BEACHY LEGS

Cellulite and glycaemic index (GI): the effect of sucrose, glucose, fructose, insulin resistance and glycation

Cellulite and glycaemic index (GI): the effect of sucrose, glucose, fructose, insulin resistance and glycation

Glycemic index (GI) refers to the speed with which a certain food raises blood glucose levels. The glycaemic index is a scale from 0-100, with pure glucose set to be 100. A food is considered to have a low GI if it is 55 or less; high GI if 70 or more; and mid-range GI if it is 56 to 69. Some foods and drinks actually have a GI much higher than glucose. For example the GI of beer is up to 119 and that of corn flakes is up to 132…

The best time to have a course of cellulite treatments is now

The best time to have a course of cellulite treatments is now

Most people think that they have to wait to have a course of cellulite treatments until: “I first need to lose all my weight”; “2-3 weeks before the holidays, as, if I have my treatments too early, results will disappear by holiday time. However, as we will see below, both of these approaches are wrong…

Should I cut out gluten whilst receiving cellulite treatments at LipoTherapeia?

Should I cut out gluten whilst receiving cellulite treatments at LipoTherapeia?

Gluten is a secondary cause of cellulite, well below in order of importance from the main cellulite causes: sugar, fried food, excess card and excess fat consumption; too few vegetables, herbs, spices, berries and protein; alcohol, smoking/vaping, hormonal contraception; inactivity. So although gluten may…

The LipoTherapeia story: an interview

The LipoTherapeia story: an interview

There is a clearly growing trend for naturals and I can only see this getting bigger. People move away from harsh chemicals and prefer to buy skincare products with more natural and softer ingredients. However, as it always happens, there is a lot of hype and misinformation, with many products claiming to be “rich” in a specific “trendy” natural ingredient, when in reality the may contain as little as 0.01% of that active…

Cellulite and the role of skin ligaments / "fascia" / septa / "fibrous bands"

Cellulite and the role of skin ligaments / "fascia" / septa / "fibrous bands"

Cellulite appears due to the action of enlarged fat globules pushing skin upwards and shortened collagen fibre bundles pulling skin downwards. These collagen fibre bundles are not bothersome, unnecessary for the body tissues that need to be cut out so that fat can perpetually expand upwards without hindrance. These fibres are known to anatomists as retinaculae cutis*, i.e. skin ligaments, and they are there, as all ligaments, to keep two parts of connective tissue attached…

What is more effective cost-wise: a cellulite cream or a cellulite treatment?

What is more effective cost-wise: a cellulite cream or a cellulite treatment?

This is a common question we hear at the clinic. Cellulite creams are much more economical than treatments, so if they do work they make more sense, at least economically. On the other hand, many people do not believe that creams are even absorbed or they believe that their benefits are due to massaging the cream on the legs, two myths that we addressed in detail in previous articles. Of course a good cellulite cream is absorbed; and the effect of massaging the cream into the skin is negligible. On this article we are looking at the pros and cons of cellulite treatments vs cellulite creams.

How often should you do red light therapy for weight loss?

How often should you do red light therapy for weight loss?

Never and none. It doesn’t matter how often you have red light therapy - you will NOT lose any weight. Sure, there are a few research papers which report weight loss and even “trusted” sites like Healthline fall for them, simply because the writers of those trusted websites quite often have no technical expertise, insider knowledge or clinical experience themselves to assess what is real and what is fake in specific sectors - in this case the often unscrupulous aesthetic equipment manufacturer industry…

‘Bottomless bubbly’ afternoon tea and the GBBO obsession vs diabetes, heart disease and cellulite

‘Bottomless bubbly’ afternoon tea and the GBBO obsession vs diabetes, heart disease and cellulite

As if metabolic inflammation, insulin resistance, diabetes, overweight and obesity (not to mention cellulite, the subject of this website) were not bad enough in London and the UK in general, the last few years we have seen the rise of the ‘afternoon tea culture’, complete with bottomless prosecco offers and, of course, “The Great Diabetes Bake Off” (excuse me, I meant to say ‘The Great British Bake Off’), which has indoctrinated an entire generation to produce - and inevitably consume - vast quantities of stodgy, fattening and unhealthy nutritional junk. Indeed, the definition of junk food is food rich in fat, sugar and refined starch, so whichever way you dress a pig (fancily named Battenberg cakes or Angel slices, as…

Airplanes, airports hotels and cellulite

Airplanes, airports hotels and cellulite

London is an international air travel hub, with economical tickets to both European and distant destinations, and as a result millions of Londoners every year take to the skies. Many travel several times a year for pleasure while others even travel several times a week for business. All this travel does not just mean rich hotel meals and drinks at night - either for pleasure or business - but also food on the go, airport food and, worst of all, airplane food. Water retention and dehydration is also an issue when flying, which means poor circulation, puffiness and bloating…

How unhealthy lifestyles in London (and most major cities) cause cellulite

How unhealthy lifestyles in London (and most major cities) cause cellulite

"Since I’ve moved to London I have put on so much weight"; "I always had a little bit of cellulite but since I moved to London my cellulite has got worse than ever"; “I don’t exercise in London as much as I used to back home, so I put on weight”. As a cellulite specialist I have seen literally thousands of women, British and from all parts of the world, and I have heard those phrases countless times in the last couple of decades. My clients at the clinic seem to agree that, to put it bluntly, “London makes you fat and gives you cellulite”. And this does not come as a surprise to them, as they know that their habits have become a lot more unhealthy since they moved to London…

How our obsession with eating out causes cellulite

How our obsession with eating out causes cellulite

Italian, Greek, Japanese, Thai and even Indian cuisine, for example, never included so much cream, butter, palm fat, rapeseed oil and mayonnaise. Sugar and sweet sauces are almost never included in Mediterranean savoury dishes. Yet, pub and restaurant meals, as well as supermarket ready-made meals, are full of those ingredients. Why does one need mayonnaise in sushi? Why would a so-called Greek salad need a sweet sauce? And why the hell do we need all this cream in so many meals?

Soul food, street food, comfort eating and cellulite

Soul food, street food, comfort eating and cellulite

I do not understand what makes unhealthy food, cooked unhealthily, good for the “soul”. Yes, it is comforting and occasionally food comfort is important. But consuming comfort/soul/street food continuously - as many people do these days with London’s rampant takeaway “just eat” culture - is detrimental to health. Indeed, ‘soul food’ and ‘street food’ played a role in the past, when people who mainly did heavy manual labour for a living needed a source of thousands of concentrated calories to get them through the day. In fact, millions of hard working people still depend on it today. It is not the healthiest food but provides needed calories…

Social media and cellulite

Social media and cellulite

And for every person benefitting from such motivation - or anxiety-inducing - reels there are countless others who simply waste their life away in the sofa scrolling to watch pointless “content” while eating comfort food and getting unhealthy and overweight. Not the mention the millions of disgusting food recipes with smoked, burned, charred, smoked again, fried, charred again, burned, fried again food comprising fatty meat, 60 shades of sugar and countless forms of stodge (British: heavy, dull, often starchy food)…

Drinking culture and cellulite

Drinking culture and cellulite

At the clinic we quite often see female clients (usually young but quite often in their 40s and 60s too), who consume 15 or even 20 units of alcohol on a night out. I really do not know how they do it - that amount of alcohol would send me to the intensive care unit. The fact is they do it and, although some are slim or relatively slim, they all have one thing in…

How luxury living and the champagne lifestyle causes cellulite

How luxury living and the champagne lifestyle causes cellulite

Beer and fish and chips vs refined restaurants and expensive cocktails. What do these two things have in common? Calories and alcohol, of course. In the last 20 years that we have specialised in cellulite, we have seen so many champagne-sipping people, who had literally thousands of evenings of refined dining…

How takeaway food causes cellulite

How takeaway food causes cellulite

“Don’t cook, just eat”, goes the motto of food delivery app Just Eat. Deliveroo and Uber Eats preach a similar philosophy: why bother to cook, when you can outsource your food? Obviously things are not so simple. Takeaway food is not cooked in a ‘Green Pan’ with a £50-a-kilo extra virgin Toscano olive oil, coming out of a cute glass bottle…

Can leaky gut cause cellulite?

Can leaky gut cause cellulite?

Leaky gut, or increased intestinal permeability, occurs when the lining of the small intestine becomes compromised. This allows undigested food particles, toxins, and bacteria to leak into the bloodstream, triggering systemic inflammation and immune responses. Since inflammation and related processes play a significant role in skin and tissue health, this condition could plausibly affect cellulite…

Learn how compression leggings undermine your skin firmness - and have an advanced cellulite treatment at LipoTherapeia

Learn how compression leggings undermine your skin firmness - and have an advanced cellulite treatment at LipoTherapeia

How can compression leggings / stockings affect skin firmness / tightness? Constant movement and vibration throughout the day provide mechanical stimulation to cell mechanosensitive receptors, which in turn stimulate collagen and elastin synthesis by your collagen cells (fibroblasts) in your skin and even by your fat cells (adipocytes)…

Learn how often you can have radiofrequency treatment - and have an advanced RF treatment at LipoTherapeia

Learn how often you can have radiofrequency treatment - and have an advanced RF treatment at LipoTherapeia

With any effective body treatment, it is good to leave one, two or more days between sessions in order to allow for the skin to recover. So with a deep-acting, high-power radiofrequency treatment, you must leave at least 2-3 days between sessions. With ineffective, low power RF treatments, you can leave less time between sessions (as little…