Skin

The ABC’S of Health

By Dr. Jo Gjelsten

THE SKIN YOU’RE IN!

One in 5 people will be diagnosed with skin cancer in their lifetime. I think a lack of Vitamin D is partly to blame, but more about that later. Why do we blame the sun? Because without the proper nutrients and protection from the sun, and with prolonged exposure without a safe sunscreen, we see the sun’s negative effects.  Freckles and brown spots mean sun damage, and didn’t we all hang in the sun when we were kids? So that means “deep cellular damage”. But how does that happen? If you sunburn, you damage. Now I use my Astaxanthin which offers some protection, a supplement I also provide my patients, and I use zinc based products which confer the best protection if I’m going to be laying around on the beach, but as a kid I was in the sun a lot and paid no attention to all the hoopla surrounding sun damage, indestructible as you are as a teen. I also didn’t eat anything resembling essential fatty acids aka fish oil, so that protection wasn’t there either. Known as Vitamin F to some of us, Fish Oil, like my Dr. Jo’s O’s, can support tissue calcium which for some means less sunburn.  Now I occasionally obsess about something my wonderful dermatologist will zap, until she reassures me it’s gonna be ok Dr. Jo. So I use a sunscreen at the beach, but know that there are some cheap sunscreens that do you more harm than good, and whaddyado if you need Vitamin D everyone says ad nauseum?  Some experts expertly declare that 70% of us are deficient. Why? Because we do use sunscreens, so we do make less than we used to. Vit. D is started in the skin and finished in the kidneys and liver, so if those aren’t working well you may not make enough. Well, Nancy, if the sun index is high and you’re out where you’ll be exposed for more than a 15 min. each in the morning or late afternoon, use a safe sun screen from the health food store, but get your vitamin D levels checked. My last level was much lower than I expected, despite all that sun, so I increased my already healthy dose. Don’t think that checking it once in your lifetime will be enough. Too much sun, though, can oxidize your skin and cause wrinkles and spots, some dangerous.  Skin ages because it’s oxidized. So antioxidants work in the reverse. Antioxidant foods that are red like peppers, or orange like the carrots which my bunny and I eat every day (and if you eat enough of these you too can turn orange, or sort of tan, “ish”) can help. Oxidation means wrinkles and loss of collagen. Easy bruising is associated with thin skin, though it may mean something ominous so check it out. But it can also just mean lower collagen content as we age it away, which translates to fine and not so fine lines. You can increase your collagen production with either an expensive trip to your Dermatologist who can puff you back up, or you may be prescribed Retin A from Dr. Derm which works well too. Or a less expensive but not as immediately effective way might be to use a nutritional item called orthosilicic acid, a choline-bound silica that helps to form collagen, but studies show "major food sources were beer and bananas in men and bananas and string beans in women", of course men had more silicon in their systems because they drink more beer, so silicon was readily available from foods, though less intake as we get older, or maybe not you. “In a pilot study of men and women suffering with hair loss, 94 percent of the study subjects who took 10 mg of OSA per day reported subjective improvements.”  Where else do you use collagen? Your bones, skin, hair and nails.  Wrinkles can happen from dehydration too, so drinking water helps smooth out your skin Stan, and exercise always reddens my face especially when I get seen in my shorts, so increasing your circulation feeds your skin Sarah. Lately my exercise comes from doing bike rides with small hills that spike my heart rate, which has the potential to increase growth hormone. That may help my skin rejuvenate back down to the twenty-something my brain thinks I am. And when you’re done exercising a little nap while driving, is never a good idea, so buy a cot and rest up at work, preferably in the hallway so they can see how well you take care of yourself. After you’re fired you can go to the beach and slather on something smelly, but know that everything you slather you absorb, Zorba. How much? About 5 pounds per year.  Garbage on, garbage in, someone once said, or was that me just now? There are a LOT of junky sun screens (with chemicals you would be sick reading about) out there which do more harm than good, and the older the oil is the more likely it’s rancid which is oxidative in nature, and we know from reading Dr. Jo’s articles that oxidation aka rust does not enhance your looks Lola. And moisturizing is a must. Murumuru? Me too! Not really, but I love that word. What is it you ask? It’s an oleic, lauric and myristic acid rich moisturizer from the Amazon…oooboy that sounds like fun! Acid on your skin?!  Yeah, but they’re good for you Yolanda. Fish oil (Dr. Jo’s O’s without the fish burps come to mind for some reason) is an essential fatty acid we don’t think of as acid.  The Murumuru kernel is used in skin products and shampoos, making them more valuable than cutting down the whole tree, which natives once did, so this is a good thing Martha for our planet and the Amazonians. Skin solutions can come from around the world, which make them sound exotic and mysterious; a good selling technique I think, like “organiceuticle” based products to help reverse sun damage that  includes green coffee berry from Mexico where Mexicans notice their hands weren’t as weathered as their faces so a product was born. I do know (because I tried it of course) if you were to rub your coffee grounds into your hands and wash thoroughly, you may even smell like an old ash tray, and you may have smoother hands, maybe a little darker too like you forgot to wash your hands for a week, or a year.  So protection, rejuvenation and maintenance of your outer coating is always a good idea.  More of this stuff on my website, where I’ll be carrying some skin products soon, BUT SEE BELOW. WILL HAVE THIS AVAILABLE SOON!. www.GoDrJo.com Nothing in the article is intended to advise treat or diagnose so see your Doc with any of your or your friend’s mothers sisters or pets or in-laws concerns.☺©

A specially formulated amino acid based skin cream designed to have advanced anti-aging and moisturizing properties, Contains no parabens, additives, mineral oil or any animal products.  $ 50.00 PER JAR, AVAILABLE IF YOU E-MAIL ME AND PICK UP AT THE OFFICE. drjog@optonline.net