Summer is here! And with it the eternal theme of dents on our skin. Almost 90 percent of all women will deal with cellulite at some point in their lives. And although these things are actually harmless and shouldn’t make women uncomfortable these days, they still cause stress for many of us. We want to spare you this as much as possible and ask an expert what helps and what we can pail right away.
Good news: You don’t need to shop for expensive creams and oils.
Cellulite is actually harmless
No matter whether fat, thin, curvy, or athletic: Almost 90 percent of women will deal with cellulite in the course of their lives. So no reason to feel uncomfortable because of the small dents in your body and let the summer spoil you. After all, there are reasons why the female connective tissue is very elastic and therefore only loosely networked. Because cellulite is actually a clever move by nature so that we can create individual fat chambers to protect ourselves against famine or expand them during pregnancy. Reason enough for more and more women to celebrate their orange peel. Unfortunately, these women are still the exception. And for many, the uneven distribution of their fat cells aka cellulite, despite all the body positivity, is a problem. We asked an expert how things are actually made and how we can get rid of them easily without spending a lot of money.
Orange peel: what is it anyway?
Our expert Dr. Daniela Rieder, a specialist in plastic, aesthetic and reconstructive surgery, calls the dents “inflammatory tissue with poor blood supply”. This is caused by bad external factors that damage our fibers, harden them, and enclose the fat cells. “Because these fat cells are enclosed in such a misshapen shape, this orange peel is created”. The good news: “We can prevent anything that damages our body in the form of inflammatory reactions,” says Dr. Rieder.
These external factors trigger inflammatory reactions
Now it’s time to stay strong girls. Because “according to our experts, these inflammations are caused by external influences such as alcohol, smoking, the sun, poor diet, and no sport”. Great, that means we can cancel our summer plans for a dent-free body. Maybe we don’t find the small crater landscape so bad after all.
Creams don’t do it
Can’t we just put cream? Let’s ask our expert. “No chance” says Dr. Rieder. “All the creams and oils are useless”. More precisely, the ingredients alone are of no use. The only thing that makes sense, the doctor advises, is “that you massage yourself with such an oil to stimulate lipocirculation”. Because once the orange peel is there, “there is also poor blood circulation”. That is why Rieder recommends lending a hand here, especially in the areas where it really hurts.
Massage until it hurts
That means kneading affected areas such as saddlebags properly, says Dr. Rieder. “This hardened, inflammatory, damaged connective tissue also compresses the nerve ends. That’s why it always hurts extremely in the areas where you have cellulite. I actually always advise all my patients to buy such a cellulite brush and just brush in the shower. And then you notice how quickly the tissue in the area where you have inflammation is supplied with blood and also hurts ”. If you do this relatively regularly, Rieder promises, you will notice that it hurts less and less because this massage and this rubbing stimulate blood circulation. The tissue becomes softer again and these packed fat cells can be loosened.
Keep blood sugar levels low
Another factor in how we can keep our crater landscape in check is diet. According to our expert, the main thing here is to keep the blood sugar level low. “Because fat tissue can only be broken down when this is low.” So avoid small snacks in between and replace sugar and carbohydrates with healthy fats such as nuts, avocado, cheese, eggs, and fish.
Stimulate the brown adipose tissue with cold showers
The why-showerers among us now have to be very strong again. Cold baths are also said to be a powerful weapon in the fight against cellulite because they stimulate brown adipose tissue. “The unsightly dents consist of yellow fat cells, the bad fat tissue. And when this fatty tissue is also packed by inflammatory fibers, this orange peel is created, ”says our expert. But there is also good, active fat and that is brown adipose tissue. The cold shower “stimulates our metabolism, which is responsible for the distribution of fat. And because the metabolism is stimulated, heat is generated, and that in turn results in a higher energy turnover ”, says Rieder. Sounds like strong arguments for regularly exposing our bottom to the cold
Fill up the collagen level
Since cellulite is also damaged collagen and connective tissue, Dr. Rieder should of course also stimulate collagen synthesis. Because the more collagen is formed, the firmer and smoother our skin is. In women, the collagen level decreases so the collagen synthesis from the age of 25. We can counteract this by taking “bioactive collagen”. “The collagen breaks down in the body and the breakdown product in the blood signals to it that it should build up collagen. It is available in the form of drinking ampoules or as a powder that you should add to your coffee or water every day, ”says the doctor. Another booster, namely vitamin C, is usually added to these “bioactive collagen products”. “Vitamin C is also a powerful antioxidant that catches all of these bad substances that also lead to inflammatory reactions,” says Rieder.
Make a real effort in sports
Exercise is “much more about exertion, about burning fat and stimulating blood circulation. Anything that promotes blood circulation, for example, weight training, is very good. Those sports where you really exert yourself ”, says the expert. So ladies, the more the fat burning is pushed, the better. So put in some decent sprints while jogging. For the very lazy, we recommend short HIT (High Intensive Training) training units of at least 12 minutes. And what about the advice that jarring like running is bad for cellulite? “So everything that is moving is good,” dismisses Dr. Rieder.