Sunshine, Vitamin D and Protecting Our Skin

 

One of the things that I love about living in northern Delaware is we get a lot of blue skies. So I’m sitting outside here today and enjoying the lovely spring weather and the blue skies, and I’m realizing that, soon, we’re going to be spending a lot of time outdoors. My son plays soccer and has the most awesome coach, my daughter loves to be outside, she plays hard outside and would be out there all day if she could.  All of my kids just want to be outside all day, hiking, riding bikes, climbing trees, so I love that we’re getting to that time of year.  We especially love traveling with friends to the beach!  But being outside also comes with its own set of issues that we need to consider.

 

It is super healthy to be outside, breathing fresh air and not the stale, toxic air indoors. While we want to be experiencing this goodness in nature, we do need to consider being protective of our bodies and all of its systems.  Let’s discuss strategies, tools, and resources that will help us to be well protected while we’re having fun in the sun.

 

The sun is so critical to us being well, and it’s critical to us having good health. We want to fully enjoy being outdoors and having fun in the sun. We want to be targeted and wise about protecting our bodies while we’re outside because, no matter where we go, indoors or outdoors, we want to pursue wellness.

 

So, while we’re outside, we want to be protective, but we want to consider wellness principles while we’re doing that and not do anything to derail our health journey. We want to make sure that our journey while we’re outside having fun in the sun is nothing but building health, wellness, and life into the body.

 

We grew up on 22 acres in the woods. I spent my summers outside. I would be in the woods walking our property, playing games, daydreaming, enjoying outside, and I loved to play in the woods. I would be filthy by the end of the day. I was crawling through leaves.  I am pretty sure I thought I was an Indian princess with my long, brown braids. It’s amazing how you can go through your childhood and not even care about anything that might harm your body.

 

You’re just out there playing and having fun. As a mom I know that there are things that I need to do protect my children and to teach them about these things, so that when they’re outside, they can fully enjoy their time out there without doing anything that is going to derail their health and wellness.

 

I have to say my kids are much like me. They love to be outside. They love to play in the woods, and aren’t afraid to get dirty. I won’t name which child, but the other day while we were outside, she even scooped up some mud and wiped it on her cheeks. They were playing Indians and making tee-pees out of sticks. I love that about my kids, but I want to make sure that they are well protected when they’re outside.

 

One of the things that we need to consider is being outside in the sun and protection for that. So many people today are lathering themselves up with sunscreen and loading their bodies with a bunch of chemicals, yet the rates of skin cancer have done nothing but increase since the increase in usage of sunscreen. That tells us there’s a problem and there is something that is not right about that situation.

 

Because it is a core principle for our family to be more chemical-free, we want to consider anything that we can do when we’re out in the sun that will help us to be protected from the sun possibly causing damage, but also let us enjoy the life-giving benefits of the sun. Vitamin D is produced in our bodies when we are exposed to the sun. It is critical for us to have good Vitamin D production in the body in order to be healthy, so we want sun exposure.

 

Most of the sunscreens and sunblocks that are made commercially, not only are they made with loads of chemicals that harm the body, that harm the endocrine system, but they also block out the sun and keep our body from making Vitamin D. The Vitamin D levels in most people’s bodies are way too low which opens them to illness!

 

When being outside and having fun in the sun we want to consider using things that are protective of the body to keep it from burning. The goal is not to let the sun burn us but to enjoy the benefits of the sun and the production of vitamin D in the body. There are many tools that we can use to help keep our skin, protect is and to keep it from burning. Some tools are on the inside of the body, things that we can use and take to keep our nutrition levels at a high, non acidic place that helps keep us from burning and others that we can apply to the outside of our body that don’t add to our body burden or liver load that will protect us and actually bring life, health, and wellness to the body.Have you ever wondered why flamingos, which spend so much time out in the sun, yet never burn? It has to do with Astaxanthin, a carotenoid, which is a chemical found naturally in some plants and animals. Astaxanthin is a fabulous, wonderful addition to a wellness journey, especially in the summertime.

 

If you make sure you have optimal levels of astaxanthin and other antioxidants, you can help your body to be better equipped to be in the sun. This is just ONE compound that will be natural sunscreen from the inside out that I teach about in my private membership community course called “Eat Your Sunscreen.”

 

I know that as a kid, I didn’t burn, and it wasn’t just because of my genetic makeup, it was because my body was well fortified with the things that would keep me from burning. When you’re considering your summer wellness strategies, consider fortifying your body from the inside out and think about that flamingo.

 

There are so many recipes that you can make that will actually save you money, and will build your health that you can apply to your skin to help keep it protected when you’re out having fun in the sun. We always use a base of coconut oil in whatever recipe that we’re making. Coconut oil has its own sun-protective properties.

 

When we are mixing things in to protect our skin from the sun, we use coconut oil. We love it. It smells great. It smells better than sunscreen. Breathing it isn’t going to harm us. Applying it to our largest organ will not harm us. It only does good things for the body. Consider coconut oil as a base for whatever recipe that you’re making. Another thing that we do is we mix in essential oils. There are several pure essential oils that will help protect the skin from the sun and build life into the body.

 

Keep in mind that I researched this industry for nearly a year and found just like syrup and coffee, all essential oils aren’t the same!  There are only so many brokers and they aren’t all scrupulous.  I love to share why I chose the company I did in a local community gathering of moms when we meet monthly or even through private message.  Reach out and ask me how my kids and I haven’t needed chemicals to be well for over SEVEN years!

 

Not even for being in the sun <3