We've Moved: Swanson Vitamins Blog Has a New Home

Cease Fire for Healthier Habits

It's Memorial Day, and the two men I love most are war veterans. My dad was a Seabee in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and my husband was with the 101st Airborne Division during the war in Viet Nam. I once saw a T-shirt that read "Making War for Peace is like Making Love for Virginity." Something inside all of us knows that mankind's wars can never bring about peace, but we can't seem to help ourselves—or so it seems. Take a scary stroll through the centuries of world history for a reality check. No matter what form of government ruled the day—from dictatorships to democracies, war was consistently a part of the political agenda. Yet never once did any of these governments achieve lasting peace. Never. I find it quite ironic that even when the United Nations declared 1986 as the International Year of Peace, and representatives of every tribe, tongue and nation from around the globe assembled together in Assisi, Italy to pray to their various gods for blessings, the fighting in the world didn't stop for a single day! Not even for one hour! Isn't it way past time to seek out a means other than war to achieve peace?

I bring up this topic not only because it's Memorial Day, but because I've been thinking that, while we maybe can't change the way the world operates, we can change how we govern ourselves, specifically in the matter of health and wellness. My personal fallacy is sugar. In the same way that many people believe war is necessary to secure peace, I talk myself into the idea that I need sugar to feel good. As much as I want to believe it to be true, though, sugar depresses the immune system, destroys collagen and other protein tissues, and advances aging in the body. The pleasure it brings is momentary at best. Yet, even armed with this knowledge, I still find myself impulsively stockpiling chocolate ammo at my desk with all the faith and hope in the world that this is precisely what I need to be happy. I choose to believe the lie. And I'm not alone in this regard.

Recently I read a really interesting article outlining the seven most effective ways to keep the immune system strong. It was on a competitor's website; oh, I'll just say it—it was on Dr. Mercola's website. I don't really think of him as competition. I have too much to learn from him to be his enemy. Besides, we're all together in the fight for health, and he really has helped me undo a lot of erroneous thinking. Anyway, the seven ways are:

1. Eliminate sugar (yep, there it is!)
2. Exercise (anyone in the mood to start a new war?)
3. Eat garlic on a regular basis
4. Get adequate sleep
5. Control stress
6. Take a krill oil supplement
7. Wash hands often

This morning I asked my husband which of these seven habits would be the hardest for him to do on a regular basis. Without even hesitating, he chose "eliminate sugar," while feasting on a blueberry filled doughnut. As far as the rest of the list is concerned, we both already take krill oil (#6), and we like fresh pressed garlic in salads and pasta, too (#3). I hate the feeling of dirty hands, so I always carry individually wrapped towelettes scented with organic essential oils in my purse (that covers #7). Sleep and stress management take effort, but they're both so pleasant and rewarding that it's well worth the time and attention (#4 and #5). And then there's exercise. I won't even say a word because, if you've read just about any other post in this blog, you already know what I'm thinking. Loving sugar and hating exercise are two notions that I must work very hard to root out of my thinking. If I can actually accomplish such an undertaking, peace can't be far behind. 

What a Gorgeous Shade of Sun Damage!

To tan or not to tan? That used to be the question. Today few people are asking the second part of it, though. Now the question is, to tan or to self-tan? Among my circle of friends, this topic comes up every May, or at least some time before the arrival of summer, and right on schedule, it popped up this past Saturday morning over Egg McMuffins and coffee. (Really, the more pertinent question is, why were we eating at a McDonald's, anyway?) Opinions varied among the group as usual. A few of them debated which self-tanner was the most natural looking, while they passionately cited the dangers of UVA and UVB rays from the sun. Others vehemently held their ground, reminding us that the sun is good for more than just plants. My friend Troy knew his stuff, even quoting studies that show the importance of vitamin D to our health, and how the sun is the ideal source of it.

But I know how to bring a conversation to a screeching halt. I do it every year during this annual discussion. Honestly, I wonder why anyone even brings up the subject around me anymore. Who likes a wet blanket? I can't help myself, though. My comments are 100% sincere, yet people react to them like they've been wounded. This year I had an ally in my husband who was sitting across the table from me, so together we were like a double-barreled shotgun. If you're wearing a bullet-proof vest, keep reading.

Why does anyone want to get a tan, anyway? How did this love affair with tanning ever get started? I struggled with this topic in my teens because my fair skin has always balked at the idea of a tan. I don't think I have more than a drop of melanin in my skin, and my body has no intentions of making more, either. Back in the sixties, every time I hit one of the the Minnesota lakes with my family and friends, I had two choices: Look cute in my bikini and endure the pain of second degree burns for a few weeks, or wear one of my dad's big white T-shirts over my suit to protect my shoulders and thighs from the sun. My parents usually forced the latter choice. Sunscreen had not yet been invented. I remember the year a revolutionary product called SunGuard was introduced. It changed my summers forever. I even wrote the company to thank them!

Then in my twenties I read an article in Vogue written by a female dermatologist that challenged the wisdom of tanning and encouraged women everywhere to drop the idea. The logic behind it was simple--and simply fascinating! She used the illustration of a bruise. When we smack our thigh against a table and end up with a big old patch of color, we don't show off the beautiful and variant shades of purple that ebb into green and eventually fade to yellow before the bruise finally disappears. Instead, we put away the Daisy Dukes and pull out a pair of long pants to cover it. Why? Those same colors would likely be gorgeous in a bouquet of flowers or a swingy little trapeze dress, but because the bruise represents damage to the skin, the colors don't register in our minds as "attractive." This begs the question then, why do we view tans as attractive? Tanned skin is merely a reaction of the body to damage induced by the sun, the cells speeding up production of a brown pigment called melanin to protect it from further damage. Primarily the tan color serves as a signal, warning us to get out of the sun before we do more harm. So why are we in awe of this phenomenon, trying to enhance our tans and bare our bronzed skin to show it off? It's actually weird and bizarre when you stop to consider it. With knowledge of these facts, the cosmetic industry came up with a new idea. Self-tanners! Still, while we might be safeguarding our skin with these cosmetic dyes, why do want to use them at all? We don't paint our bodies black and blue to simulate a bruise?!

As I recited this line of reasoning for about the millionth time since my late twenties, the blank stares on the faces of my friends shifted their focus to my husband of less than two years. Ronald No Heart is full-blooded Lakota, an indigenous tribe of the central plains that is more commonly, but incorrectly, known as the Sioux. He doesn't get it either, although his rationale is completely different than mine. "I thought you people were suppose to be proud of your white skin? You sure weren't trying to look like us a hundred fifty years ago. You took our lands, you took our names, you took our honor, and now you want to take our color. What's with you white people, anyway? I think the truth is you actually envy us!" Oh m'gosh! I may have nicked them, but Ronald completely finished them off. At least he did it with a twinkle in his eye and a cute grin on his face. It was definitely time to switch subjects.

I do want to back pedal a bit, though, and say that the sun is important for providing what our bodies need to synthesize vitamin D. I choose to enjoy the sun in small doses or wear a sun block, though, and take a vitamin D supplement instead. If you want to save your skin and look good well into your senior years, don't tan, and for heaven's sake, don't burn! I think I'll call my 86 year-old dad right now and thank him for making me wear his undershirt nearly four decades ago. Not that he'll remember it. But that's another story.