Pale Girl » Inside To Out

Red vs White

kl — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:48:18 +0000

You may have heard that red wine is better for you than white, ever wonder why? I mean, both are made from grapes, and grapes are fruit so…? Red wine, like green tea and chocolate, is rich in polyphenol, a type of antioxidant. In grapes, the skin and seeds have the highest concentration of antioxidants. As far as health benefits are concerned, the longer the skin is kept on the grape the better! Red wine, as opposed to white wine or even grape juice, is fermented with the dark skins and seeds. So what does all this mean for your skin? Polyphenols protect skin from UV light and help keep it elastic. Studies have even shown that people who drink red wine have fewer cancerous skin lesions. Red wine also increases blood flow to the heart and other organs like the skin, boosting it’s oxygen supply. In addition to skin benefits, red wine has been shown to reduce cholesterol and lower your risk for coronary heart disease, so that’s good! Remember though, the health benefits of wine are based on women drinking one 5oz glass a day, two glasses for men. Drinking more doesn’t up the benefits, it actually negates them, so drink in moderation please!

Love of Chocolate

kl — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:49:08 +0000

I admit, I have a weakness for all things chocolate: hot cocoa, smores, chocolate souffle, pane chocolat…it’s all perfection! The good news is, certain types of chocolate actually have health benefits (in the 1600 and 1700s chocolate was even used as medicine to treat angina and heart pain)! Dark chocolate, 70% cacao or higher, is a powerful antioxidant*. Two ounces of dark chocolate daily has been proven to not only help protect against sunburn, but it can provide some protection against skin cancer as well. I’m not saying you should ditch the sunscreen and gorge yourself on chocolate bars, but the next time you’re wandering the aisles of the supermarket, desperately searching for a “healthy” dessert, go dark! You’ll be happy you did…particularly since it has been shown to contain euphoriant properties! Here are two that are dark and GOOD…

Trader Joe’s Organic Dark Chocolate 73% Super Dark- This is one of my favorites. Dark, yet smooth, it’s the good stuff!

Trader Joe’s the Dark Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate Bar 85% cacao- Wow, this bar is dark, but they’ve added a touch of vanilla flavor to mellow it out and make it really delicious! Only 6g of sugar for 2/3 bar…not that I’m recommending eating 2/3 of a bar at once!

*Anti-oxidants are molecules that protect our skin from environmental damage.

Green Tea & Skin

kl — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 17:16:23 +0000

How many times has someone told you green tea is good for you or tried to convince you to switch from your morning Caffe Misto Grande to a piping hot cup of Genmaicha? If you’re a cancer survivor like me, my guess is you’ve heard it more times than you can count. So, what’s the big deal with the green stuff?

Green tea has high levels of catechins (a subtype of polyphenols) and catechins help fight damage caused by free radicals. To keep it short and sweet, free radicals are bad. There are multiple reasons free radicals form in our skin, but the most common reason is due to UV radiation (surprise, surprise). A day at the beach and your skin is free radical central!

Many green tea studies have been done over the years, looking at green tea taken orally as well as topically, and they all seem to say the same thing, green tea is GOOD. It may not be a miracle drink, but it’s the closest thing we’ve got. As a beverage, it has no calories and is loaded with antioxidants. Drinking 3-10 cups per day of this catechin rich drink has anti-aging and anti-inflammatory effects on the skin and has been proven to give you added protection against skin cancer. As a cream, it has anti-bacterial properties and no side-effects.

I still drink my morning coffee, but by afternoon it’s all about the green! (Try Genamicha loose green tea, with its roasted brown rice. It tastes like liquid popcorn! Or for a cold tea to replace your afternoon soda, try Trader Joe’s Unsweetened Green Tea.)

Caffeine & Skin Cancer

kl — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:26:09 +0000

It has been known for years that drinking coffee is associated with a decreased risk for non-melanoma skin caners, but a recent study done at Rutgers University supports the theory that caffeine, applied directly to the skin, might help prevent UV light from causing skin cancer. (A side note, the study found that the caffeine was most effective when the mice exercised!) There is still more research to be done, but if you’re interested in trying a few coffee infused products, give these a shot…

Blue Lizard Daily Moisturizer SPF 30+- Zinc based formula, made in Australia, contains green tea and caffeine.
Priori Coffeeberry* Natural Daily Protection SPF 25- Paraben-Free and uses Titanium Dioxide as its UV blocker.

* Coffeeberry is the red fruit of the coffee bush that contains the bean.

Is Lycopene All That?

kl — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 23:51:47 +0000

Anyone ever tell you that if you eat a lot of tomatoes you don’t need to wear sunscreen? Well, that’s not totally true, but I can understand the confusion! Lycopene, the best free radical “scavenger” in the carotene family, can block UV light. And tomatoes, which are the best source of lycopene, are definitely beneficial when it comes to sun protection…but there’s a catch. You can’t get much lycopene from raw tomatoes because the lycopene is bound to indigestible fiber thus making it difficult for the body to absorb. The solution – cooked tomatoes!! According to my dermatologist, Dr. Jessica Wu, in her book Feed Your Face, “just 20g of tomato paste per day can reduce the risk of sunburn by as much as 33%.” So, what does all these mean for you? Well, I can tell you what it means for me! If I know I’m going to be spending a day in the sun, I opt for a night-before dinner of spaghetti or something doused in tomato sauce. Remember, a bunch of tomato paste should never take the place of sunscreen, but think of it as adjunct “therapy”. And it can’t hurt!