If you spend an inordinate amount of time outdoors during the Summer months,
then you’re probably concerned about protecting your skin.

Well, if you want the best protection, you may want eat the foods that work like
sunscreen.

Eat the following foods to strengthen your skin’s defenses against UV rays–
from the inside out–helping you breeze through the Summer season worry-free.

The Foods:
a) Go Red-
As in tomatoes, watermelon, red grapefruit, pomegranates, (juice and seeds),
cranberry juice and tomato juice (V8).
Why red?
Red foods are packed with a natural pigment called lycopene, that soaks
right into skin cells, blocking out 28% of the sun’s damaging rays.
One more tip: Pomegranate not only protects your skin from cancer,
it also helps prevent the wrinkles and age spots that occur as a result
of excessive, sunbathing.
b) More Food Options-
Sweet potatoes, dark chocolate, kiwi, apricots, sunflower seeds,
green and black tea and coffee.
c) Non-Food Options-
Get some zinc. Yes, you can get zinc from lean beef, lentils or
Brazil nuts, or you can get it from the drugstore.
Take zinc starting in April or May (and right through the Summer)
and you’ll lower your risk of skin cancer by strengthening delicate skin cells
against skin damaging free radicals.
Important tip: talk to your doctor before taking any type of supplement.
Recommended dose: 25 mg. daily.
d) An Aspirin a Day-
Or Ibuprofen or Naproxen, once or twice a week, could cut your risk of
non-melanoma skin cancers by 35%. These are called “non-steroidal”
anti-inflammatory medicines and they can dampen the inflammation
that plays a key role in turning normal cells into cancerous ones.
e) Too Much Sun-
If you have to spend more time outdoors and concerned sunscreen
isn’t offering you enough protection, take Astaxathin.
This nutrient is a pinkish pigment found in seafood and algae,
and taking it daily allows people to get up to five times more
sun exposure before any precancerous skin changes occur.
Plus this nutrient helps immune cells find and destroy precancers
before they blossom into something more risky.
Look for Astaxathin at health-food stores or online at Amazon.com
Important tip: You can also get astaxathin from shrimp and salmon,
2 to 3 times a week.
f) Overdid It-
If you have sun damage and you want to reverse the redness, puffiness
and other signs of damage, take alpha-lipoic acid (ALA).
Look for (ALA) at drugstores.
g) Itchy Skin-
If too much sun causes you to itch, put an end to it with an over-the-
counter antihistamine, like Zrytec, and/or a non-prescription 1%
hydrocortisone cream. The itching may be a hypersensitivity to the
sun and it’s medical name is polymorphus light eruption (PMLE)-
which triggers red raised, bumpy or hive-like blotches.
PMLE, typically appears in the Spring, as sunlight becomes more intense,
and it goes away as your body becomes accustomed to the stronger rays.
h) A Recipe For a Baked Vegetable-
Get the best of both worlds by eating a vegetable that’s not only good for
your health, but also good for your skin health.
The Veggie: Cauliflower!
Yes, it’s become the stand-in for a number of dishes that require carbs,
(cauliflower pizza, or Buffalo wings or mashed cauli-potatoes) but this
time the cauliflower is asked to replace steak.
Steak? As in cauliflower steak.
Cauliflower contains potent antioxidants that help fight off oxidative stress.
It’s also a naturally sun-protective food, thanks to histidine, an amino acid
that stimulates the production of urocanic acid, which absorbs UV radiation.
The Recipe: Baked (or grilled) Cauliflower with Creamy Chili Lime Sauce!
The Ingredients:
1 large of cauliflower
2 Tbs. of olive oil
pinch of sea salt
Lime Sauce:
3 Tbs. of Mayo, (low-fat or regular)
2 Tbs. of sour cream or Greek yogurt
3 Tbs. of Feat cheese, (crumbled)
1 Tbs. of cilanto, + 2 tsp. of cilantro
1/8 tsp. of cayenne
1/8 tsp. of sea salt
To make:
Preheat oven to 450*F. Or heat up the grill.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Cut cauliflower vertically into 2 steaks,
and save the florets for a veggie stir-fry.
Not sure how to cut cauliflower the right way?
Go to you youtube.com and type how to cut cauliflower
into steaks, in the search bar.
Brush both sides of the cauli-steaks with oil and the salt.
Bake for 20 minutes, turn over, (carefully) and bake for another
10 mins. While the cauliflower is baking, make the sauce.
Add all of the ingredients to a small bowl, (leave out the 2 tsp. of
cilantro and cheese) Stir well. Remove the cauli-steaks from the
oven, let sit for a min. or two, then pour on some lime sauce,
then the cheese and cilantro, (optional) and Enjoy.
Enough for 2 servings.

Sources:
* Nicholas Perricone, M.D. author of The Wrinkle Cure
* Chi N. Rosenberg, Dermatologist
* University of Alabama at Birmingham
* Journal of Nutrition
* Kristen Ciccolini, Holistic Nutritionist
* Sarah Fennel
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One last tip: For more tips on what foods help protect your skin from the
Sun’s harmful rays, click on the “buy recipes” at the top of this blog, and download
the digital file- Sunscreen at the Supermarket, Eat Your Sunscreen.