If you want to avoid skin cancer, here are my 2 biggest tips
Star Anise
stop using conventional personal care products especially conventional sunscreen!!!!
stop eating industrial seed oils (e.g. canola oil, cottonseed oil, corn oil, soybean oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, vegetable oil etc.)
What’s wrong with conventional beauty products, especially sunscreen?
Conventional sunscreens contain oxybenzone and other toxic chemicals that are harmful to people, the ocean and fish (which we then eat).
Oxybenzone is found in over 50% of sunscreens along with the following toxicants:
4-Methylbenzylidene camphor (4-MBC)
Benzophenone-3 (oxybenzone)
3-Benzophenone camphor
Octyl methoxycinnamate (OMC)
Padimate O
Retinyl palmitate (a form of vitamin A)
Octylmethoxycinnamate
Artificial fragrances
What do these chemicals actually do? They fall into one or more of these buckets:
endocrine disrupters (disrupt hormones)
carcinogens (cause cancer)
allergens (trigger allergic reactions such as headaches, coughing, wheezing sneezing, and migraine headaches)
neurotoxins (affect the brain)
The research has been out for many decades on the carcinogenic effects of conventional sunscreens. See the publication of Dr Peter Dingle here and his book Dangerous Beauty. In short, this research shows that laboratory tests on the main ingredients of conventional sunscreen reveal that they are associated with increased skin permeability, endocrine (hormone) disruption, and the generation of free radicals and subsequent damage to DNA within skin cells which can result in cancer. Many epidemiological studies show an increased risk of skin cancer to sunscreen users. A review of studies on skin cancer and sunscreens by Science News found that people who used sunscreen were more likely than non-users to develop melanoma. The results of a randomised controlled trial of adults who used sunscreen daily found an increased risk of basal cell carcinoma. This is all very (tragically) ironic for sunscreen don’t you think?!? So it is often the oxidation of the toxic chemicals from sunscreen on the skin that causes cancer as opposed to the sun itself. We are blaming the sun for what the toxicants are doing.
Many experts now recommend that sunscreens containing oxybenzone should not be used on children. Knowing all this, I have to bite my tongue at the beach when I see people lather conventional sunscreen (especially on kids ) and even worse spray conventional sunscreen (which are lung irritants)
This is not a journey of deprivation but simply a journey of healthy swaps.
If you want to wear sunscreen (because you can’t cover up or get out of the sun before burning) simply swap to a natural one!!! So which one?
I’ve used every single brand of natural sunscreen for over 25 years and the cleanest one that I use, trust, and recommend is Young Living SPF 50 mineral sunscreen because:
✅it’s zinc oxide based
✅ it’s toxic-free
✅ it applies beautifully (not thick and gluggy like most natural ones)
✅ it’s reef safe (this is so important if you give a sh#t about what you’ll be handing our oceans)
✅ it contains the highest quality essential oils that are nourishing for the skin including sacred frankincense, myrrh, ylang ylang, lavender and carrot seed oil.
What’s wrong with industrial seed oils?
In a word, they are toxic. I discuss this at length in my one-on-one health coaching sessions for my Food as Medicine digital package but in a nutshell here is the bad news:
Seeds don’t want to give up their oils. High heat, high pressure, and chemicals are required to extract oils from seeds rendering the oils rancid (unstable). Unstable fats create free radicals (especially when heated) which damage DNA in turn potentially resulting in cancer.
They are high in omega 6 PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids) which cause inflammation. Inflammation is the root cause of all modern diseases regardless of the name of the disease.
More specifically, seed oils impair cellular function, impair neural (brain) connections, cause oxidative stress, disrupt hormones, and have been linked to infertility, mental health problems (e.g.violent behaviour) and all modern diseases including heart disease and cancer.
They are polyunsaturated fats and are hence not heat stable.
They have no nutrient value (completely empty calories).
They are much harder to detox from our cells than refined sugar and refined starches.
They are used by almost all cafes and restaurants (especially for deep frying) and most packaged foods.
Many experts are now saying that if you regularly ingest seed oils it is only a matter of time before you will develop cancer.
Refer to my Seed Oil Free Cafe & Restaurant Guide to Sydney for a list of seed-oil-free clean eats. Support cafes and restaurants that are doing the right thing for people and the planet even if that means it costs them more to make products that are good for you.
One view is that once ingested, seed oils can oxide on the skin in the presence of sunlight.
Healthy swap to the safe, natural fats that your great-grandmother was using prior to the industrialisation of our food supply e.g. butter, ghee, beef tallow, pork lard, extra virgin cold pressed olive oil and coconut oil. And no - these natural fats don’t clog arteries or cause heart disease nor raise LDL cholesterol or make you fat (in case you didn’t get that memo).
Don’t fear the sun...
but don’t stay out too long that you burn
We need a certain amount of sun exposure for a host of reasons including vitamin D (for strong immunity) and endorphin release (love those feel-good hormones).
If you have pets you will notice that they seek out the sun and when they have had enough they move into shade.
We too need to use our common sense and intuition to get adequate sun exposure daily but never to the point of burning. You know your skin better than anyone so if you feel you’ve had enough exposure, simply cover up or move into the shade.
If you can’t do either of these 2 things, then use a quality sunscreen such as Young Living mineral sunscreen (which I can hook you up with at wholesale prices). The darker your skin the more sun exposure you require. Build up from a few minutes daily. The more embodied you become (in tune with your body as you start detoxifying) the more easily you will gauge when you need to get out of the sun. A vitamin D deficiency is of real concern and is associated with most illnesses and diseases.
Coconut oil and certain YL oils like myrrh and carrot seed oil provide some measure of natural SPF so if you want a light measure of sun protection this may suffice.
Would love to hear your views on this “hot” topic (no pun intended).
Love Soulla xxx