Hi, you guys, thank you so much for joining us. This month is July which means it is UV Safety Month.

Also go 'Murica.

Go 'Murica, yeah.

Like we said in our teaser video thing, yes.

So we are so excited to kind of set some things straight. I know how important vitamin D is, when you go outside you guys, when you're in the sunshine, your body produces vitamin D which is a really important part to our bodies. It's responsible for lots of things, good sleep. I'm sure you'll name a few.

I'll be happy to.

But with that being said, other people say that every time we go outside we need to protect our skin with sunscreen so there's gotta be truth to both of those. So Dr. Todd, can you tell us a little bit more about that and how we can find a happy medium.

Right, super, super important I love this month, there's just a lot to this. So yes, Vitamin D is very, very important. It's technically not a vitamin, it's actually acts as a hormone in our body. So vitamin D becomes D3 and then it becomes another chemical which becomes another chemical in the liver which becomes a hormone. Without geeking out too much on you, it's critical for every biological process in our body so we need enough of it. So how much is enough? Now, maybe you may not wanna test it but the sweet spot what I found is between 40 and 60 nanograms per deciliter, the only way to know is with a blood test. We know 30 is the bare minimum, you really have to know. So I believe in supplementation especially during winter months, now we don't have to worry as much 'cause there's ample sun, there's more than enough sun but some people can't manufacture enough vitamin D from the sun. So you really do need to test it. But sun exposure is really important and I do wanna say why it's so important for our manufacturing of vitamin D, it's only vitamin we manufacture from the sun's rays, the sun is critical for everything.

Every biochemical energetic process occurs because of energy directly from the sun and that's pretty amazing. Plants of course photosynthesize from energy from the sun which we cannot do but it's essential also for... What's the word I'm looking for? For programming is the word I'm looking for, your circadian rhythm. So your body hormonally will regulate based on the sun so people who are inside all day, their brain never registers that it's time to go to sleep at night which is a huge reason for not being able to sleep at night and sunblock will decrease your body's serotonin melatonin balance if you put on sunblock all the time. So too much sunblock, too much sun covering, I try to get out in some sunlight everyday even when it's cloudy to help that vitamin D but also to program my brain body that it's time to be awake versus it's time to sleep. So vitamin D production coming from the sun's rays, it's critical. Now, we don't wanna get burned because burnt skin leads to skin cancer and it's terrible for our bodies, it also decreases our vitamin D production oddly when your skin gets burned. So we do need to be exposed to UVA and UVB rays periodically.

That being said, how much is too much? Well, I never, for me... I'm grassroots with this stuff in my own body except for testing for my vitamin D. I don't ever let myself get burned, so I've learned that, when I was a kid. We got burned all the time and no one really thought much of it. Now, I will do anything rather than get burned including using some of the worst sunblocks which can be really bad and Megan is gonna get into some of these specifically, but some of these chemical sunscreens our bodies absorb up to 9% of the chemicals in there and the aerosol ones are even the worst, so almost under no circumstances will I use those because it's going directly into our lungs which has direct access to our blood stream obviously, which is why there are lungs. So almost anything other than a sunburn but there are tiers of that and she's gonna go through that. But what I would rather do than sunblock is, limit my time out in the sun, seek shade, have clothing because every single sunblock has its cost in our bodies so we wanna avoid that as best we can but if you have to, Megan is gonna go through some of these sunblocks, she's got a passion about sunblock.

I am, I am which sounds like a silly thing to be passionate about. But a few summers ago, our littlest, who I think was just two at the time. So, those cute chubby cheeks, they got a chemical sunscreen, or a chemical burn from the sunscreen and it just makes you so mad because you think you're putting something on your baby to help them and it hurts them. So that's why I'm oddly passionate about sunscreens. So like Dr. Todd said, if you're gonna be out in the sun for extended periods of time, any sunscreen is better than none. This is probably one of the worst on the markets but again if it's gonna help you not get burned, then it's worth it, it's worth that risk. So there's two different types, there's chemical sunscreen and then there's mineral sunscreen.

Chemical absorbs into your skin and that's how it deflects the UV rays but mineral sunscreens, and here's just a few. Minerals sit on top of the skin and reflect the sun that way. So, here are some really great mineral sunscreens, I think these were bought off of Amazon.

They were.

But Amazon is amazing, so you can always do that but locally, Orchard Nutrition has some really great ones and Sprouts that we got a few months back, they have an incredible selection as well. So this one is called Burnout Kids, you wanna look for a broad spectrum 'cause that covers both. And this one is Thinksport and so these are incredible. And again, any coverage is better than none and so that's why we say, make sure that you can use protective clothing and then mineral sunscreen if you can get it, if not any sunscreen will do.

And the other thing to keep in mind about sunscreens last thing is reef safety. So corals for these chemicals that people put on their bodies are toxic to corals and sea life just like they are. I know when I used to go to Hawaii, there was a lot brighter colors under that ocean than there are now and it's pretty sad and a lot of people believe and I don't know the scientific... A lot of scientific data to support that but I do believe a lot of it is from sunscreen a lot of chemicals in that water. So these two are... And you can look on EWG on the website, is that ewg.com?

So, it's ewg.org and you can use their desktop website but they also have an app that's really handy, you can actually just scan the backs of these and it'll pull up all of the ingredients, it gives it a safety score. One being the best, and 10 being the worst. So you can... I use this product literally every time I buy something out of my norm, I scan products to see which is the better so EWG.

Is that just for sunscreen or what else does that...

No, so it's any...

I didn't know that.

It's pretty incredible. So it's any skin care products, they're also venturing off into different food products as well. So any time you have to buy any sort of cosmetics, shampoos, lotions be sure to use that and scan the products.

I know I get my... What do you call it, what do you call... The mask, no not mask but the women's... The regular makeup, foundation.

Oh, yes your foundation.

I get my foundation and I look at EWG all the time. I'm just kidding I didn't even know.

Yes, it's good for your cover-up.

Yes, what does EWG stand for?

That's a fantastic question and we'll list it in the comments.

Yes we will. Have a lovely day, thanks for listening.

Thanks so much. Bye-bye.