Skin (Cancer)

When I was a teenager, my best friend, Brandie liked to sunbathe. So I would walk down to the beginning of the street, change into my bikini at Brandie’s house, grab a big blanket, go into the large backyard where we would lie down and sun ourselves. Although, we had each other for company, doing nothing bored me. I became hot so quickly that I realized baking myself on the outside may bake me on the inside too. Since I was a fair skinned blonde, I could not take too much sun. After the second time, I told Brandie that I felt like a roast and could not bake in the sun any more.

I worked as a camp counsellor or a recreation leader in the summers and that was plenty of sun for me. By the end of the summer, my hair was bleached white and my nose and cheeks were sunburned red. I had great colouring once my peeling nose healed.

I still spent a lot of time hearing other friends saying, “you’re so pale. You should tan.”

In 1976, I attended the University of Guelph. One day in my only Genetics course, the teacher walked in and asked who did not tan. Only three of us in the whole class raised hands. The professor went on to tell us that we were the healthiest because our bodies warned us when we had too much sun. I was elated.

In 1989, I attended a seminar in Calgary. The guest speaker was a well-known Naturopath. He was a robust healthy looking man who gave a funny informative talk. Well, he was a Sagittarius, after all. He said that he never met anyone with skin cancer who had a healthy diet. Fascinating! I had met a few people who had gone through healing from skin cancer and all of them had a fast food diet.

Now, there is such a huge increase in skin cancer that not only people who eat fast food get this cancer but also those who don’t eat fast food regularly. Could it be that all the chemicals and additives that are put in our food have helped cause the increase?

If I go to the grocery store, I really have to check the ingredients list. Most people check for just fat or salt percentage, while I look for words I can’t pronounce.

I have decided that organic food is the safest for me and my family.

A lot of farmers are coming down with skin cancer and other cancers. When I have checked, these farmers regularly used pesticides or chemical fertilizers. I mean these guys are supposed to be eating the best. What’s wrong? It must be the chemicals. The firms that mass produce these chemicals have convinced farmers that chemicals sprayed on the food don’t affect the consumers. Ya right! If even the farmers are getting sick, what stops the rest of us from being affected? Nothing! Because we have been. The population has been getting sicker and sicker. We end up getting treated with more chemicals to clear up the toxins we have already ingested.

What is the answer? I would rather spend a little more on healthy food then spend time in the doctor’s office or hospital getting treated for God knows what.

Thank goodness there are still natural farmers out there growing healthy food.

Have you ever tried to melt margarine on the stove to make a sauce or to cook something in it? The strong smell of plastic assails the nostrils. Apparently, margarine is one molecule away from being plastic!!! Yum! Yum!

One more thing before I stop, has anyone ever read the list of ingredients on the new and stronger sun screens? There are very few words that a nine year old could read, never mind an adult. If I won’t put chemicals in my body, why would I put CHEMICALS ON MY SKIN SO THAT MY BODY CAN ABSORB THEM? Am I being silly? I don’t think so!

By the by, we need the sun, there is now a Vitamin D deficiency running rampant. Why is that? We have been told that the sun is harmful. It can be if we get too much sun. The sun is a great Vitamin D provider, so go for a walk, use moderation, but go out in the sun at least 15 minutes a day.

Okay, okay, this is the last comment. Last fall, 2009, I had a chance to see an ex sister-in-law of mine. She used to make comments about me being pale. I had not seen her for about thirty years. Susie did not look too bad, but she had all these freckles all over her face. I spent most of the evening trying to remember if she ever had freckles. When Susie brought out old pictures, it hit me how much she used to tan because I could not see a single freckle in any of those old photos. I realized when I left that she was full of age spots, not freckles. Am I glad I didn’t spend any more time turning myself like a roast in the sun. Whew! Close one!