How to get healthy the natural way
By: Karen Barrientos
Have you ever stopped to think about the sun? The closest star to our planet, the SUN in recent years has been portrayed as the culprit to skin cancer. If this is true why is all life on Earth dependent upon the SUN? Maybe we forgot just how important the SUN is for our bodies? Let us take a closer look at the SUN our dear old friend. Sunlight exposure on the skin creates natural Vitamin D in our bodies. Because of the scarcity of Vitamin D in the food that we eat, it seems that our other dear friend NATURE intended for the human body to generate most of the Vitamin D from sunlight exposure. There is a wide spread of Vitamin D deficiency causing many problems among us. Are you taking Vitamin D? Did you know all you have to do is get 15 to 30 minutes of daily sunshine! A cloudy day will still provide you with the benefits of the sun as the sunlight rays still come through – keep your sunglasses off …the rays into the eyes are beneficial just remember not to stare directly into the sun!
The sun has been blamed for being the culprit or the causative agent in skin cancers. Promoters of this theory have said that cancer is on the rise because we are spending more time in the sun sunbathing. Skin cancer is a relatively recent epidemic. In the 1930s 1 in 500 people would develop skin cancer, today the number is closer to 1 in 5! Is it really the sun that is the culprit or could there be something else involved? Things that make you go “hmm??”. I personally do not believe the promoters of this particular theory. In fact, for centuries people have spent entire days in the sun, in ancient times, athletes trained in the sun because it had such a marked improvement in muscle strength and endurance levels. My ancestors worked in the fields planting, harvesting and turning the soil for the next crops to repeat the planting and harvesting cycle. I never heard of any of my direct ancestors getting skin cancer and most of them lived long healthy lives…well into their 80’s and late 90’s!
Sunlight exposure and exercise have the same effects on the body so when combined, it is even more beneficial. Sunlight is actually therapeutic to our bodies because the benefits go above and beyond the prescribed medicine a medical professional may give you.
Think about it this way…for $Free.99 you may…
- Elevate your mood
- Lower your blood pressure
- Lower your reanapacitysting heart rate
- Lower your blood cholesterol
- Lower you blood sugar level
- Increase your energy, endurance and muscle strength
- Boost your immunity
- Increase your oxygen carrying ccrease your adrenalin in tissues anapacity of the blood
- INL tolerance to stress
- Increase your sex hormones
- Increase your resistance to skin infections
- Increase your natural ability to kill bacteria and limit the spread of infectious disease
Extensive research was conducted by Dr. Zane Kime, a physician in the 70’s and 80’s on sunlight and its benefits. He wrote a book entitled, “Sunlight”, a vital book on the relationship of sunlight to human health; following the example of legends such as Florence Nightengale and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. He began recommending sunlight therapy to his patients who received notable and sometimes remarkable results. Dr. Kime stated, “Undeniably the sun plays a role in skin cancer and aging but is it the ultimate culprit?”. He became increasingly convinced, as he studied the available researched data, that the highly refined western diet played the leading role, both in the aging process and in the development of skin cancer, and that sunlight seemed only to accelerate the problem. Kime went on to explain that one of the particular problems in the diet is our obsession with fat! As society has gotten away from eating natural foods as grown and has been indulging in processed foods, the intake of all fats has increased.
In fact, about the time processed fats came into our diets, was about the time skin cancer started to become a very recognized problem. Dr. Kime explained that saturated animal fats were being implicated as a causative factor in cholesterol and heart disease, so the food industry came up with a solution…
- Saturated vegetable oils = MARGARINE
- Partially hydrogenated vegetable oils = TRANS FATS
- Highly processed polyunsaturated vegetable oils
The food industry has pushed these products onto us as healthy alternatives to butter and animal fats. Kime stated, “Because of the problems of free radical formation, inhibition of oxygen utilization by the cell, increased cancer production, and depression of the immune system, polyunsaturated and trans fats are heavily implicated in the epidemic of skin cancer”.
Throw in your Life Saver NOW!!!
- Avoid the use of animal fats (beef fat, chicken fat and LARD!)
- Avoid the use of trans fats (partially hydrogenated vegetable oil)
- Use vegetable oils sparingly (olive, coconut, sunflower, corn, safflower, etc.)
Dr. Kime’s conclusions were way back in the 1980’s…WHY DID THIS NOT MAKE MEDIA HEADLINES??!! How did we let this news pass us by??!!
Dr. Doug DiOrio, who was a medical director of integrative medicine for the OhioHealth Bing Cancer Center said that there was definitely a link between skin cancer and nutrition stating, “Processed flours, sugars and trans fats cause inflammation, that sets the body up for a carcinogenic effect and makes the skin more susceptible to damage”. His colleague at the time, Jennifer Burton, a registered dietician with OhioHealth who worked with patients at both the Bing Cancer Center and the McConnell Heart Health Center stated, “Foods can be either very proactive or very harmful – fruits and veggies are on the good team. Eat lots of them – the more colorful, the better”.
Fat is another agent of skin cancer. Good fats like avocado, flaxseed and nuts can help ward off disease. But animal-based fats have a direct link to disease. “Studies have looked at fat in the diet and cancer, specifically skin cancer,” Burton said. “People with diets higher in saturated fats like those from cheese, milk, cream and steak have a higher incidence of cancer recurrence”. Although dietary guidelines typically recommend a fat intake of no higher than 30% of the daily calories, Burton says, “Keeping the fat to 20% or less of the caloric intake has been shown to lessen recurrence in cancer patients”.
Now…Let’s Review!!!
Get this conversation going for YOUR health and YOUR loved ones too!!!
- There is a link between diet and skin cancer.
- The most protective foods are: fruits and vegetables (ORGANIC if possible) they are high in antioxidants, carotenoids, Vitamin C and phytochemicals.
- Look for deep colors of green, red, yellow and orange.
- Consume more dark leafy green vegetables.
- Orange fruits and vegetables such as squash, carrots and melon.
- Berries and other fruits.
- Garlic and soy are proactive foods.
- Avoid foods that are high in fat – especially animal and trans fats.
- Keep your total fat intake under 20% of calorie intake.
- Eliminate animal fat such as beef and chicken fat; especially LARD.
- Be very conservative of all processed oils, shortening, margarine and use only those without trans fats.
We have to improve our foods and get our daily sunlight to start seeing our own health improvements…I dare you to try it out for yourselves! Are you up for this challenge? Are you ready to start making a change that will add years to your life?!