Happy Summer southern hemisphere! And it has finally arrived in Melbourne too – hooray!! So to celebrate, let’s eat sunscreen! I’m not, however, suggesting cracking out the ‘Banana Boat’, throwing your head back and squeezing it into your mouth.
Sunburn is essentially inflammation and oxidation. The ultra-violet light of the sun depletes our skin’s natural protective system, and causes damage by forming free radicals and causing oxidation – read sunburn.
By packing in anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidising nutrients, we are slowing this reaction, neutralising free radicals and preventing the damage they cause. There have been a number of exciting studies that show a protective effect of certain nutrients against sun damage. They include betacarotene, Vitamin C, E, A and D, and selenium.
Good fats such as avocados and coconut oil are also great for new skin formation and burn protection. The diet you should be adopting for sun protection is a simple wholefoods diet – hooray! Down with the processed foods, sugar, and vegetable oils, and up with good quality fats, omega 3s, leafy greens, brightly coloured fruit and vegetables, and nuts and seeds! In my research I came across a number of people who had changed their diet in this way and had noticed drastic improvements in their skins response to the sun, with little or no burning even without sunscreen.
In thinking of some ingredients to use to go with this post, goji berries emerged as the heroes! Stuffed with Vitamin C, carotenoids, essential fatty acids, Vitamin E and B vitamins, they also score high marks on antioxidant scales. Research shows goji berries to be effective in protecting against UV radiation damage to the skin via antioxidant pathways, but that this cannot be reduced down to any one element of their nutrition, it is the whole berry itself that
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