A Summer Challenge

Summer is here! My favorite time of year! Never do I feel more invigorated than when the sun is shining, flowers are blooming, the windows open and fresh air fills our home. So isn’t it weird we’ve been made to fear this giver of life? The sun I mean. It’s always affected my mood. I’ve always felt better after having been in the sun. I have always looked better with a tan. So…..why have we fallen for the profit-based messaging that the sun is bad for us? Because

we’ve been convinced to buy petroluem-based goop to lather on our skins to protect us from the sun’s “harmful” rays. This goop our liver and kidneys have to work over-time to to process and expel from our

bodies.

The other thing…sunglasses! I love them like everybody else. Especially how they conceal my inheritanly almond-shaped eyes that make me look like I am asleep in picutres. However, it’s been recently suggested that sunglasses may impair the body’s natural light- sensing mechanisms, reducing its ability to recognize sunlight and trigger the skin’s defense systems. The last thing, seed oils. Seed oils are in everything. Having done my best to eat clean lately, there isn’t much I find consumable in most

grocery stores. In regards to sun exposure, seed oils heighten oxidative stress in the body, including the skin. They potentially reduce the skin’s ability to handle UV radiation making skin more prone to sunburn, sun damage, and premature aging. Which I have certainly experienced in my 50+ years.

So, my summer challenge to you is:

1) Expose yourself to sunlight regularly in short stints, without any sunscreen to build a “sun callus.”

2) Don’t wear sunglasses while exposing yourself to the sun so your body can recognize the sun exposure and send out it’s natural defenses accordingly. (Minimize sunglasses as an occasional accessory).

3) Try to eat clean and avoid seed oils so as not to inhibit your body’s natural defenses to sunlight exposure. Finally, should you be in the sun for a prolonged period of time, wear a sunblock like Dande Natural’s Peppermint Tallow Balm with zinc or any other mineral-based sunblock along with a hat and clothing to protect your skin.

If you accept this challenge, let us know how it works for you. God Bless.