1. Start earlier in the morning Morning sun has more infrared light, which actually acts as a natural sunscreen and primes your skin for later exposure. Get outside within an hour of sunrise and your skin will thank you. 2. Cut seed oils Seed oils accumulate in your skin cells and are largely responsible for the oxidative damage, dark spots, and burning that people blame on the sun. Everyone notices a difference in how their skin handles the sun once they cut them out. 3. Increase collagen intake Collagen is both photo and UV protective. It helps your skin absorb and handle sun exposure without breaking down. Another reason to be consume it daily. 4. Eat beef liver Beef liver is nature's multivitamin and loaded with vitamin A, which builds UV tolerance from the inside out. Think of it as the original internal sunscreen, the one your ancestors actually used. 5. Drink coffee Coffee is photoprotective and has been shown to protect against melanoma. Another reason your morning cup is doing more than just waking you up. 6. Eat raw carrots Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A and deposits in the skin, building your natural UV defense layer from within. Plus they mop up excess estrogen in the gut. Win-win. 7. Ditch the sunglasses Your eyes signal your brain and hypothalamus to prepare your skin for sun exposure. Block that signal with sunglasses and your skin goes into the sun blind. 8. Work up to a tan Your skin adapts to sun exposure exactly like a muscle adapts to training. Start with 15-20 minutes and build over days and weeks. A base tan is your body's own UV protection. Earn it gradually. 9. Eat lots of fruit for vitamin C Vitamin C is essential for collagen synthesis and helps your skin repair and protect itself from UV exposure. Oranges, kiwi, berries– eat them in season and eat them often. 10. Get shade when the sun feels like too much Your body knows. When you intuitively feel like the sun is excessive, move to the shade, throw on a linen shirt, or go inside. This is how humans managed sun exposure for thousands of years. No SPF 50 required.

The ability to meet the demands of your life with abundant energy, to rest and recover fully, and to be as adaptable as needed to how demands may change over time outside your control, or to how you may choose to willfully change the purpose of your life. It is a state in which the body functions at its optimum without pain or symptoms. This is my definition of health. What is yours?