Get ready for spring sandals now!

For many of us, the rough, thick skin on our heels  looks like it belongs on an elephant?  It’s hard to hide cracked, thick heels in sandals and you CAN fix them before spring.

Reclaiming your baby soft feet is easy when you have the right tools for the job.  All it takes is strong exfoliation.  A pumice stone alone doesn’t cut it if you have really thick foot skin.  You need CHEMICAL EXFOLIATION AND PHYSICAL EXFOLIATION to get your feet back into sandal-ready shape.

• Chemical exfoliation means using a skin care product that softens and dissolves the thick skin so that you can actually get somewhere when you try to file it off.  The best product for thick, rough heel skin is Glytone Heel and Elbow Cream*.  This is a seriously strong glycolic acid cream that’s a miracle for rough feet!
• Physical exfoliation is what you do when you file or scrape off your rough thick foot skin. The best foot scraper is the PedEgg, which you can get at www.PedEgg.com.  You could also use a foot file like the pedicurists use, or a pumice stone.

Dr. Cynthia Bailey’s 3 Steps To Treat Thick, Rough Skin on Your Feet

1. Soak your feet in warm water, or take a warm shower for 10-15 minutes.
2. Rub the rough skin off your feet using the PedEgg or a foot file while your feet are wet.  Rub off as much rough skin as possible without hurting your feet.
3. Apply Glytone Heel and Elbow Cream while your feet are still damp.  Towel dry your feet, but you need to apply the cream while they are still damp.  Apply the Glytone Heel and Elbow Cream liberally to the thick areas, including the toes and nail beds if needed.  Put on a clean pair of cotton socks and leave them on for at least 8 hours.

Depending on how thick your foot skin is, this process can take between one week and several months for all the thick, rough skin to come off of your feet.

If irritation develops, let the skin heal before you resume the treatment

Once you have soft, smooth skin on your feet, repeat this process as necessary to maintain the results.  Some people find that once their feet are soft again, they can maintain the results by switching to my Anti Aging Body Rejuvenation Kit products and treating their feet when they treat the rest of their body skin in the shower.

Having baby soft feet that invite a foot massage is easy, and they look so much better in sandals!

*  Glytone Heel and Elbow Cream is a 30% glycolic acid cream and is REALLY strong.  If used in any manner other than I’ve stated above it WILL be too strong and irritate/burn your skin.  It works beautifully for thick skin on the feet, but even though Glytone markets it for elbows, only the thickest, roughest elbows need this strong glycolic acid product. Because Glytone Heel and Elbow Cream is so strong, I do not sell it directly to customers on my web site.  I will sell it by phone if you call my office at 707 829-0937 during the normal business hours (Pacific Time).  This enables us to be sure that you have read this information and understand that you are buying a very strong (and very effective) professional grade glycolic acid skin care product.  You can also order it directly from large retail sites like Dermstore.com without this precaution.

If you found this post helpful, you may also want to read:

Essential Winter Skin Care: 2 Simple Tricks To Healthy Winter Skin

Dermatologist’s Simple Tips for Athlete’s Foot Fungus Treatment

Brilliant Skin Care For The New Decade

Chapped Lips: The Remedy Depends On The Cause

Pandemic Of Dry Hands: Hand Sanitizers, The Swine Flu And Tips To Save Your Hands

Making Sense Of The Vitamin D Dilemma And Sun Exposure

Photo Attribution: Sean Dreilinger

Alkaline foods are the foods that our ancestors ate when they were primitive hunters and gatherers. Our bodies like these foods.  Before humans learned to farm, they ate fresh foods; things that they could find or hunt.  Today, processed food and animal based foods are so easy to come by, but they aren’t the foods you should eat as the foundation of your diet.

I became intrigued by The Alkaline Diet because it had a remarkable impact on some health issues I had in my own life.  I first encountered the concept of acid/alkaline foods from Elizabeth Sherman, a very knowledgeable Herbalist and Acupuncturist in Sonoma County.  She helped me implement an alkaline diet in my own life and I experienced a much welcomed resolution of the health problems that where troubling me (life impacting aches and pains from musculo-skeletal issues, digestive misadventures, Raynaud’s Phenomenon, peri-menopausal sleep issues to name a few).  Elizabeth gave me a reading list and reference charts for acid/alkaline foods (see below).  I’ve found that alkaline food lists are complex and often contradictory.  It’s taken a lot of study on my part to develop practical guidelines for my own diet and for sharing with interested patients.  The end result is what I call an Alkaline Food Pyramid. It’s very similar to the Mediterranean Food Pyramid and so I’ve termed the combination The Alkaline Mediterranean Diet.

I recommend that you look over my general guidelines then refer to the food chart links to find the alkaline foods you like best.  Let these foods become the foundation of your diet.  Use the same charts to find out which of your favorite foods are highly acid.  Eat these in smaller amounts so that your overall daily diet is composed of about 60% alkaline foods.

The Alkaline Food Pyramid

• The base of your Alkaline Food pyramid should be vegetables.
• Fruits come next, eaten liberally, but to a lesser extent than veggies.
• Whole grains are above fruits.
• Oils, nuts and lean sources of protein (fish and chicken) come next.
• Acid forming treats like sugar, wine, steak, fried foods, refined ‘junk’ food etc are thrown in sporadically at the top.

Explaining the Relative Acid/Alkaline Values to Foods

The hardest part about trying to eat mostly alkaline foods is in knowing which foods are acid or alkaline in the first place.  There is inconsistency among food charts and alternative medicine experts regarding the acid and alkaline values of specific foods.  Plus, the values don’t make intuitive sense. In general, alkaline forming foods include: most fruits, green vegetables, peas, some beans, lentils, some grains, spices, herbs and seasonings, and some seeds and nuts. Some alkaline foods are more alkaline than others.  Acid forming foods include: meat, fish, poultry, eggs, most grains,some beans and nuts, sweeteners, refined/processed foods, coffee and alcohol. Some acid foods are only slightly acid and others are very acid forming.  Ideally about 60-80% of what we eat should be alkaline foods or only slightly acid forming.  (60% for maintenance, 80% for restoring health).

From my research, I’ve found two fairly good reference charts for acid/alkaline food values:

1. A simple list of acid/alkaline foods from Thebestofrawfood.com
2. The best list of relative acid/alkaline values within a food category (eg. comparing which grains are best) from Perque.com

12 Steps to The Alkaline Mediterranean Diet:

1. Eat mostly veggies, either cooked or raw.
2. Eat fruits, but eat more veggies than fruits. Within the fruit category, emphasize avocados and citrus.  The most alkaline fruits are apples, bananas (especially not overripe) nectarines, blackberries, dates and raisins.
3. Eat whole grains but emphasize those that are more alkaline, plus, eat more veggies than whole grains.  My recommendation is to emphasize millet, spelt, buckwheat and quinoa over wheat and rice.   I use millet and quinoa like rice and will post recipes over time.  Wheat is more acid and wheat bread thus should be a treat, not a diet staple.
4. Eat legumes (beans), but they can be a little acidifying.  They’re certainly less acidifying than other sources of protein such as meats.  They’re extremely healthy and a great source of non-animal protein.  Try to eat the most alkaline legumes like soy bean, including tofu. Other more alkaline legumes are lentils, lima beans and white beans. Again, like whole grains, the idea is to eat more veggies than legumes.
5. Nuts and seeds are generally slightly acid so moderation is important. They’re packed with nutrition and belong in a healthy diet.  Almonds and sesame seeds are alkaline and the best choice. Plus, eat raw nuts because raw nuts are less acid than roasted nuts.
6. Goat and soy are your best dairy choices. Dairy is generally acid forming.  Again, moderation is important here.  Goat dairy is preferable to cow or sheep dairy because it is less acid forming, and possibly even alkaline forming. There are a lot of great goat cheeses and goat yogurt is delicious so substituting goat dairy products for cow dairy isn’t impossible. Substituting soy milk for cow milk is also easy.
7. Chicken and fish are your best meat protein sources. Protein from meat and fish is acid forming. Lean fish and chicken are much less so and thus the animal protein of choice.  Consider the other animal proteins a treat and not staples in your diet.
8. Olive and flax oils are your best oil foods.  Oils are acidifying, but olive oil and flax oil are the least so and should be your main oil sources.  They’re packed with other great nutritional riches as well. (I’ll cover oils in a future post because they are a complex and really important part of a healthy diet)
9. Most popular beverages are acid forming so don’t forget to notice what you drink during the day.  Beverages have a really big impact on your body’s acid/alkaline balance because most of us drink a lot of our favorite beverages throughout the day.  Acid forming popular beverages including coffee, wine, beer, liquor,soda and sports drinks.  From what I can tell, green tea is more alkaline and thus better than black tea. Herb teas of course are best.  Plain mineral water is alkaline and a great way to recover from an acid food binge.
10. Miscellaneous foods that are acidifying include eggs, chocolate, artificial sweeteners and condiments like ketchup, soy sauce, salt, mayonnaise, mustard.
11. Sprouts of all kinds are very alkaline so it’s good to include them in your diet.
12. Finally, Green Drinks (a powder added to water) are very alkaline and many holistic practitioners recommend using them to gain and maintain an alkaline body pH. My favorite is Barlean’s Greens which I buy at Whole Foods.

The even simpler guidelines that I use for my own alkaline diet are:

1. Ideally about 70% of the foods I eat should be alkaline.
2. I try to eat more veggies than anything else.
3. I stock my kitchen with lower sugar fruits with an emphasis on apples, citrus and bananas.
4. I use more quinoa and millet over wheat. I also use raw oats and brown rice.
5. I substitute goat cheese and yogurt for cow milk cheese and yogurt.  I use soy milk in place of cow milk.
6. I eat a lot of soy beans and tofu,and I try to use white beans and lentils more than other beans.
7. I use olive oil as my main cooking and salad dressing oil.  (See my Olive Harvest Post) Flax oil is also good for salads, but I never cook with it because it looses it’s rich nutritional value when heated.
8. I use almonds as my main nut. I also eat a lot of flax seeds and some sesame seeds.
9. Green tea is my primary caffeinated beverage.
10. I use acid foods sparingly as treats.  I’m a foodie and I regularly enjoy my acid forming treats, but they’re not the main foundation of my diet.  If I do go on an acid food binge, I use an alkalinizing green drink according to the package instructions, natural mineral water, plus a week of focused alkaline dietary choices to get back on track.

My aches, pains and other health issues are so much better since I’ve been living on The Alkaline Mediterranean Diet.  It also helps me maintain my weight in my middle age years.  The occasional ‘treat’ doesn’t raise havoc with my health now because the foundation of my diet is alkaline.

What foods make your health problems worse?  What dietary changes have you found helpful? I’d love to hear what you’ve learned about diet and your health.  Send me your stories using my Contact Page.

Resources on the web to further explain the acid/alkaline diet and to give you more specific ideas which foods are alkaline or acid:

Acid/Alkaline food list
The Acid/Alkaline Food List from Thebestofrawfood.com ( http://www.thebestofrawfood.com/support-files/alkalifoodlist.pdf)

Dr. Russell M. Jaffe’s Acid/Alkaline Chart at Perque.com (http://www.perque.com/HSC_AcidAlkChart_7-07FINAL.pdf)

Dr. Susan Brown’s Website devoted to bone health (a big acid/alkaline issue):
http://www.betterbones.com/alkalinebalance/default.aspx

Books
The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods, Michael T. Murry, Joseph Pizzorno. (I use this book as a reference for nutritional health ideas, but I don’t use their acid/alkaline food values list because it’s not consistent with most of the other lists I’ve found. ) Available at Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Healing-Foods-Michael-Murray/dp/074348052X

If you found this post helpful, you may want to read some of my other posts on nutrition:

Understanding the Alkaline Diet

The Alkaline Mediterranean Diet- A Magic Wand For Overall Health And Beauty

Making Sense of the Vitamin D Dilemma And Sun Exposure

Dermatologist’s Recommendations for Natural Skin Health: Kefir, the best probiotic for healthy skin

Natural Skin Health: Dermatologist’s Diet Recommendations for Healthy Skin

Photo Attributions:

Thebittenword: http://www.flickr.com/photos/galant/ / CC BY 2.0

Health experts agree that the Mediterranean Diet promotes health and prevents disease.  I’ve concluded that by adapting the Mediterranean Diet so that it also maintains the alkaline pH balance in the body I have the perfect diet-

THE ULTIMATE MAGIC WAND FOR NATURAL HEALTH MAINTENANCE!

This is the diet I aim for in my own life and the one that I recommend to my patients with skin problems and other health problems.

I outlined the Mediterranean Food Pyramid in my last blog post. In this post, I’m going to explain an Alkaline Diet.

1.  The Concept of The Alkaline Diet

Foods you eat effect how acid or alkaline your body is.  In general terms:

• Every food you eat or beverage you drink releases either an acid or alkaline base into your blood stream when you digest and absorb it.
• Your body is naturally alkaline (pH 7.35-7.45) and you’re healthiest if you stay alkaline. (The term ‘pH’ is a way of measuring and describing acid and alkaline base amounts.)
• Consuming some foods and beverages that release acid is ok so long as most of what you consume releases alkaline base into your blood stream so that your body stays alkaline.

2.  The Health Claims of  Alkaline Diet Proponents

Right now, The Alkaline Diet (also called the Acid/Alkaline Diet) is a new popular diet craze.  It’s based on the long standing  alternative medicine principle that foods create subtle but important changes in your body’s pH (acid and base balance).  These pH changes affect our body’s health; a shift towards acid pH cause diseases while maintenance of the natural alkaline pH of the body supports health and prevents disease.

Proponents of the alkaline diet claim that when your body is too acid it’s more prone to conditions such as:

• Inflammation
• Mucous production
• Headaches
• Osteoporosis
• Breast and ovarian cysts
• Numerous other health problems

My dermatology patients have observed over the years that some of their skin problems worsen with dietary changes that could be acid forming.  These skin problems include:

• Acne
• Rosacea
• Eczema
• Seborrheic dermatitis (dandruff)
• Psoriasis
• Other inflammation based rashes

My own personal experience with seborrheic dermatitis, rosacea, Reynaud’s phenomenon and discomfort from my musculoskeletal problems support the benefit of an alkaline diet.

3.  The Controversy

Traditional western medicine, of which I am a member, doesn’t agree.  Western scientists have been unable to document the health benefits of maintaining the alkaline body pH compared with having a slightly more acid body pH when they conduct scientific studies.  They conclude that the alkaline diet hypothesis is unfounded.   I’m going out on a limb here because this conclusion isn’t consistent with my personal experience and my professional observation as a physician.   I’ve devoted years of study, and a lot of time reading and researching the alternative medicine literature on The Alkaline Diet and I think there’s merit to it.  As a result, I’m willing to incorporate The Alkaline Diet  into my own dietary goals, recommend it to my patients and wait for western science to catch up.  (I expect this to be a long wait because: good scientific studies take time, subtle things are hard to measure, and research studies follow funding.)

My next post…..THE ALKALINE MEDITERRANEAN DIET

Detailed

Explained

With references you can use.

If you liked this blog post, you may also want to read:

Cynthia Bailey MD’s Recommendations for The Alkaline Mediterranean Diet

The Alkaline Mediterranean Diet-A Dietary Magic Wand for Overall Health and Beauty

Natural Skin Health: Dermatologist’s Diet Recommendations for Healthy Skin

Dermatologist’s Recommendations for Natural Skin Health: Kefir the best probiotic for healthy skin

A Simple and Nutritious Fish and Veggie Dinner

Photo attribution:

If there’s one dietary ‘magic wand’ for your overall health, I believe it’s The Alkaline Mediterranean Diet! This diet uses food as natural medicine; the ultimate holistic remedy for skin problems and health problems in general.

Permanently changing your life style, aiming to eat an alkaline Mediterranean type of diet-

every day-

for the rest of your life-

will all but guarantee your body is its most healthy, AND…

a healthy body means healthy, beautiful skin!

In my 30 years as a scientist and physician, I’ve observed the impact of lifestyle on health and disease. This, combined with my own health experience and my study of ‘sound’ alternative natural health information all point to the same thing- DIET MATTERS -no creams, potions,vitamin supplements, prescription medicine or surgery can compensate for an unhealthy diet. The best guidelines I can give my patients for a healthy diet is that they eat a diet consistent with both an alkaline and a Mediterranean diet. The trick is understanding what an alkaline Mediterranean diet really means?

The concept of the Mediterranean diet is well established. Just about all health experts agree that the Mediterranean diet promotes health. Scientific studies continue to prove that this type of diet helps prevent many of the big diseases we suffer from today (heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases etc). I think, however, that our modern interpretation of the Mediterranean diet is flawed.

The classic Mediterranean diet alkalinizes the body, and our modern version is acidifying. My research tells me that this makes a huge difference to the health benefits. For example, a diet heavy on refined white flour (modern pizza and pasta) is acidifying and isn’t really consistent with the Classic Mediterranean Food Pyramid.

The Classic/Alkaline Mediterranean Food Pyramid

To understand the true Mediterranean diet you have to look to Crete, the rest of Greece and southern Italy prior to 1960. These were not highly industrialized areas where processed food was abundant. Their diet was characterized by a food pyramid, the base of which was mostly local and seasonal plant foods (including local wild greens and herbs, nuts, seeds, potatoes, cereals, vegetables and rustic breads), fresh fruit was the typical daily dessert (this means fruit grown in the desert such as figs, grapes, pomegranates). Olive oil was the principal source of fat. Dairy products (principally cheese and yogurt) fish and poultry were eaten in low to moderate amounts. Their diet included zero to four eggs per week, red meat was eaten very infrequently, and wine was consumed in low to moderate amounts, normally with meals. (References 1 and 2) The ‘pyramid’ is what’s important and what makes this an alkaline diet!

The acid/alkaline balance of this diet comes from the relative proportions of the types of foods eaten. The concept of dietary acid/alkaline balance is simple, but the specifics are more complex and will require more detailed explanation. In general:

• Every food you eat or beverage you drink releases either an acid or alkaline base into your blood stream when you digest and absorb it.
• Our bodies are naturally alkaline and our bodies are healthiest if we stay alkaline.
• Consuming some foods and beverages that release acid is ok so long as most of what you consume releases alkaline base into your blood stream.
• The ‘classic’ Mediterranean diet is composed mostly of foods that are alkaline. These include plant foods and olive oil, which are more alkaline, with proportionally less protein and other acidifying foods. This classic diet is also rich in fresh antioxidants and vitamins, making it a nutritional magic wand for your body’s health.

In my next post I’ll explain in more detail my recommendations for what I’m calling The Alkaline Mediterranean Diet. This is the diet I aim for in my own life. It helps me control my own health issues, it’s delicious, it’s simple and there’s lots of room for gourmet foodie ingredients. This is the diet I always I recommend as a natural supporting remedy for my patients with chronic skin diseases. My Alkaline Mediterranean Diet recommendations synthesize information from traditional medicine and western nutrition science, alternative and eastern medicine and my own individual experience as a physician and a patient.

References:
(1) Willett WC et. Al. Mediterranean diet pyramid: a cultural model for healthy eating. Am J. Clin Nutr. 1995 June;61 (6 Suppl):1402S-1406S. (Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.)
(2) Manios Y et. Al. Mediterranean diet as a nutrition education and dietary guide: misconceptions and the neglected role of locally consumed foods and wild green plants. Forum Nutr.2006;59:154-70. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece.

If your interested in this blog post, you may also be interested in:

Understanding the Alkaline Diet

Dr. Cynthia Bailey MD’s Recommendations for The Alkaline Mediterranean Diet

Natural Skin Health: Dermatologist’s Diet Recommendations for Healthy Skin

Dermatologist’s Recommendations for Natural Skin Health: Kefir the best probiotic for healthy skin

‘Vitamin A Rich’ Curried Winter Squash Soup For Natural Skin Health

A Simple and Nutritious Fish and Veggie Dinner

Photo Attribution:

Scientists and doctors are finally getting a better handle on what to tell our patients about vitamin D.  Over the past few years, we’ve learned that:

• vitamin D is critical for health,
• many people have dangerously low vitamin D levels,
• sun exposing your skin produces vitamin D
• sun exposing your skin causes skin cancer, wrinkles, age spots and thin/fragile skin

Up until now, however, we haven’t known how to counsel patients about safely raising their vitamin D levels. That’s because a persons vitamin D level is affected by their diet, their ability to actually absorb the vitamin D that they eat, and the amount of sun their skin can absorb (which is determined by  factors like where they live in the world, the seasonal variation in sun intensity, and their skin color).

Maintaining a healthy amount of Vitamin D in your body is still an ongoing area of scientific study, but doctors are zeroing in on some more concrete recommendations to help you know what your should be doing for your health.

Daniel J DeNoon at WebMD just wrote an excellent web based article for consumers on vitamin D and health.  It’s  the best summary of the issues surrounding vitamin D that I’ve ever seen. His article is a must read for people concerned about their vitamin D levels and includes some recommendations for how much vitamin D a person should take every day.

I’ve summarized my vitamin D recommendations for your overall body health and combined them with my dermatologic experience regarding skin health.  This is what I’m telling my patients in 2010:

1. Everyone should get their vitamin D levels measured. I have patients with low vitamin D levels in spite of getting a lot of sun or taking a lot of vitamin D.  Every body is different so you just need to get your levels measured.

• The name of the vitamin D level to test is 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OHD).
• If your level is below 5 ng/mL (or 37.5 nmol/L depending on the units reported by a lab) then you need more vitamin D.
• Healthy levels are somewhere between 30 and 70 ng/mL. If your vitamin D level is normal, you don’t need to make any changes in what you’re doing.

2. If your vitamin D level is low I recommend you take vitamin D supplements.

• The name of the supplement you want to take is vitamin D3.
• Ask your doctor how much vitamin D3 you should take and have him/her recheck your level in a few months. Standard dosage recommendations for vitamin D3 are still up in the air and it is possible to take too much. Our old recommendation was 400 IU for healthy adults and now the recommended daily dose may be climbing to 2000 IU. If you’re severely vitamin D deficient expect that your doctor will tell you to take A LOT more than that until your level normalizes.
• Taking too much vitamin D supplements can hurt you, so ask your doctor for help recommending a dose, and get retested to be sure it’s working!
• If your level doesn’t go up after taking supplements, have your doctor figure out why. It could be that you’re not absorbing it because of an intestinal condition such as celiac. I have one patient who had asymptomatic celiac that affected her ability to absorb vitamin D.

3. Everyone should eat vitamin D rich foods. Foods are always better than commercial vitamin pills.  Palatable (in my opinion) vitamin D rich foods are:

• seafood: wild sockeye salmon (sockeye is the richest in vitamin D and farmed salmon has less vitamin D that wild salmon-no surprises here) cod, steelhead, halibut, shrimp, some shellfish.
• vitamin D enriched dairy products including  soy milk
• egg yolks

Other sources (harder to eat since they’re not so palatable in my opinion) include some of the smelly fish like mackerel, herring and sardines (I would love some good sardine recipes).  Liver is also a good source of vitamin D, if you can manage it.  These foods supplied vitamin D during the winter to our ancestors who lived in the northern parts of the world that had very weak sun intensity in the winter.

Cod liver oil is rich in vitamin D, but like supplements, you can OD on it and hurt yourself, so ask your doctor for help if you want to use it.

For a good list of the vitamin D content in foods based on a 200 calorie serving size, visit  NutritonData.com: Foods Highest in Vitamin D.

4. Sun bathing for vitamin D production is dangerous and ages your skin’s appearance, but may be a necessary last resort to raise vitamin D.

If your oral vitamin D supplements don’t raise your level adequately then you may need to use your skin as your vitamin D factory.  This has big down sides however, so use the ‘right’ sun ray and get just the dose of sun you need- and no more. Realize that sun exposure will  permanently damage the part of your skin that you’re exposing.

• Only UVB sun rays make vitamin D. UVB is the most cancer causing part of sunlight; they are the mid day (10am to 3pm), mid summer rays that doctors normally caution people to avoid. Winter sun and morning or late afternoon sun has very little UVB and thus won’t really help with your vitamin D production.
• Turn your tummy skin into your vitamin D factory. Most patients I see have very little sun damage on their tummy and as a result I rarely find skin cancer there.  Plus, if you do get a cancer on your tummy, you’re more likely to see it than on your back, and it’s easier to treat than on your face (depressing but true).  Sun exposure will definitely increase your risk of skin cancer on the sun exposed skin so being able to do skin exams on your exposed skin is important.  Also remember that the sun will wrinkle and age the look of your exposed skin.  I find that most people arn’t as concerned about this on their tummy.  Definitely don’t use your face, legs, hands or other areas that have already had too much sun in your life time.  They are already your  highest risk sites for skin cancer and they are the parts of your skin that you show off to the world so wrinkles and age spots matter.
• Get the bare minimum amount of sun necessary to raise your vitamin D level into the normal range. Knowing how much sun you will need is impossible, so get your levels rechecked.  A person’s sun absorption varies with their skin color, the time of day and season, where they are on the earth etc.  I’ve seen learned sources recommend 30 minutes of sun exposure twice a week, but most people will sun burn in that period of time.  Because sunburns increase the risk of melanoma you definitely want to avoid burning in your effort to turn your skin into a vitamin D factory. I therefore   recommend starting at 5 minutes 3 to 5 times a week using  12 noon sun (I need to reemphasize, only as a last resort  if you can’t get your levels up with diet and vitamin D3 supplements!). 12 noon tummy sun bathing may be impractical, but it’s not impossible. Again, remember, do this with your doctors supervision, and get your level rechecked to monitor your progress; you don’t want to get more sun than you need!

If you liked this blog post, you may also want to read:

Cynthia Bailey MD’s Recommendations for The Alkaline Mediterranean Diet

The Alkaline Mediterranean Diet-A Dietary Magic Wand for Overall Health and Beauty

Natural Skin Health: Dermatologist’s Diet Recommendations for Healthy Skin

Dermatologist’s Recommendations for Natural Skin Health: Kefir the best probiotic for healthy skin

Photo Attribution: Matt McGee  rel=”license” href=”http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/”>CC BY-ND 2.0</a></div>