Sunshine on my mind (and body)

     For a long time, I didn’t appreciate my ivory skin: I felt ugly and bare, worrying I looked like a zombie with the superpower to blind people with my ultraviolet skin rays. However, I’ve since come to terms with myself and my skin.

     I’ve come to appreciate that red lipstick can pop against my skin and that my eyes seem that much more intense and darker because everywhere else isn’t.

     Once I finally came around to terms of self-acceptance, I realized there was more to it than that. I had to take care of myself. I thought back to the horrors of sunburns on half my body when I fell asleep on my side. I grimaced in memory of itchy, painful and tomato red skin.

     Vanity aside, I also realized that the sun is a powerful agent that can lead to more than an unflattering photo. According to the American Cancer Society, skin cancer is “found in about 3.3 million Americans.” According to the Society, a rough estimate of 76,389 cases of skin cancer will be found in this year alone. That’s terrifying. In order to keep the sun’s ray from stinging me too harshly, here’s what I do:

Watch what I eat

 
    I’ve noticed that eating too many yummy and usually greasy foods tends to make my skin break-out. In turn, when I apply sunscreen, the shine of the product is like a spotlight on my acne ridden face. It’s not attractive. It's also not healthy.

    In preparation for writing this blog, I found this article which was interesting since I’ve heard from others that certain foods can either prevent or encourage cancer.

http://howafrica.com/reasons-amish-dont-get-cancer/

   I think it’s important to stay as pure as possible when using products.

Screen the ingredient list of what you put on your body

     I’ve always been a little cautious when putting things either on or in my body that I can’t pronounce. I’ve also done some research and found that a lot of man-made chemicals don’t always go the same length as nature made ones do. That’s why I stick to sunblock/sunscreen that have zinc oxide in them.

     I really like using LureLux sunscreen which has vitamin D infused in it. Mind you, I’m not getting paid to put my review here, so here’s my honest opinion: 

    Ingredients according to their bottle: Zinc Oxide, fresh organic hand filtered Aloe Vera leaf, fresh spring water, vitamin D2 extracted from fresh mushrooms, grape seed oil, jojoba oil, beeswax, vegetable wax, fermented horseradish, grapefruit extract, pineapple and coconut extract (natural fragrance). For me that’s a pretty clean recipe! Also the smell is mild and I personally don’t notice it after I put it on unless I really try to sniff it out.

    Application: it goes on easy, but the white color can stain clothes, so be careful. It’s a little oily, but I have yet to find a sunscreen that isn’t. However I haven’t found that this oiliness messes with my sensitive skin.

     Price:  $27. 95 for 8 oz. is a bit expensive, I won’t lie. The way I figure, I’d much rather pay now than later. Going into debt over health is so sad, but so real. Personally, I don’t know how expensive skin cancer bills are, but I do know that a 20-minute visit to the dermatologist is over $100.

     For me using an 8 oz. bottle every day about 3 times makes the bottle last a few days past a month. I’m not using excessive amounts either, I rubbed it in, make sure I can see that I have sunscreen on and wait 2 to 3 hours until I apply again.

      I usually buy the biggest in bulk and put it in a smaller container to carry in my purse. Here’s a link:

Amazon.com_ Organic Sunscreen Natural Biodegradable Minerals. No Titanium Dioxide Non-Nano Zinc. Infused Vitamin D Nutrients. Gentle for Kids and Adults. Made in USA_ Beauty.html

      I’m careful not to put it on my forehead too often because on really hot days it melts and drips into my eyes. This stings my eyes and makes me replicate Dracula with red-rimmed eyes, overly pale skin, and panting from the heat. In order to not look quite so intimidating and to protect my brow and hair line, I like to:

Accessorize

Hat

     FUNOC® Fashion Vintage Women Ladies Floppy Wide Brim Wool Felt Fedora Cloche Hat Cap at Amazon Women’s Clothing store_.html  

This hat is chic and classy, and most importantly keeps my head safe from the sun.

Sunglasses

 
    Keep your eyes safe, and can double as a headband and keep your forehead cool.

Shawl

     In addition to keeping me warm in breezy summer nights, it also conveniently covers my shoulders and back. These places can be especially difficult to reach. But below I have a tip for when it’s just too hot to wear anything on your shoulders except spaghetti straps and of course, sunscreen!

Here’s how you can:

Reach for the stars and make them shine (with sunscreen)

     Sometimes it’s nearly impossible to reach these places on your back without the help of someone else.

     Here’s a little tip: in order to get these hard to reach places, get a small paint brush with a long handle, squirt some sunblock on, and use that to reach these spots.Brushes are also nice to use if you don’t always like putting your fingers on your face. You can clean these brushes at the end of the day, let them air dry and use them again tomorrow.

     That’s really the most important thing to remember: to use sunscreen every day. For a while, I thought this was just a gimmick. I soon came to realize it’s pretty impossible unless somehow the sun is in on the scam as well. If so, I want to invest in that company!

      I know it sounds silly to wear sunscreen in the winter, rain or even in your car, but trust me, there are still rays that can penetrate through. Here’s an image that will forever be imprinted on my brain.

     This photo taken by Jennifer Gordon/ NEJM is of a guy who was a truck driver for most of his life.  As you can see, the left side of his face exposed to the sun was aged dramatically in comparison to the right side.If that doesn’t shock you, well, maybe seeing me reflecting in the sunshine will (hopefully you’ll be wearing sunglasses so I don’t blind you!).

     I like to joke I’m so pale, I get my foundation from the moon. In actuality, sunblock is my foundation, and the truth of that is, it prevents bad skin instead of covering it up.

Turning trash into treasure one ingredient at a time

I love to eat. Sometimes I worry my love to eat overrides my love to live, and the ingredients you put into a recipe really do matter, in the short-term and long-term. Short-term, you might get a stomach-ache, gain a few pounds, have troubling thoughts of regrets. Long-term effects mean a boxed assortment and not one with chocolate. Sometimes I used these fears to tone down unhealthy eating habits and other times, I have to compromise. Here are a few ways:

Nacho Business (But Really I’ll Share)

I make ‘nacho’ jokes all the time and yes they’re typically cheesy. Cheese of course typically gets a stinky reputation: it’s too high in calories, it’s too fattening, it’s too salty. While these might be true of some cheese, it’s not true of every one. According to the USDA, one slice of low sodium mozzarella cheese has 8 grams of protein which is just as much as a two tablespoon serving of peanut butter.

So, now that you have approval to add some cheese, slather on some veggies and spices.

I love steamed broccoli on my nachos as well as raw spinach and cucumbers. Corn chips and cheese can be salty so when you add water rich vegetables, it balances out.

Spices can also perk the flavor of nachos. Cayenne has an array of benefits from helping the digestive tract, boosting one’s metabolism, and alleviating joint pain according to Dr. Edward Group’s article from www.globalhealingcenter.com.

“Homemade” Lemonade

Squirting some lemon juice on apples isn’t just great for keeping them from browning.  It’s also a tangy treat because it tastes just like lemonade. And this can be even more filling than regular lemonade since apples have fiber!

Movie Theater Popcorn

You can make your popcorn “x-rated” by adding enough spice and flavor to make your mouth say wow. Pepper which is a super source of nutrition from manganese to fiber to vitamin K is really tasty on popcorn as well as a bit of olive oil and a little bit of salt. If you’re craving a more sweet popcorn, coconut oil and cinnamon are a great mixture. Cinnamon is proven to lowering blood glucose according to research nutritionist Paul Davis in an article he published in Journal of Medicinal Food.

Cinnamon and Ginger Infused Oreos

This last one is really just to make myself feel better about eating Oreos. It's very easy and you only need a few seconds. Start by splitting the Oreo open, so that the cream is on each cookie half, then you put a little bit of ginger powder spice on one side and little bit of cinnamon powder spice on the other half. Place the halves together and you’ve got Christmas in your mouth.

These altered recipes are what give me hope that delicious food isn’t all evil. A life of eating horrible tasting food just to prolong that said life, doesn’t quite sound like a pleasant way to live at all. It seems to come down to what you know, what you’ve got in the present moment, and what you’re willing to experiment with in order to create something tasty but nutritious. That’s the real secret. Taking the trash out in this sense doesn't have to mean endless sorting of what ifs, it just means being creative to encourage full flavor.