exacerbate skin conditions like acne and rosacea.”
Plus, the more sugar you eat, the more likely it is you’ll develop insulin resistance, he adds. That can lead to excess hair growth on the skin, as well as dark patches on the neck and other areas.
A SWEETER STRATEGY
With side-effects like these, you might be tempted to swear off cupcakes forever. But you don’t need to cut out refined sugar products completely to see benefits and lower your health risks, says New York-based registered dietitian Vanessa Rissetto.
Instead, focus on mindful eating and awareness — in other words, she advises, make a sugary treat into exactly that, so it’s a sometime occasion and not a regular habit. Start by eating your next sugary snack very slowly, and notice how it smells as well as tastes. You don’t need to become a mealtime snail, but doing this a few times can help you “reset” when it comes to sugar, Rissetto says.
“This exercise helps teach you that you crave much less sugar than you probably think,” she says. “Being more mindful when you eat, especially when it comes to sugar, can keep you off autopilot and change your eating habits.”