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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It’s getting to that time of year again, the days are longer, the weather (even in Melbourne) is beginning to see more good than bad days, and the need for cold deliciousness is increasing! Hooray! 
So get your guilt free icecream hit with these dairy free, sugar free numbers that have passed the taste test of the most discerning icecream eater I know, my hubby!
There are loads of fabulous recipes for homemade icecreams of all sorts. I have made dairy free examples here as that is what is best in our house at the moment. 
Above are choc-coconut-goji and choc-mint examples, but the great thing about these is that you can add anything you like! Maybe not sausages though… I chose to throw in a few ‘superfoods’ in these ones like spirulina and maca for fun, and kept some chunky pieces to make it more of a meal of sorts. The coconut milk is a wonderfully nourishing fat, so these are great to give to kiddies (big or small) to avoid the super crazy high followed by the huge energy drop cranky-pants of the regular sugary icy pole. Nourishing treats, that’s what you want!

Cacao-goji ice creams
2 tbs coconut flakes (toasted if you want to get fancy!)
2 tbs raw cacao
250ml coconut milk, full fat
2/3 banana
2 tbs cashews, soaked for a few hours
1 tbs goji berries
2 tsp maca powder (optional)
Pinch of sea salt (optional)

Put the cacao, coconut milk, banana, cashews, maca and salt if using in a blender and blend until smooth. Add in the other ingredients but don’t blend. Pour into moulds and pop into the freezer. When set just enough, add a stick to each mould, and continue to freeze until hard. I used paper cups as moulds and

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