Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you all enjoyed last month’s topics around post partum care!  All this month we will be focusing on topics all about summertime health, including guest speakers and more!

Last year I wrote a blog on sunlight, cancer and vitamin D.  I thought it pertinent to resend the blog since many still need to see it!  Hawaii did also just outlaw sunscreen on its beaches… why?? Read on…

For some of us, we have been trained to believe that sunlight causes cancer.  Correct?  Who has told us this?  The sunscreen industry, your dermatologists or by the cancer industry.  Maybe it’s not really true….. You may think that I am crazy, but what if I told you that sunlight actually prevents skin cancer, and other types of cancer as well?  Well, it’s true.  Sunlight alone does not cause skin cancer.

For example, office workers have a greater melanoma risk than farmers, construction workers and even lifeguards! Based on population studies, melanoma rates are higher in Minnesota than Arizona, as well as higher in Norway than in the south of France.

Another fact: Melanoma often occurs in dark places shielded from the sun, including the soles of the feet, the genitals, inside the nose and mouth, and under the fingernails.

Why?  We’ve all been told that myth for so long that most of us believe it.  If you lay out in the sun like this,

then the UV rays from the sun penetrates our skin and cause cancer.  That’s only a one variable equation. One thing: sunlight exposure causes one effect: skin cancer.  What if it was actually more complex than that?  What if it was the interaction of the sunlight and your skin health?  Or, getting more specific, the level of antioxidants in your skin when you are exposed to the sunlight?  Well, as it turns out, with most anything, it really is a two variable. If you look back in history you can see why this is..

Take a look at this image.  You can say that this woman looks a little red.

Do you know where the term “red neck” actually comes from? The term red neck came from the south of the United States during the colonial period when the southerners experienced extreme nutritional deficiencies. Specifically, the B vitamins because they didn’t know how to treat their corn to extract the B vitamins.  As a result when they got exposed to sunlight they got “burned”.  They got burned because a result of two variables: 1. sunlight exposure 2. nutritional deficiencies resulting from their inability to treat food before they ate it.
So the term redneck comes from the simple truth that sunlight combined with nutritional deficiencies can cause sunburn.  What that means, is that if you are out sunbathing and you don’t have good nutrition, you CAN get sunburned which is bad for your heath.  Sunburn is bad, can’t deny that. However, the way to avoid sunburn is not to slather on toxic sunscreen.  Rather, the way to avoid sunburn is to increase your nutritional intake so you have more antioxidants in your skin so you won’t get the burn and you won’t get the increased risk for skin cancer. In fact, you will have a decreased risk of skin cancer.

If you are darker in pigmentation you block the UV rays naturally.  It’s almost like having your own built in sunscreen.  This causes vitamin D deficiencies if you don’t spend enough time in the sun.  Why?  Because the UV rays are what go into your skin and activate your skins manufacturing of Vitamin D.  If you are darker skin you’re going to need MORE vitamin D exposure in comparison to fair skin because of this barrier. The difference?  I might need around 20 mins of sun exposure a day in comparison with say an African American which would need around two hours a day to get the same amount of vitamin D. Why are African American’s suffering more serious cancers?  This is one of the big answers.  The sunlight is not getting to them because of the pigment of their skin, which makes them vitamin D deficient.  Of course the cancer industry won’t tell you this!

What about pale skin?  If you or you know someone that has pale skin, you can know right away they are vitamin D deficient unless they are taking a lot of supplementation to compensate.  A tan person is a healthy person……..

In cultures where tan skin is not preferred like in some asian cultures where they want porcelain skin, where they carry an umbrella or shade their entire body from the sun.  These are the women who are first to get breast cancer.

If you didn’t know vitamin D decreases the risk of 4 out of 5 cancer types! There is a 78% reduction in cancers just from more vitamin D in your body.  

RECAP: Sunlight exposure alone does not cause skin cancer.  Sunlight in combination with nutritional deficiencies can cause sun burn, which can cause skin cancer.  However, sunlight in combination with good nutrition can prevent cancer because it allows you to create Vitamin D.

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Do you notice in the winter months is usually when people are getting sick?  Colds, flu.  Why?  Because they are vitamin D deficient.  In the summer, more people are outside! Most tumors actually grow in the winter months.  Vitamin D has many other qualities as well including kidney health, bone density, diabetes, mental health ect.  Without vitamin D you can’t absorb calcium, so if you have weak bones, doesn’t matter how much calcium you take, you aren’t making them stronger.  Sunlight is great Medicine!!!  It is the light of life.  There would be no life on this planet without it.  It’s like saying air is bad for you.  It is lack of sunlight that causes degenerative disease in our country today.   Don’t live in darkness!

Sharing the light on sunscreen: 

Sunscreen keeps you in darkness.  It blocks the Vitamin D production in your skin which helps you fight skin cancer!  It contains chemicals that themselves may cause cancer.  So the more you put this on, the higher your risk of cancer can get.  Photocarcinogenic ingredients like the vitamin A derivatives retinol and retinal palmitate turn toxic when exposed to sunlight – causing a 21 percent increase in the development and spread of cancerous skin tumors and lesions.  This is not the same as vitamin A found in food and supplements that are essential for good health.  Vitamin A additives are different. Sunscreen also blocks a pigment called melanin, which is your body’s innate protection against burning via tanning. Regular sunscreen use has another liability: You’re more likely to burn on the days you forgo sunscreen.

The idea that sunscreen prevents cancer is a myth.   It’s a myth promoted by a profit-seeking tag-team effort between the cancer industry and the sunscreen industry. Did your doctor mention studies showing that people who spend a greater percentage of their time outdoors have the lowest risk of melanoma?

ALTERNATIVES:

What to use instead?  Use nutrition! So you have a built in internal sunscreen!  A diet rich in antioxidants, vegetables, fruits and whole foods.

Antioxidants:
-Spirulina
-Blue green algae
-Chlorella
-Berries
-Vegetables- Greens
-Juicing or what I like better Blending
-Fatty fish, Fish oils

You can also use specific oils for sun shielding such as :
-Raspberry seed oil (SPF 30-50)
-Shea butter (SPF 20)
-Coconut OIl (SPF 4-10)
-Macadamia Oil (SPF 6)
-Jojoba Oil (SPF 4)
-Avocado Oil (SFP 4)

-Also Beauty Counter makes a great natural deodorant- which you can purchase here:
https://www.beautycounter.com/product/countersun-mineral-sunscreen-mist-spf-30

I’m not saying go out in the sun for 8 hours if you have pale skin and fry yourself to a crisp.  You gotta use some common sense on this.  Start taking antioxidants for 30 days.  Then go out in the sun for a reasonable amount of time and see what happens.  That may be 20 minutes before you notice some burn.  You then may work up to two hours.  I was out in the sun for 2+ hours today not using sunscreen and didn’t burn at all.

Get out safely in the sun with good nutrition and prevent cancer, be healthy, get stronger bones, boost your immune system and energy.

Vitamin D deficiency is very common.  I see it in the office all the time, and can complicate cases of chronic pains.  Symptoms can include but are not limited to :
-muscle/joint pain and weakness
-bone pain
-tiredness or fatigue
-depression

Taking vitamin D supplementation is not perfect either.  It depends on your gut health and ability to absorb it, so consult with your natural doctor or myself on which is safe to use.!

I hope this newsletter proved helpful for you this week!  Please share this information with others so they can be informed and cure their own cancers!