5 Foods To Help You Prevent Sun Damage

August 26, 2015 By Anne Burwell Leave a Comment

Nothing is any longer the same as two decades ago. Including the Sun. If you don’t remember getting Sun burns when you were a kid and you played outdoors with your friends all day long, that’s because the Sun wasn’t so powerful back then. And with its power come other risks such as skin cancer, wrinkles, sunburns and sunspots. And this doesn’t only happen during the summer. The UV rays can be equally dangerous in the winter. What can keep the harm at bay are sunscreens, UV blocking clothing, hats and umbrellas but also super foods. To get you inspired, here are 5 foods to help you prevent Sun damage and keep your skin looking young for longer. Ultraviolet radiation affects all people of all ages. This means it’s never too early to start thinking about your skin and your health. Other superfoods that didn’t make our top five include raspberries, almonds, kiwi and green tea. The latter is a great source of antioxidants and a clever alternative if you get tired of guzzling down plain water every day. Drink the green tea with ice in the summer and warm in the winter to stay hydrated and protected against UV radiation.

5. Citrus Fruits

Packed with vitamin C, citrus fruits offer antioxidants that will help keep you stay protected against UV radiation damage. Recent studies have shown that accumulating Vitamin C in your dermis and epidermis layers can build a powerful barrier against the damaging sun rays. Since Vitamin C has strong reducing properties, it can help reduce free radicals in our cells. Vitamin C is great at activating and speeding up your repair system, inhibiting, at the same time, the damage of the UV radiation on skin cells. So next time you go grocery shopping, stock up on oranges, lime and lemons.

4. Watermelon

It’s no wonder watermelons appear during summer. This is the time when we need them most. Besides being a great way to cool down during the hot season, watermelons are also packed with lycopene, an antioxidant that will help your body fight off skin damage. What makes lycopene so great is that it can help reduce by half the accumulation of free radicals. So you can go out on the beach and enjoy a watermelon slushie while playing volleyball, knowing you’re fighting UV radiation with sunscreen from the outside and with delicious watermelon from the inside.

3. Salmon

What do you think about when you say salmon? Omega 3 fatty acids! Not only will these fatty acid help you have smoother, shinier skin, it will also help dial down your skin’s sensitivity to sunlight. By making sure you sneak in a salmon sandwich in your diet every other day, you’ll take the first step in protecting your skin against the sunlight’s inflammatory effect. You’ll find that you won’t get sunburns and sun spots as easy as before. Another bonus quality of salmon is that it can help you fight off free radicals.

2. Cacao

This is the perfect excuse to enjoy dark chocolate every day. Try to choose the ones that have the biggest percentage of cacao, with no added sugar, so you can get all the benefits of flavanols. These compounds can absorb the harmful UV radiations and will also help you keep your skin smooth. In addition, consuming cacao flavanols for long periods of time offers photo protection against UV induced erythema.

1. Tomatoes

If this is already one of your favorite vegetables, you should know you have the green light to consume as many as possible. Ever asked yourself what gives ripe tomatoes their red color? The answer is lycopene. This ensures protection against Sun damage and has essential antioxidant properties. Thanks to these, you get to receive additional help in fighting free radicals and lower the risk of developing skin cancer later in life.

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8 Vegetables That are Actually Fruits

August 7, 2014 By Fred Mitchell Leave a Comment

Let’s have a little chat about food, shall we? Well a special kind of food, called fruit, that everybody can usually distinguish from their vegetable relatives. Well at least we think we can, because as it turns out, not all vegetables we refer to as vegetables really belong to this category. Here they are, 8 vegetables that are actually fruits.

In a nutshell, botanically speaking, a fruit is a seed-bearing structure that develops from the ovary of a flowering plant, whereas vegetables are all other plant parts, such as roots, leaves and stems. Therefore some interesting differences ought to be made before going to dinner.

# 1. Tomatoes

Tomatoes are fruits, indeed! Tomatoes are a fruit from the big Solanaceae family, where some other “fake vegetables” are also included. There was a whole debate about them back in the late19th century, when a Supreme Court ruled that they are actually vegetables for trade purposes. There was a case, called Nix v. Hedden, when a tomato importer believed that he wasn’t supposed to pay the import duty on vegetables because tomatoes are fruits. And the man was right. However the court acknowledged that a tomato is a botanical fruit, but went with what the custom definitions of fruit and vegetable, meaning the ones used in the kitchen.

# 2. Peppers

Peppers are fruits of the genus Capsicum that also belong to the Solanacea family, also known as the nightshades. Basically they are fruit because they contain seeds, according to the definition above. The super spicy ones are also incuded in this category. The green and red varieties actually emerge from the same plant. Immature green peppers sweeten over time and become the sweeter red peppers.

# 3. Cucumbers

Cucumbers are a member of a family called Cucurbitaceae. They develop from a beautiful yellow flower and are classified as fruits. When you think of the salty pickles that some of them end up being, it becomes quite shocking, doesn’t it?

# 4. Avocados

Strangely, avocado is a fruit, well technically a berry, from the plant family Lauraceae. There are some Asian cultures that use it as a fruit, like Vietnam or Indonesia. Over there they apparently use it for dessert only, like in all sorts of milkshakes and puddings.

# 5. Olives

A really unusual type of fruit, olives are Mediteranean delights, very healthy and the source for the good ole olive oil.

# 6. Eggplants

Eggplant is a fruit also belonging to the nightshade (Solanaceae) family. It is related to tomatoes, peppers and potatoes. Interestingly, eggplant is classified as a berry.

# 7. Squash

All varieties of squash belong to the genus Cucurbita and are classified as fruits. They are “blood relatives” with pumpkins, zucchini, summer squash, butternut squash, and acorn squash.

But apart from the pumpkin, which is commonly used for sweet pies or milkshakes, the rest of the family is seldom treated like it should be; like a fruit.

# 8. Okras

Okras are usually cooked into a thick delicious stew, nothing one would normally do with a fruit. It’s a fibrous fruit loaded with antioxidants. The nutritious pods can even reduce the risk of heart disease. But they are not as popular as they really deserve.

Justice has to be made for these vitamin-rich foods. But the thing is that a great part of the cooking paradigm must be changed in order to make their dream come true. I don’t think they really mind our mistreating them, but according to nutritionists, fruits should never be mixed with anything else but fruits when eaten. Moreover they should always be eaten on an empty stomach, or at least 2 hours after a meal. But what do you do if they are the actual meal?