Behind every public figure's enduring looks lies a personal wellness routine. This series examines the diets, exercise habits, treatments, and beauty and fashion choices of notable figures as practical lifestyle insights.
Actor Park Ju-mi has drawn attention for maintaining a lean figure and youthful appearance well into her 50s. Known for skipping crash diets in favor of cutting high-sugar snacks and consistently practicing yoga, stretching and Pilates, she has sparked fresh interest in the lifestyle habits that help manage both weight and skin health in middle age.
Park recently shared a series of everyday photos on SNS, appearing in a sleeveless top with her long straight hair down and posing in front of Pilates equipment. Her slender, toned physique caught the attention of many followers.
Rather than skipping meals outright, Park is known to manage her body by avoiding high-sugar snacks as much as possible.
Cutting back on excessive sugar intake can benefit not only weight management but also long-term skin health. In middle age particularly, the combined effects of aging, hormonal shifts and reduced physical activity make it easier to lose muscle and accumulate abdominal fat — making the quality of one's diet just as important as the quantity. Research has also shown that even without significant weight change, middle-aged women can experience a redistribution of body fat toward the abdomen and around internal organs.
Why frequent sweet snacking makes weight management harder
Foods high in added sugar — such as crackers, cake and sweet beverages — make it easy to consume a relatively large number of calories in small portions. Sugary drinks in particular can be consumed quickly without chewing, which means they may not produce the same sense of fullness as eating the equivalent calories in solid food.
When total daily energy intake consistently exceeds expenditure, the surplus is stored as fat, leading to weight gain over time.
The WHO recommends limiting "free sugars" — those added to food and drinks, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups and fruit juices — to less than 10 percent of total daily energy intake, in the interest of healthy weight and cavity prevention. Based on a 2,000-calorie daily diet, that works out to less than about 50 grams. The WHO adds that reducing free sugars to below 5 percent may bring additional health benefits.
That said, there is no need to drastically restrict carbohydrates altogether. Rather than treating all carbohydrates — including those in rice, whole grains, vegetables and fruit — as harmful sugars, a more practical approach is to first cut back on sugary drinks, desserts and processed foods.
Does eating too much sugar age your skin? What is glycation?
One process that links excessive sugar consumption to skin health is glycation.
Glycation is a non-enzymatic reaction in which sugars such as glucose and fructose in the bloodstream bind to proteins. Through a series of chemical changes, this process can produce compounds known as advanced glycation end-products, or AGEs.
One of the key targets in the skin is collagen — the protein that supports the structure of the dermis and maintains skin elasticity and firmness. As glycation progresses, cross-links form between collagen fibers, causing the tissue to stiffen.
A review on skin glycation published in the international journal Antioxidants found that glycation stress is associated not only with structural changes to collagen but also with impaired skin cell function and increased inflammation and oxidative stress. Experimental and some clinical studies have also reported links to changes in skin wrinkling, elasticity, moisture levels and dermal density.
Glycated collagen is also harder to break down than normal collagen. The skin continuously breaks down old collagen and replaces it with new tissue, but cross-linked collagen resulting from glycation can interfere with this renewal process.
However, eating sweet foods occasionally does not mean skin elasticity will immediately decline or wrinkles will appear. Skin aging involves a wide range of factors beyond diet — including age, genetics, UV exposure, smoking, sleep and alcohol consumption. Glycation is best understood as one of several aging mechanisms that accumulate gradually over time.
Fruit is sweet too — should it be avoided?
Whole fruit and sugar-laden snacks or drinks are not the same thing.
Whole fruit contains not only sugar but also dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals and a variety of plant-based nutrients. The WHO itself recommends choosing fresh fruit over cookies, cake or chocolate as one way to cut back on sweet snacks.
However, blending fruit into juice changes the picture somewhat. The "free sugars" the WHO recommends limiting include sugars naturally present in fruit juice and concentrated fruit juice. The fact that juice is easier to consume in larger quantities more quickly than whole fruit is also worth keeping in mind.
If you crave something sweet, swapping daily cookies, sweet bread or sugary drinks for moderate amounts of whole fruit, unsweetened yogurt or nuts is a practical alternative.
Consistent Pilates and yoga — why protecting muscle matters in middle age
The Pilates and yoga that Park practices consistently are also well worth incorporating into a middle-age wellness routine.
In middle age, energy expenditure and physical activity tend to decline, and muscle mass is easily lost. Women may also experience changes in body composition — including increased abdominal fat — as they go through the menopausal transition. Research confirms that while aging itself plays a large role in weight gain around menopause, hormonal changes are associated with a tendency for fat to accumulate in the abdominal area.
Pilates can strengthen the core and improve trunk stability, while yoga helps maintain muscle strength, flexibility and balance. For those who also want to manage body fat, combining these with aerobic exercise — such as walking, running or swimming — and full-body strength training is more effective.
When it comes to managing body shape and skin health in middle age, the key is not eliminating specific foods entirely. What matters is reducing the frequency of habitual consumption of sweet processed foods and drinks, eating a balanced diet with adequate protein, vegetables, whole grains and fruit, and moving the body regularly.
Cutting back on sweet snacks alone cannot turn back the clock, but building habits that manage weight, limit excessive sugar intake and preserve muscle can help address both health and physical changes in middle age.
rainbow@heraldcorp.com
