Camping
Had a great time camping this weekend. I usually get pretty flustered trying to figure out easy food to bring with us. This time I kept it as simple as possible while still being delicious. I pre-marinated some meats and chopped up vegetables to be roasted on the grill or eaten in salad. Yogurt and kefir are easy to bring, and some eggs and bacon (fried in a cast iron pan) for breakfast of course. I’ll do a full post on camping food this week. Somehow I didn’t take pictures of everything, probably because I was so hungry. What is it about camping and being outside all day that just leaves you ravenous? BTW bacon grease is the perfect fire starter.

Sunscreen
While I haven’t been burning nearly as much anymore, I don’t think there’s any way I can be out in the sun all day without sunscreen. I have been using Badger SPF 30 sunscreen this summer and it’s quite nice. It doesn’t seem to make my face breakout any more than it does normally. The spots I missed while applying it did turn a bit red while the rest of me was not. Happy to say the red patches did not hurt, peel or blister and are turning into a nice tan already. It would be best to just cover up with light clothing and a hat, but that doesn’t always work well when it’s 30+C and I’m playing beach volleyball.

Fruit Roll Ups
I went strawberry picking again last week and made fruit roll-ups with the batch. I tried to make some without any honey but they weren’t that good sticky consistency that I like. So best to add a spoonful of honey to each 1 1/2 cups of strawberries and really mix it in. This might not mix in well if the strawberries are cold, so try to start with everything at room temperature. I brought all the fruit roll ups camping and everyone seemed to like them. Now I might try to make some with other kinds of fruit. I think apples would be a good base for anything that doesn’t have quite enough flavor or body like the strawberries have. I’m hoping to try watermelon with apples soon.

Working Out and Soup
I’m in a health pact with my Twitter friend Roger. We have to keep up with workouts and making soup. The two don’t necessarily have anything to do with each other but both are very healthy! I needed a bit of motivation to start working out again. I used to work out a lot, stopped when I got mono and didn’t start up again with any real dedication until now. I did some walking, yoga, and very light workouts for the past few years. Weird thing is, I’m actually probably the fittest I have ever been in my life. There’s some people who say it’s 80% diet 20% fitness and that’s so true for me. So, the workouts now are not really to get fit, but to increase strength a bit, reduce stress, and just be healthy. I started with some running, sprints, push-ups, chin-ups, squats and lunges. Roger had never made soup before and with all the healing I noticed from soup I figured it would be a good health move for him. So far we’ve made a basic chicken soup and ox tail soup. Since it’s summer now I’m thinking of trying to make a cold soup next. Stay tuned for some soup recipes!

After my Skin Patch test showed a reaction to fragrances I decided to try either going without sunscreen or making my own. Well summer came about 2 months early this year and I didn’t have time to prepare so I just went without. The past 3 days were in the 20s (70-80F) with bright sunshine. Although the season is still early, I do normally burn in under 1 hour. In the mid summer sun it would be closer to 30 minutes. I usually would slather on 15 or 30 SPF sunscreen and reapply every 4 hours. I was very good at not burning.

The first sunny day, after puttering around the backyard for a while, I went out for a bike ride that I thought would probably be around an hour, so I didn’t bother covering up. Before heading out I took some cod liver oil. I wore a helmet but my face was exposed and I wore a sleeveless shirt. We were out for 2 hours around noon time in direct sunlight for most of it. I got home and later that night looked a tiny bit pink so I slathered on some coconut oil. I ate a lot of butter and fatty meat for dinner. I ate more butter and some coconut oil before bed. By the time I woke up I had the faintest hint of a tan.

Day two in the sun was a bit more of a challenge. I had been out a little bit in the morning puttering around the garden again. I took some cod liver oil again before leaving the house. I had a lot of butter with my eggs and bacon for breakfast. We went to the beach for 4 hours starting at 2pm. I wore a hat for about 1 hour but got tired of it and didn’t wear it after that. I was just wearing a pair of shorts and tank, with my shoulders completely uncovered for the 4 hours. I came home and ate more butter and some coconut oil. Again I slathered on the coconut oil covering my shoulders and face. The next morning I woke up and had a nice tan.

Day three in the sun was just around my house and a bit more controlled. It was cooler out so I had long sleeves on, with just my face and legs exposed. I only sat out for about 1 hour. I didn’t bother with cod liver oil but ate plenty of butter. I didn’t even get a tan.

This has never happened to me. I always burn if I don’t use sunscreen. And if I use sunscreen but miss a spot, that spot would be red. I don’t tan easily, it takes days and weeks of sitting out for just the right amount of time to not burn but get a bit of colour. I normally work very hard to build up a tan slowly as the summer goes on. Three days in the sun and I’m just as tanned as I would be by mid July. No burn, no pain, no peeling, nothing.

I credit a few things to my new sun tolerance. One, being off the birth control pill. The pill is notorious for causing photo-sensitivity. Two, eating lots of saturated fats. I was eating butter off a spoon and bacon each morning. Three, keeping Omega 6 and 3 fats in balance. I have cut down on nuts lately and eat wild salmon more frequently. I don’t need to bother with regular fish oil anymore. And four, applying coconut oil on my skin right after. I waited until the morning to shower to give my skin time to heal.

I heard from other people on SCD and GAPS that this can happen, becoming more tolerant of the sun and burning less. I really didn’t think it would happen to me, but very glad it did. No more fussing with sunscreen.