The Daily Take Care of Yourself Checklist

This is a guest post from Luciana Miles, natural health & lifestyle coach & consultant for Transforming Greatness. 

You can check out her different coaching packages and courses right here in the Transforming Greatness store. 

There is a wealth of health information in the world and online. There are new studies, new diets, and new fads.

These are not the things that generally interest me or that I find to be the most helpful. I am interested in the tried and true, the things that will work for the long haul no matter what the circumstances or how the world changes.

And I am even more interested in ideas and remedies that have been distilled down to their simplest form, their essence, if you will, keeping things not easy, but simple and uncomplicated.

To that end, I want to share with you The Daily Take Care Of Yourself Checklist. These are the things that I do to keep feeling and looking my best.

In the next few posts we will be going into detail on these 4 essential actions.

I call these 4 things essential because it is not wisdom to do anything for your health and not incorporate these foundational actions.

I don’t care if you’re paleo, whole 30, or if you’re vegan, if you’re taking meds, or are off meds, if you aren’t doing these things you are still mainly working against your health and therefore against your life and your longevity rather than working for it.

So make sure that while we’re going through each of these actions you’re taking note of what you already do or don’t do and adjust your personal compass/to do list accordingly.

Today’s subject: Get 30 Minutes of Sunshine

Everyday you need to be getting at least 30 minutes of sunshine no matter your complexion. I will address the concerns usually raised with this a little a further down.

First we will discuss why.

A few of the things that sunshine will do for you:

1. Regulate your internal clock

2. Fight depression

3. Contribute to your bone health

4. Support your immune system

5. May help protect you against cancer

6. Help fight heart disease

7. Regulate your hormones

8. And support your skin health

Among others.

We were not meant to live disconnected from our environment. No matter where you stand on how everything came to be we were made for our environment and our environment was made for us. The sun, the trees, water, all of these things are life giving, nurturing, and essential for our wellbeing.

To be even more specific but not all-inclusive, sunlight triggers the release of serotonin, has been used to treat psoriasis, eczema, acne, and is a potential treatment for Rheumatoid Arthritis, IBS, thyroiditis.1

I know sometimes it seems unlikely that something so simple could be so powerful, but it is. A lot of health related things are very very simple, but not made easy by our modern life.

In order to get the full benefits of this you will have to go against the grain. You will have to make some lifestyle changes. Less screens and indoors, more fresh air and sun. Less fear of the sun, something that has been a life-giving force since creation, and more caution with the toxic man-made products that we are sold.

But what about skin cancer:

You have been told that the sun causes skin cancer. This is a lie. The sun has been around for a very long time, doing what it does, not causing skin cancer. It is not until recently that we’ve seen a significant jump in skin cancer. So what changed?

Our diet.

Besides the use of chemical sunscreens, the real causes for the rise in skin cancer are two primary changes in the modern diet:

1. A dramatic increase in the consumption of omega-6 fatty acids and a corresponding decrease in the consumption of omega-3s.

2. A lack of antioxidant-rich foods.2

Vegetable oil consumption barely existed until a government campaign in the 1950’s.

More about vegetable oils

The problem with polyunsaturated fats displacing saturated fats in cell structures is that these fats are highly unstable. They are extremely vulnerable to oxidative stress, especially in the skin, where they are exposed to oxygen and UV light.

Numerous studies have also shown that polyunsaturated fats stimulate cancer while saturated fats do not. Studies have also shown that saturated fats do not break down to form free radicals as polyunsaturated fats do. Therefore, the result of having too much vegetable, corn, and seed oil in your diet is that your skin will sunburn faster and more intensely and you will be more prone to skin cancer.3

If you take a look at any packaged product in your refrigerator or in your pantry, almost anything from the middle aisles of the grocery store, vegetable/seed oils will be an ingredient. It is in absolutely everything we eat.

And we don’t eat enough antioxidant-rich food.

Research also shows that low consumption of fruits and vegetables increases your skin cancer risk. This should come as no surprise. The role of antioxidants in the protection against many forms of cancer has been clearly established.

And in the case of skin cancer, the colorful plant pigments known as carotenoids are especially protective. These compounds are literally, “Mother Nature’s sunblock.” When you consume carotenoids they are deposited in your skin, where they provide protection against sunburn and skin damage. These nutrients are also powerful antioxidants that scavenge for free radicals and repair cells that might become damaged. In other words, they reflect and protect, forming a physical barrier and a nutritional barrier against skin damage.4

So what do I do?

Do your best to get at least 30 minutes of sunshine a day, schedule it.

Rules: No sunglasses (glasses, contacts), no toxic sunscreen.

No sunglasses, glasses, or contacts because the pineal gland, which is behind your eyes, produces and regulates melatonin among other hormones and is directly involved with your sleep cycle/circadian rhythm. It most definitely needs the light of the sun.

And no toxic sunscreen because the chemicals and ingredients in mainstream sunscreen are more likely to harm you than the sun.

If you are fair skin or just want to take extra precautions, there are a few things you can do:

1. Get in the shade

2. Wear a hat

3. Eat more antioxidant rich foods (fruits & vegetables)

4. Remove vegetable oils from your diet

5. Use a homemade sunscreen or a less toxic sunscreen

6. Schedule your 30 minutes for early in the morning or late in the day

But no matter what you do, schedule the time, no sunglasses or glasses/contacts in general, and no toxic sunscreen.

Further reading

Why I Eat My Sunscreen to Protect Skin From the Inside Out