tomatoes- natural sunscreen

[Guest guest]

Years ago, I took my son to the local beach to break up the day. It was our

first time there for the summer, and it was HOT since it was midday. The sun

reflected off the sand and water, and silly me, we had no sunscreen. But much to

my surprise, neither one of us burned.

 

I was befuddled to say the least, and it stuck with me. Granted, when I was a

kid, I was always the darkest one on the block after a summer of fun and games

outside, but I'm half swedish, so pretty fair before it all starts. I've had my

fair share of sunburns. But my son is even fairer than I am, so very confused

about this, I mulled it over for years.

 

Then one day I was watching NOVA, or some similar program on PBS and they did a

segment on eating tomatoes every day to prevent burning. They even showed a

little test by poking holes in a piece of paper, putting it over some guys arm

and shining a sun lamp on it. He burned. Then he started eating tomatoes daily

and they did it again a month later after the former exposure disapeared, and NO

BURN. That was it!!! We had been eating basically a tomato based diet: raw (not

me, I don't like them raw), pizza, spaghetti, soup, etc. on a regular basis.

 

Now since our diet is slightly more balanced and we're eating SOME tomatoes but

not nearly as many, I'm adding a bit more as the temperature rises, especially

as my son and husband prepare for a fishing trip in July.

 

If there's anyone out there who really burns, I recommend trying this. It's

worth a shot!