Watch out, its sunburn season!

Ok people, listen up... you know I'm a big advocate for walks in the sunshine without sunscreen, as its important to help get your daily dose of vitamin D. But this heatwave... these 35° Celsius (95° Fahrenheit) plus days call for sunscreen to be worn when going outside and to be reapplied. This is not your happy sun. This is EVIL sun!

Sunscreens - a toxic jumper for your skin

Buying sunscreens is hard enough, as you really don't know what they put in it. Sunscreens are basically lathering your skin in a toxic bath in chemicals known to be carcinogenic, and these soaks into your pores and go through your bloodstream. There are chemical free alternatives out there, but be careful - even some chemical free alternatives still contains some dodgy ingredients.

Read the ingredients labels to see for yourself. Try to avoid any sunscreen product containing ingredients that sound like chemicals:  Methyl... Propyl... Butyl... Ethyl... Trieth... Dieth... etc.

Always buy unscented sunscreen unless for some reason you just enjoy coating your skin with artificial perfume chemicals. A typical sunscreen product is made with over a dozen cancer-causing fragrance chemicals.


You don't need to go to extremes by going out and buying SPF 50,000, in fact, there isn't a lot of difference in cover between SPF 30 and anything above it. And if you are sunbaking for hours in this heat, avoid the reef oil - the smell of your cooking skin may turn your fellow beach gatherers into cannibals wanting to feast on your tasty coconut smelling crispy goodness. Oh, and it will make your skin leathery. But the cannibalism aspect is the bigger issue! :)

Sunburn tips...

In case you are extremely lucky (like winning lotto lucky), in Australia, you are going to experience some sunburn at some point of your life. Not matter how much you try, you may miss that one spot, forget to reapply after going in water, or sunscreen gets rubbed off before you know it, sunburn can occur and it is horrid. Really evil sunburn can take a few hours to show, and you will feel that heating, almost pulsating glow on your skin when you go to bed. Here is a couple of natural remedy tips to help you conquer the experience:

• When you get home from your sunny outing and you believe you may be at risk of burn, take a shower. This can help cool the skin down, and also removes your chemical jumper of sunscreen!

• After your shower, after sun lotions can be a blessing. Again, check the ingredients for a chemical storm. There are some good natural ones out there. 
• Some lotions contain the plant aloe vera, which has an amazing soothing property when applied to sunburn. If you can get hold of the real plant, its even better. Just snip off a leaf, split it open and apply the gooey gel directly onto the burn. It will feel sticky, but I have always had instant relief with this. 
• Lavender oil is excellent for burns. There was a great story I head about this guy who worked at a lavender processing plant and he burnt himself badly on one of the machines. He instinctively put his arm into a vat of lavender oil and it ended up not scarring. Of course, sunburn is slightly different, but the anti-inflammatory properties are still the same!
• Calendula oil is ultra soothing and also anti-inflammatory on the skin. I'm afraid I don't have any awesome stories about calendula, but it is one of my favourite herbs. :)
• Some lotions contain vitamin E, which is a great antioxidant and is both soothing & repairing for the skin, but be aware if you have sensitive skin - it has been known to cause allergic reactions in some people.
• Lotions usually come in either a gel or cream variety. For an extra soothing effect, put the gel in fridge. 
• Remember to reapply - don't expect full results from just one application! Reapply often - every 2 hours if you have the time. 

• Rubbing a cucumber onto your burns is not only refreshing and leaves you smelling like cucumber, but also helps hydrate the skin and it contains a small amount of vitamin C, which reduces inflammation.

• A home remedy that helps take the heat out of sunburn is black tea. Black tea contains tannins, which are astringent and help draw the heat out of the burn. I've tried this and it worked really well, and left me smelling like a strong cup of tea. What to do...
• Put 8-10 tea bags into a 500ml jug. 
• Pour 500ml boiling water over them and allow it to steep until the water is black. Boiling water is used as this helps infuse the tea, this cannot be done with luke warm water. 
• You also want the water to cool - I'm not going to torture you by telling you to put a boiling hot liquid onto burns, I'm not sadistic!
• Once the water is luke warm to cool, use a cloth or paper towel and soak it in the tea mixture. Put the cloth onto the burn and leave it on for 5 minutes like a compress. 
• After 5 minutes, you will feel that the cloth is quite warm, so wring it out and do it again. Continue doing this until you feel the heat go out of the burn.
• This can be repeated several times if you wish, depending on the severity of the burn.

Taste the rainbow of goodness!

• Food can help, who would have thought it?
• Drink plenty of water - chances are you are dehydrated!
• Eat antioxidant rich foods - your skin has undergone a massive oxidation, so antioxidants will help replenish your body and also help with skin repair. Not sure where to find antioxidants? Think lots of colourful fruits and vegies!
• Antioxidant rich foods, especially those rich in carotenoids (carrots, dark leafy greens), lycopene (tomatoes, watermelon) and vitamin C (citrus, kiwi, berries) help provide an anti-sunburn effect on the skin when eaten regularly before going out in the sun. Another reason why a whole food diet is so important!

There are more remedies out there for people in pain, these are just a few of my favourites. If you have any you would like to tell me about, please comment below. I wish you all the best for this summer season, good luck in the sun! :)

Detoxification... whats it all about?

From two completely different sources I heard about two articles which were both talking about the hoax of detoxing people and how the products are just a marketing gimmick. I think its time I put some facts straight for everyone on what detoxification is, as it is something talked about by many naturopaths and health practitioners.

The detoxification (extremely) simplified...

Detoxification is the process of removing toxins from the body which are harmful to help our bodies to function properly. This is done via the kidneys and the liver, but mainly the liver.

Picture our bodies detoxification processes like a conveyor belt. Items go onto the conveyor belt, then go along the production line and then at the end come out all packaged up and ready to be metabolised & used in the body, or disposed of via the bladder or intestines.

The liver consists of 2 conveyor belts, both performing different parts to detoxification. Both conveyor belts require different nutrients to work properly. Some nutrients speed up the processing, some slow it down. Unfortunately if the first one is moving too fast, the 2^nd one will have a back up of toxins to process, which can make people sick. I drew a picture to help explain this...

When would I need to detox?

When a body is overly ‘toxic’, certain signs and symptoms may be a result*, including:

•  Nervous System symptoms: depression, fatigue, mood changes, poor concentration, headaches with nausea
• Immune Dysfunction: allergies, asthma, eczema, sinusitis, hayfever, food sensitivities, fibromyalgia, recurrent viral, fungal or bacterial infections.
•  Digestive Problems: Indigestion, reflux, gallstones, intolerance to fatty foods, intolerance to alcohol, bloating, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome
• Blood sugar irregularities: sugar cravings, hypoglycaemia
• Hormonal imbalances: PMS, increased side effects to the OCP or HRT.
• Other symptoms: bad breath, itchy skin, dark circles under the eyes, excessive/offensive sweating, pale skin.

*This is not to say that the reasons for these symptoms are 100% result of a toxic liver, however it may be a contributor! 

You want both your conveyor belts working at optimum speed to ensure everything is getting processed and packaged quickly.

Anything we ingest or breathe in must go through the liver to be cleaned. Unfortunately, if we take in too many bad things (the toxins), our liver and kidneys can be overloaded.

So what are are toxins?

• Food additives, such as preservatives, colours, artificial flavours, flavour enhancers, added hormones, fatty foods
• Medications
• Environmental exposures, such as pesticides, petro-chemicals, heavy metals, gas clouds
• Smoking
• Alcohol
• Stimulants, such as caffeine

If people are suffering from kidney or liver damage, this may also affect the way their body can remove toxins. This is why kidney patients require dialysis.

So what are these articles talking about??

These articles start by telling us about detoxification. Our bodies remove toxins from the body through the kidney and liver. They say that these organs are all the body needs to detox. In the perfect world, absolutely! In the perfect world, we all live off the land and eat healthy, nutritious foods and there is no pollution and there is clean water and everyone is healthy all the time. Guess what? We don’t live in the perfect world. We are exposed to toxins every day and the number of them is growing. Our bodies are not evolved to deal with this number of toxins!

The next point that the article raises is what are these toxins and no one can explain what they are... I think I covered that one! They then discuss the marketing ploys currently around. With this point I agree with them, to an extent. There are many products available which people can buy off the shelf, such as 48 hour Detox, or 7 day Detox and this is meant to make everything good. Do you really believe that years of exposure and intake of toxins can all be repaired over a 48 hour period? Hmmm, no. There is no quick magic bullet fix to all this and some of these supplements may be doing you more harm than good when self prescribed.

Surely the fact that Kim Kardashian is the spokesperson says something to you about this product!

Healing your body should be worked on every level – you should not simply take a pill then expect everything to fix up. Your exposure to toxins should be observed and reduced where possible. There are supplements which can assist in providing the right nutrients to get the conveyor belts working properly, however these should be provided by a health care professional and should not be self prescribed. Any detoxification program should go for at least 1 month and should be accompanied with a healthy fresh diet and plenty of water. There are detox diets available, but be careful – some of them may not be suitable for your current health situation.

I did a gentle detox with my husband last year for a month and it changed my lifestyle a lot. Read my blog here for the detox guidelines, some recipes and our experiences: http://detoxober.blogspot.com.au/

We are going to be exposed to chemicals no matter what. Using common sense and living healthy can reduce your exposure and keep your liver happy!

-Laura x