Sunshine preparations

I told you before that I would talk more about sun exposure, so here it goes! On Monday I am off to Thailand and for about 3 weeks I've been preparing myself for a month in the sun without sun screen. The thing is, we don't really need sun screen, and we're actually much better off without it. Here's why. Firstly, sun screens block the sun's UVB rays, which are essential for our bodies' production of vitamin D. So even if we spend 12 hours a day in the sun, we still don't get any vitamin D if we use sun screen as a block. Secondly, sun lotions are packed with nasty ingredients, and it has even been shown that they increase the risk of skin cancer, which is the complete opposite to what they're claiming to do. Many of these lotions contain substances which, when exposed to the sun, become highly carcinogenic and thus cancer-producing. Plus of course all the other toxic ingredients found in any non-organic skincare.

Read this article for more information:
http://www.naturalnews.com/032996_sunscreen_cancer_risk.html


To prevent our skin from burning in the sun, there are various natural methods we can use. Many natural fats make excellent sun lotions. Today I made my own sun lotion, which is nothing less than superfood for the skin. Here's what I put in it:

Organic Jojoba oil

Organic virgin coconut oil

Organic cacao butter

Organic shea butter (with honey & black seed oil for a lovely smell)

I'm not sure about the amounts, but this is the order (highest amount first):

1. Coconut oil
2. Cacao butter
3. Shea butter
4. Jojoba oil

In addition to a good sun lotion, which is applied externally, there are a few ways to internally prepare our bodies for the sun. The best way is by eating antioxidants because they counteract the activities of free radicals, which are the cause of sun damage. I told you about my juicing in the previous post. Carrots are especially good because they contain the antioxidant betacarotene, which prevents the skin from being burnt by the sun. Celery is also great because it promotes the production of collagen in our bodies, and thus quickens skin renewal. In addition to food, there are some supplements we can take in order to minimise the risk of getting burnt by the sun. Astaxanthine is basically the red colour found in algae and some fish, and taken as a supplement is one of the most effective ways to prevent us form sun damage. Lycopene is another antioxidant which can be taken as a supplement and is also red in colour. It is found in some red vegetables and fruits, such as tomatoes, papaya and watermelon. Lycopene has been proven to have anti-cancer properties and is very powerful in fighting the oxygen produced on the skin during sun exposure (free radicals).

That's it for my part, hope you find these tips useful. Remember that carrots should be eaten for at least 2 moths before sun exposure, and astaxanthine and lycopene should also be taken from a few weeks before going to the tropics, and the use should be continued throughout the trip. Basically, eating all this throughout the year is not a bad idea :)

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about my trip. I'm going for a 1 month yoga holiday, with yoga practice twice a day, 6 days a week. I can't wait! I'm taking my laptop with me so you'll probably get some news from over there at some point, probably yoga-related news ;)


Lots of love and happiness,

Emma

The cacao bean and all its friends

When I started doing research on the next of the superfoods that we are going to talk about, the cacao bean, I was saddened to find a lot of negative information about it online. I hope that this is all some misunderstanding, as raw organic cacao, as beans, powder, nibs or whatever, is most definitely a superfood. It apparently contains the most antioxidants to be found in any food, and is especially good for the brain. Cacao beans were used as money in Latin America up until about 130 years ago, which has to say something about how wonderful it is. It has also been used as nutrition for thousands of years, so I really don't think it is unhealthy, or not good for you. A common misunderstanding is that cacao has a high amount of caffeine, which is not true. It only holds about 1/20th of the caffeine amount of coffee.

Sadly, the quite disgusting toxic milk chocolate bars you find in any supermarket, have pretty much nothing to do with this wonderful plant. You find raw cacao in different forms, which you can use for different purposes. It has a quite bitter taste, so it may take some getting used to. The different forms of raw cacao are:
whole cacao beans
cacao nibs
cacao powder
cacao paste (simply cacao ground to a paste)
cacao butter (cold pressed fat from the beans)
I probably use cacao nibs the most, which I mix in with my muesli and eat with soy milk. Another easy to use cacao derivative is raw cacao powder, which you need to make raw chocolate (yum!) and other desserts and smoothies. Basically, there are hundreds of recipes featuring cacao in differnet forms out there, so just go crazy and try some! I will definitely try to incoporate it more in my daily diet.

Anna

Dissecting the antioxidant

We got a request to post about antioxidants, if they are healthy at all or if it's only a clever marketing scheme, as there are a lot of products out there boasting their antioxidant tendencies. Now, as I've been doing some research, it turns out this is no easy nut to crack. There is a lot of information out there on this subject, and it is quite complicated, at least for me who's never been that into chemistry and biology. The antioxidants work on a cellular level, which means there's a lot of talk about molecules and other similar things. I will try to simplify what I've learned so that maybe you guys will not have such a hard time.

Apparently, our cells can be damaged or killed by chain reactions caused by free radicals, which in turn are caused by oxidation of a molecule. Oxidative stress can apparently help cause quite a few diseases, Alzheimer's to name just one. Antioxidants work to terminate the free radicals, and inhibit other oxidation reactions. So to make this extremely simple, the antioxidants kill the free radicals,  which cause cell damage which in turn can cause a large number of diseases. That's good right? In my opinion, it is. So the basic rule is that antioxidants help prevent heart disease, cancer and a number of other things.

And now you may ask, where do we find these antioxidants? That is where this list comes in. The foods with the most antioxidants are as follows:
dried small red beans
wild blueberries
dried red kidney beans
pinto beans
cultivated blueberries
cranberries
cooked artichoke hearts
blackberries
dried prunes
raspberries 
The list goes on, but what I noticed is that there are lots of beans berries and different kinds of apples. So what do we notice? Eating beans, fruits and veggies is healthy! (Just remember o make sure to have organic ones or to pick them wild) Green tea apparently also has a lot of antioxidants, so go ahead and have some of that. In my opinion, one does not need to take any supplements to be sure to get antioxidants, since Mother Nature has made sure we can get enough from what we eat.

Anna