The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has published its list of 10 best beach and sport sunscreens. Of the 10 on that list, we’ve only personally used one–Badger SPF 30. Other than a slight white film it leaves on your skin, we’ve been happy with it. If you’d like to find a safe, stable sunscreen, check out the EWG site. It’s been very helpful to our family for finding effective sunscreens. Also check out their sun FAQs page.
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Posted by Heather on July 3, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Or you could just ditch sunscreen altogether. I’ve read that having a proper balance of omega-3s and omega-6s helps protect your skin from the sun. We’ve also been eating a lot of berries and very, very little processed foods. Guess what? Absolutely no burns. If we are out for a long time during peak hours, we take breaks often to relax in the shade. Of course, you don’t want to go crazy and just stop using sunscreen in the middle of the summer. This has been a gradual thing for us that started in the spring when I our typical use of sunscreen begins.
Honestly, I’d rather do it this way than apply even a “safe” sunscreen. So many people have vitamin D deficiencies and I do not want to be one of them.
“The third way vitamin D is different from other vitamins is the dramatic difference between natural vitamin D nutrition and the modern one. Today, most humans only make about a thousand units of vitamin D a day from sun exposure; many people, such as the elderly or African Americans, make much less than that. How much did humans normally make? A single, twenty-minute, full body exposure to summer sun will trigger the delivery of 20,000 units of vitamin D into the circulation of most people within 48 hours. Twenty thousand units, that’s the single most important fact about vitamin D. Compare that to the 100 units you get from a glass of milk, or the several hundred daily units the U.S. government recommend as “Adequate Intake.” It’s what we call an “order of magnitude” difference.”
Here are a couple of links and I can dig up more if you’d like:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/51913.php (the quote was taken from this site)
http://oreganicthrifty.blogspot.com/2009/05/natural-sunscreen-protection-with-real.html
I also want to add that I think food is so important when it comes to just about anything, skin included. Our way of eating is slightly different from your’s in that we eat a lot more fat. We also eat more meat, but all of it is organically raised. Anyway, if you want to know more, just ask.
Posted by Sophia on July 4, 2009 at 6:26 am
Very interesting Heather! We actually wear a lot of protective clothing to reduce the surface area that requires sunscreen. For example, I wear a really wide-brim hat, and then rarely put sunscreen on my face. Both boys wear swim shirts to the pool. I agree that eating certain nutrients (like lycopene) can help your body protect itself better from damaging UV rays, but I would prefer to do that in conjunction with sunscreen application.