TOSS YOUR SUNSCREEN & STEP OUT OF THE SHADOWS!

Say what? Let’s investigate the “sunscreen myth”. Did you know that sunscreen use was rare in the 1920’s, but skin cancer was also noticeably low? Sunscreen use has risen every decade since then and the rate of skin cancer has risen right along with it! It seems to me we have been under the incorrect assumption that as long as we wear sunscreen we can stay out in the sun for hours and not worry.

The sun has been around for billions of years (or more) and human beings date back to times where the only clothing came from scraps of animal skin and there was no such thing as sunscreen. For hundreds of thousands of years humans lived mostly outdoors and odds are, our skin is quite adapted to sun exposure as long as we pay attention to the early twinges of sunburn.

Could your diet lead to skin cancer? Before we became “civilized”, humans relied completely on whole foods. There were no processed or junk foods, no one added sugar to anything, and of course, there were no food chemicals, pesticides, herbicides….you get the picture. Many of the most common nutritional deficiencies involve nutrients that can protect your skin from sun damage and cancer. What foods are most important? The food list won’t come as a surprise: vegetables, nuts, beans, fish, eggs, and whole grains are first in line. Specific nutritional supplements include folic acid, vitamin A, vitamin B, Vitamin B12, zinc, and vitamin C.

So, use sunscreen if you like, but don’t be fooled into a false sense of safety, especially if you are eating Twinkies and drinking soda as your main staple as you sit basking in the sun!

NUTRIENTS TO HELP YOU TAN!

Over 50 years ago, Dr. John Myers, who many consider the pioneer of using trace elements in medicine, found an effective, natural and entirely logical way to lengthen the time you can spend in the sun without burning and improve your tan, too. Dr. Myers’ system is designed to help skin produce more melanins (skin pigments).

Four elements are key: Copper, L-tyrosine, Vitamin C and B6. Additional zinc and B-complex is also a good idea. 4 mg of copper daily is best to start several weeks before sun exposure, as it takes awhile to gain the full affects. Then take the following combination 3 times a day: 1,000 – 1,500 mg of L-tyrosine, the same amount of Vitamin C, and 50 mg of B6.

Remember, this will not prevent sunburn, but will enable you to stay in the sun longer before you start to burn.

Source: Dr. Jonathan V. Wright’s newsletter Nutrition & Healing, June 2002.