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Ketogenic Eating - Sun Exposure

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Jim Lahey said:
To be clear I’m obviously not suggesting anyone should fall asleep naked under the midday sun in Western Australia,
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There's more to Australia than WA.

A quote from the message I received in MedAdvisor hints and tips recently:

A good way to get vitamin D is to get a little bit of sunlight every day. In summer, exposure is best at mid-morning or mid-afternoon (outside peak UV times). In winter, longer exposure times are needed, preferably around midday. It is important to balance the need for sun exposure to produce adequate vitamin D, at the same time avoiding the risk of skin damage from too much exposure.1 (Longer exposure time is required with darker skin and more southerly latitudes.)1
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Edit: Changed pix hosting to imgur.

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Yes, there are some great songs out there relating to the sun. And of course living on a planet in a Goldilocks Zone we get just enough to keep the world we live in just so. However too much is not good aswell as too little. And there is a case for not exposing ourselves to too much sun. I don’t seek it out these days in the way I did as a teenager.

It’s a funny thing that many in the west either now or in the past tend to seek a tan when our counterparts in other parts of the world seek to avoid it. The driving force in each case being vanity. ;)
 
Jim Lahey said:
Hi-de-hi campers! What a fabulous day.

I’m sure that some of you in the ketogenic circle will have seen references to sun exposure. Specifically easy tanning and resistance to burning. I’d never really paid it much attention until this week. I’ve spent only a few hours on the patio in not especially strong sunshine, but have an immediate tan, and people have already mentioned that I look even healthier than usual. Previously I did not tan very well at all, and would just go pink if not careful. Managing sun exposure was important and required sunscreen. Now it seems I only have to step outside and I have a healthy bronze glow in no time at all.

This also got me thinking about health in general. Humans are naturally attracted to healthy humans. No doubt as nature determines we are the most likely to successfully multiply. Perhaps this is why, for the most part, we find an olive bronze tan attractive...because you have to be healthy to get a healthy tan.

So yeah. Rub yourself in grass fed butter and get outside in the garden. iPads optional :cool:
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I came across this lecture last week and it interested me because of the benefits of sun exposure. As a fair skinned person I’ve burned in the past but love the sunshine. After watching this lecture as we have had some sun I’ve followed advice and made sure have had some exposure to sun mainly on arms as has been cold at times. However jim I agree with you what a surprise as my arms are turning a lovely nut brown. I’ll continue to apply sunscreen at peak times and in height of summer but will also be following the shadow advice and seeking out the sun early and later in the day. See
 
@shelley262 that was a very interesting video. Thanks for sharing.

Take home point for me is seed oils being implicated in sunburn. If this is true then it would certainly explain why many people on a whole foods ketogenic diet report easier tanning and less sunburn, since those doing it properly tend to avoid these oils in favour of natural animal fats, and have a higher ratio of omega 3 as a result.

Speaking for myself, I avoid these industrial oils at all costs, so in my n=1 experience then this would go a long way to explain why my reaction to sunlight has changed so dramatically after over a year of proper, natural eating.
 
I take immunosuppresants, so that means taking VitD supplements and avoiding the sun for me... as a result I'm so ugly I hide in the house and only come out at night.
 
Yeah so it’s confirmed now. I definitely have a faaaaar greater likelihood of tanning, and avoiding burn. Never before in my life have I browned so quickly in such moderate sunshine.

Additionally, I am now also even more convinced that my hayfever, which I have suffered from for 40+ years, is gone. Yes...gone.
 
I actually started this diet to lose weight, (13'9 and should be 9'41) and to try and manage my perimenopausal horror of weight gain, rubbish sleep and brain sludge, also they think I might have MS and I want to reduce inflammation as much as possible to be all round more healthy. Getting a good tan (I'm a blue eyed redhead) is AMAZING! I have super dry skin (thank you, treacherous hormones) and can't use self tan, and pale and uninteresting is, well, pale and uninteresting. I wait to see what happens to the electric shocks, muscle spasms and twitching hands and toes.
 
Jim Lahey said:
Hi-de-hi campers! What a fabulous day.

I’m sure that some of you in the ketogenic circle will have seen references to sun exposure. Specifically easy tanning and resistance to burning. I’d never really paid it much attention until this week. I’ve spent only a few hours on the patio in not especially strong sunshine, but have an immediate tan, and people have already mentioned that I look even healthier than usual. :cool:
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Wow! This is quite interesting! I find it fascinating to think that there may be a link between eating unhealthy and getting skin cancer. Since, when we eat unhealthy we know that the cells in our body struggle to function properly, which would make sense as to how a lot of sun exposure in people who eat unhealthy could lead to skin cancer, since skin cells are unable to do what they do best, when in a body that is toxic. I too have noticed that myself and a coworker seem to be getting an unusually tropical looking tan without even trying, plus our skin is glowing. He is also doing a keto diet and intermittent fasting. I'm not fasting anymore but doing a keto diet.

Susan Powter, who wrote the book Stop the Insanity, made herself famous by changing her diet and losing a lot of weight, and is now a fitness and nutrition guru of sorts for many people, has said that sun exposure is healthy and that sunscreen isn't.

Maybe there's something to this!
 
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Especially with a couple of the ingredients in some of the sunscreens available which are now known to permeate the skin and be absorbed.
 
Guzzler said:
Especially with a couple of the ingredients in some of the sunscreens available which are now known to permeate the skin and be absorbed.
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Apparently this is the case for most of the skin products we use nowadays. Quite some time ago I started minimising my contact with soaps. I shower mostly just in warm water besides me private parts. Definitely no sunscreen, as I now realise it’s unnecessary when your body isn’t already riddled with inflammation :)
 
Jim Lahey said:
Apparently this is the case for most of the skin products we use nowadays. Quite some time ago I started minimising my contact with soaps. I shower mostly just in warm water besides me private parts. Definitely no sunscreen, as I now realise it’s unnecessary when your body isn’t already riddled with inflammation :)
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I can't remember the names of the compounds I was reading about but titanium summat rings a bell. Heavy metals type of thing.
Luckily I have never been what I call a Girly Girl, never been much of a one for creams, make up etc so hopefully I havn't absorbed much (unless Fairy Liquid counts? Sigh...).
 
I’ve been keto for years with just under two months of carni and I still crisp up in the sun. I even managed to burn in the Welsh sun last week and it rained for five days.

I’m with Ivor on the risks of sun exposure and skin cancer and I would offer a link but I can’t find it.
 
I must go and do some research on Nivea then. I have used Nivea face cream and sun lotion all my life. Never used any faddy stuff.
 
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