Are you a sun worshiper bathing in the sunlight during hot summer days? I think at some point most of us did or still do. I am certainly guilty of that. Not only did I bake on the sun few times but also got myself sunburn. That certainly was not the wisest thing! Skin sure looks nice when tanned but not so much when it’s all wrinkled, looking like leather. I think that leather belongs on a quality bag and not human body.
Here are some facts about the skin, to name a few:
- Largest organ of the human body
- Adults carry around 8 lbs and 22 square feet
- It protects us in many ways:
- Acts as a water proof;
- Shielding from extreme temperatures, chemicals, damaging effects of the sunlight;
- It also manufactures Vit. D;
- Exudes antibacterial substance thus preventing infection;
- There are a lot of nerves in the skin which allow us to sense what’s in the eternal world;
- It also allows movement.
So have you thought about what you can do to protect your skin?
Of course sun block is a must since it helps reduce the effects of ultraviolet radiation. However, there’s another method, EAT TOMATOES rich in lycopene, a natural sunscreen! It is a built-in sun-block system that protects your entire body, all year long. Lycopene gives tomatoes a red color. HINT: add a little olive oil to the tomatoes because it increases absorption of the lycopene. First of all, when you make a tomatoes dish, the walls of the cell break down, releasing lycopene. Second of all, the lycopene is dissolved in fat, not water.
Dr. Lesley Rhodes, Senior Lecturer in Dermatology at the University of Manchester and Mark Birch-Machin, Professor of Molecular Dermatology at Newcastle University did test the effects of lycopene in tomato sauce. There were two groups of people; one received daily portion of tomato paste (55 grams), mixed with 10 grams of olive oil; the second one received daily portion of just olive oil (10 grams). Small patches of participants ‘s buttocks were irradiated with ultraviolet radiation. The effects of radiation were measured by the amount of sunburn. THE RESULTS: those who ate tomato paste had 50% less sunburn. Seems like a significant improvement to me. ;-)
So anything that has tomatoes goes: tomatoes paste, raw tomatoes, tomatoes juice, canned or sun dried tomatoes and tomatoes sauce. Those of you, who are not tomatoes fans, try watermelon, red grapefruit and guava juice. On the next trip to the store DON'T forget lycopene rich products.