Carrot Juice Is A Natural Sunscreen

Just for a moment think about what you put on your skin to protect it from the sun. For most people the quick and easy solution is to apply a chemical cocktail and rub it in to do it’s job and prevent burns. The craziness about that is that we are rubbing in ingredients into our skin that we are simply not meant to ingest (or soak into our bodies through our skin). They are toxic and hazardous to our bodies and our skin (our largest organ) soaks it all in and these toxins consequently end up circulating in our systems and harms us with free radicals and other yukky things.

I haven’t used “sunscreen” or “sunblock” for at least 20 years. When I go outside, I allow myself a moderate time in the direct sun – I feel great in it but when I feel like I’ve had too much, I go under an umbrella or into the shade or cover myself up. I would never resort to an artificial means of protection from the sun. My motto is if you don’t know about the ingredient (and/or you can’t pronounce it), then you can’t eat it – nor can you rub it on your skin (for gosh sake!). I like to call most commercial sunscreens “poison” and I’m sure I’m infuriating some people by speaking my mind about it. Here are some truths:

• A sunscreen ingredient like Oxybenzone is hormone-disrupting and causes cell damage. Babies as little as 6 months old are getting this rubbed into their delicate bodies and having this chemical potentially creating havoc in there.
• Retinyl palmitate (better known as Vitamin A) when used in sunscreens can break down in sunlight and cause free-radical damage and cancers.
• There are always overstated claims of incredible performance from the big sunscreen companies.
• Lack of regulations and PROVEN studies that sunscreen prevents cancer.
• Sunscreen can potentially block your bodies ability to manufacture Vitamin D. This vitamin, my friends, is CRITICAL for us to get into our bodies naturally and the sun is the only way we can get it. Vitamin D is manufactured in our skin and sunscreen/sunblocks prevent it.

Natural Sunscreens

Below, you will see the NATURALLY OCCURRING SPF factors of these incredible organic natural sunscreen ingredients and you can perhaps make your own like I do. These ingredients are easily found at most health food stores and apothecaries.

You can make your own in any combination you’d like. For me, I see what I have in my cupboards and I mix it together in crazy, simple concoctions. I seem to always use most often though equal parts: coconut oil, Shea butter and carrot seed oil. I’ve always been complimented on my skin and at 50, I think that I’m doing OK.

Almond Oil- SPF around 5
Coconut Oil- SPF 4-6
Zinc Oxide SPF 2-20 depending on how much used
Red Raspberry Seed Oil SPF 25-50
Carrot Seed Oil – SPF 35-40
Shea Butter – SPF 4-6

What to do to heal from the INSIDE?

Carrot Juice is a natural sunscreen too. When ingested, it does so much work from the inside. Did you know that Carrot Juice protects your skin in the sunny months? Those natural cartenoids (the orange pigment in a carrot), powerful anti-oxidants and beta-carotene work on protecting your skin from the inside out by increasing the skin’s immunity and protect and condition the skin. It’s a natural sunscreen and will help to heal sunburns. (I like mine with a little ginger root).

Ditch the chemical-laden sunscreens and sunblocks and let’s work together and share ideas to make our lives make a little more sense. Ask yourself why you need to slather yourself with high SPF’s chemical lotions every day (even the ones hidden in toxic make-up) if we aren’t going to be in the sun for 12 hours straight AND if we really care about what we eat and what our body is made up of. I, for one, choose to limit the massive amounts of pollution and toxins I potentially could put in my body every day….. After all, it’s the only body I’ve got. Are you with me?

With tons of love and care,