4 Foods to Build Your Natural Sun Defense

Using sunscreen lotions is the most common solution to prevent sun damage to your skin. But if you want absolute protection for your skin against the harmful effects of the sun rays, then topical applications may simply not be enough.

It’s definitely important to apply sunscreen on a regular basis but for absolute protection you must build an internal sun defense system that will help fight sun damage to your skin from inside. And for this getting your hands on the right foods is what’s needed.

So, here is a list of four foods which you must consider about adding to your everyday diet.

Green tea

Every health conscious person knows how good green tea is for overall health, mainly because of its high anti-oxidant content and its anti-inflammatory properties. Green tea appears in the top-ten list of cancer fighting foods, and researchers who have been studying the health benefits of green tea insist that we must all get into the habit of having 2-5 cups of it daily – to prevent different types of cancers, with skin cancer being one of them. Besides preventing your skin against cancer, the antioxidants present in green tea have a neutralizing the damage caused to your skin by exposure to sun rays.

Chocolate

There some good news for all you chocolate lovers, the flavonols present in dark chocolate work as an internal sun blocker. Dark chocolate is known to strengthen your resistance to the harmful UV rays present in the sun rays. So, it makes perfect sense to carry a bar or two of it when you’re planning to spend the day on the beach.

Almonds

Almonds are loaded with Vitamin E and about a handful if these will supply you with enough amounts of this vitamin to fight sun damage all day long. Vitamin E is an anti-oxidant which fights free radicals. And overexposure to the sun often results in the production of free radicals which cause damage to not just your skin but even to your internal organs.

Tomatoes

These are best had after cooking as the chief phytochemical lycopene becomes more concentrated upon cooking. And this lycophene is what does the magical job of fighting sun damage. So now you have one good reason to baste your sandwiches with the tangy tomato sauce.