Total Health Breakthroughs: Free Natural Health Newsletter and Alternative Health Articles

In This Issue:

Forget About Toxic Sunscreens and Activate Your Body’s Own Internal Sunscreen Instead

By Al Sears, MD

One of the biggest hoaxes of our time is that the sun is bad for you. They tell you to avoid it at all costs and to protect yourself with sunscreen lotion if you dare to venture outside.

Here’s the real truth…

Sunscreen lotions block the sun’s UV rays, but your skin needs exposure to these rays to make vitamin D. This is a huge problem because vitamin D is a critical nutrient for your body. It’s a powerful antioxidant and mood booster that your skin cells make with the help of sunlight.

Research shows that vitamin D is the most potent cancer fighter there is. In fact, a report from Nebraska University shows that vitamin D has the potential to lower the risk of all cancers in women over 50 by 77%.¹

Not only do sunscreens block your body’s ability to produce vitamin D, their ingredients are toxic and have never been safety tested or safety approved by the FDA.

A study in the April 2004 Journal of Chromatography found that the carcinogenic agents found in sunscreens penetrate the skin. This means that when you use most sunscreens, you absorb toxic chemicals. And with so-called experts telling you to generously apply it every few hours, you are likely absorbing a dangerous amount.

The Centers for Disease Control also reports that 97% of Americans are contaminated with a widely used sunscreen ingredient called oxybenzone. It’s linked to allergies, hormone disruption, low birth weights, cell damage, and more. It is also a chemical that helps other chemicals penetrate the skin.²

Other dangerous chemicals found in most sunscreens, such as octyl methoxycinnamate (OMC), kill skin cells. And PABA, also known as octyl dimethyl and padimate O, attacks DNA and causes genetic mutation when it’s exposed to sunlight.

Luckily, there’s a safer way to protect yourself from sunburn. It’s a way to tap your body’s own natural sunscreen.

Your body has the ability to protect itself with antioxidants. They fight off the free radicals that attach to cells and create damage from premature aging to cancer. And when it comes to protecting your skin, the most beneficial antioxidant enzyme your body makes is called superoxide dismutase (SOD).

SOD is your first-line of defense against free radical damage, including sunburn. It’s an incredibly potent free radical scavenger that wards off cancer, inflammation, and the effects of aging. It’s also a potent immune booster with the ability to remove toxins from tissues.

In fact, it’s so important to your health that some call it the “enzyme of life.” SOD is the first antioxidant your body makes after you’re born to protect against free radicals. You can’t live without it. In one study, mice whose bodies couldn’t make their own SOD died within days after birth from massive free radical damage.³

SOD works with your skin cells from the inside, offsetting the damage that comes with sun overexposure.  But, your body’s ability to make SOD declines as you age.

Researchers proved SOD’s effect in a recent study where they split 50 healthy people into two groups, with one taking a new form of SOD per day and the other a sugar pill. After a month, the SOD group could withstand eight times the amount of exposure to UV rays without developing sunburn — an 800% increase in protection.⁴

And unlike chemical sunscreens, SOD won’t stop the sun from helping your body make essential vitamin D while you’re out walking or gardening or spending time with your family outdoors. You get all the sun’s benefits and none of the risks.

The good news is there are ways to easily boost your SOD levels. The best food source comes from goji berries, also called wolfberries. These amazing berries have the ability to boost the production of SOD to more youthful levels. Studies found that treatment with wolfberry increased SOD activity in red blood cells while decreasing levels of harmful compounds in the skin.⁵

You can now find goji berries in some specialty stores or online. But make sure you get them from a reputable source. Goji berries are grown in several different areas around the world, but the berries that you purchase will probably be from China where it has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years.⁶

You can also find SOD in capsule form in health food stores. I recommend 500 mg a day.

To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD

References

1. Lappe et al. Journal of the American College of Nutrition. 2006; 25(5):395-402.
2. Gouldin, C. “CDC: Caving to Industry, FDA Delays Safety Standards for Decades”, Environmental Working Group, http://www.ewg.org, 3/25/08.
3. Li, et al. 1995. Nature Genetics. 11:376-381.
4. Mac-Mary, M. et al. “Evaluation of the Effect of GliSODin on the Intensity of Actinic Erythema,” presented at the CARD (Annual Congress of Dermatological Research) meeting.
5. Barclay, L. Replenishing the aging body’s antioxidant defenses. Life Extension Magazine. Jan 2007.
6. Cole, J. Goji Berries: What you need to know about this superfood. www.naturalnews.com. Viewed 2/31/09.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Sears is Chairman of the Board of Total Health Breakthroughs. He has written over 500 articles and 7 books in the fields of alternative medicine, anti-aging, and nutritional supplementation. To learn more about protecting your skin from the inside out, click here.]

Green Living:

Mort’s Tips for Planting Your Best Garden and Avoiding Aches and Pains

By Mort Mather

I was going to write about the wonderful exercise I get in the garden, wonderfulbecause I enjoy the activity, whereas working out at a gym has no appeal for me. Then I thought of the many people who overdo it in the spring and end up with aching muscles. This is for them.

In Maine, most gardens are planted Memorial Day weekend. Soil is turned and raked, seeds are planted, seedlings are transplanted, fences and trellises are erected, compost is spread, compost piles are started or turned — and you might as well mow the lawn, trim hedges and prune trees while you’re at it. Oh, the pain!

The worst part of that plan is that it sets one up for future pain or failure because when you plant, you start the clock ticking for care of your crop. The rows should be hoed in ten days and then again ten days later. Weeds will have to be pulled and tomatoes staked.

I’m just going to stick to a vegetable garden as the framework for my suggestion that you spread out the spring jobs. The first date to work in the garden is not the frost-free date (Memorial Day). Gardening can, and should begin with the first date you can work the soil.

For me that is early April, usually no later than April 15. To determine whether or not your soil is ready to work, take a handful and squeeze it into a ball. Hold the ball between a finger and thumb and squeeze. If the ball breaks apart with a gentle squeeze, the soil is dry enough to work.

Soil texture and the amount of water in the soil determine when the soil is ready. A sandy soil will dry rapidly as there are large spaces between the grains of sand through which the water can drain. Clay, at the other end of the soil spectrum, does not allow water to drain through easily. Most soil is between these two extremes.

In addition to the soil particles, there is, or should be, organic matter. Organic matter in a sandy soil will hold moisture. In a clay soil the organic matter will create space between the very small particles allowing water to move into and through the soil.

The amount of water is determined by precipitation, of course. You don’t want to work the soil too soon after a heavy rain. In winter in the north, the ground freezes — and in Maine the frozen ground can go as deep as four feet. This winter we had a lot of snow cover for most of the winter so the frost only went about 6 inches deep.

The frost was out of my ground by March 25 this year. That was a very important date for me because until the frost is out of the ground, the snow melt and rain just sit there unable to percolate down. When the frost finally thaws, it is as if you pulled the plug in the bathtub. The water sinks and the soil begins to dry.

Now that the soil can be worked without causing it to stick together in clumps, we can prepare seedbeds and begin planting those seeds that will germinate in cold soil and produce plants that will not be killed by frost. Peas, spinach and lettuce actually grow better in cool weather and they will germinate in cold soil. Spinach and lettuce will germinate at 32°F, but it will take two months.

My soil is probably about 50° when I start planting. At this temperature, peas and spinach will germinate in about two weeks and lettuce will germinate in one week. I don’t know when dill will germinate, but I do know that it can grow from seed left on the soil in the fall, so my first planting of dill goes in the ground in April.

Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and kohlrabi can withstand light frost and they like to grow in cool weather. (I transplant some of these in May to get an early crop for our restaurant, Joshua’s, but I recommend beginning gardeners plant these in summer as they grow best in the fall). Radishes, carrots, parsley and turnips will germinate in cool soil so we plant them in early May.

For the healthiest corn, it is best to wait until the soil reaches 70° so that it will germinate in 5 or 6 days. In Maine, the best time to plant corn is in late May. The latter part of May is fine to plant beets and chard. I transplant tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings at this time and protect them from frost with a row cover. It is also time for a second planting of lettuce which should be done about every three weeks.

Ah, June — or whenever you are sure there will not be another frost. The soil temperature should be in the 70s during the day now. Bean, squash, cucumber and melon seeds will germinate in about a week. Basil, the most tender herb I grow, gets planted now.

I have planted a 3,000 square foot garden, turning it all by hand using this schedule. I did it without getting sore muscles or blisters. The first exercise is turning the soil with a spading fork. Then the bed is raked with a garden rake. Planting involves lots of bending — deep knee bends keeping the back straight, of course.

Ten days after that area is planted, I will be back with the hoe and drag it between the rows. Even though I can’t see them, I know there are thousands of weeds that I am killing with my hoe when they are at their most vulnerable. After that, there will be more deep knee bends to pull weeds that grow in the rows. All of this is great exercise in the healthiest environment I know.

[Ed. Note: Mort Mather has been gardening organically for 35 years. He is the author of Gardening for Independence and has founded two non-profits -- one saved a farm on the Maine Coast and the other saved the historic Ogunquit Playhouse. Mort is a certified organic farmer supplying vegetables for his family-run restaurant (http://joshuas.biz) in Wells, Maine. To learn more, click here.]

Healthy Recipes:

Moroccan-Spiced Scallops with Lentil Tabbouleh

By Kelley Herring

Traditional tabbouleh (made with refined wheat couscous) gets a healthy makeoverthanks to lentils as the low-glycemic stand-in.  While light in calories, this exotic quick fix is an excellent source of 11 nutrients and ready in less than 20 minutes.

Time To Table: 20 minutes
Serves: 4

The Benefits
Excellent source of Fiber, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Protein, Selenium, Vitamin A, Vitamin B12, Vitamin C, Folate, Omega-3
Good Source of Zinc, Niacin
Preferences: Gluten Free

Ingredients
2 cups fresh organic parsley, finely chopped
2 cloves organic garlic, chopped
1 medium organic cucumber, peeled and diced
2 tsp organic avocado oil
1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
1 pound Patagonian sea scallops*
1/4 cup organic lemon juice
1/2 tsp organic ground cumin
1/2 tsp organic ground coriander
1 medium organic tomato, diced
2 tsp organic ground ginger
1 cup organic lentils (try Eden)
2 Tbsp organic extra virgin olive oil

Preparation
First, combine the salt, ginger, cumin and coriander.  Pour seasoning mixture over scallops to coat. Heat a medium-sized nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the avocado oil and heat until shimmering. Add the scallops and cook 2-3 minutes, turning once. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm. Place the lentils, parsley, cucumber, tomato, lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic in a medium non-reactive bowl. Mix well to combine. Divide lentil mixture among plates. Top with scallops. Serve.

*NOTE: Patagonian sea scallops are Marine Stewardship Certified (sustainable) and harvested in the pristine waters of Patagonia. They are available flash-frozen at Target for $7.99 per pound.

[Ed. Note: Kelley Herring is the founder of Healing Gourmet – the world's leading website on the power of foods to promote health and protect against disease. Her latest work is a revolutionary health transformation program called, Your Plate, Your Fate. In this 7-part program you'll learn how to protect your health and optimize your weight by maximizing the nutrients in your food. Learn more here.]