Unlocking the Power of the Sun: A Guide to Vitamin D and Sunscreen Use Artwork

Crunchy Stewardship

In this podcast we are taking a deep dive into what it means to steward our lives as God originally intended for us with the resources that God has given us. We will look at topics like food, medicine, finances, mental health and lots more through a natural lens with a biblical foundation.

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Unlocking the Power of the Sun: A Guide to Vitamin D and Sunscreen Use

July 11, 2025 • Katie Jones • Season 1 • Episode 12

In this episode of Crunchy Stewardship, cousins Katie Jones and Chrissy Rombach explore the significance of Vitamin D and sun exposure for overall health. They detail the synthesis of Vitamin D in the body and discuss the importance of cholesterol in this process. The hosts also focus on the pros and cons of sunscreen usage, the types of sunscreens to choose for minimal toxicity, and the controversial topic of sunglasses potentially causing more sunburn. They emphasize the interconnectedness of diet, sun exposure, and health, and caution against over-reliance on supplements. Throughout the discussion, they highlight practical steps for maintaining optimal Vitamin D levels and safe sun practices. They also share product recommendations and invite listeners to join their Facebook group, ‘Crunchy Christian Mamas on a Budget,’ for further discussion.

Links:

Nordic Naturals Arctic Cod Liver Oil: https://amzn.to/3IjPrXl
DMinder app: https://dminder.ontometrics.com/
EWG Sunscreen page: https://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/
Babyganics: https://amzn.to/4ljvPRN
BABO sunscreen:https://amzn.to/4kuEdN6
BABO daily face cream: https://amzn.to/40apShD
BABO daily face stick: https://amzn.to/3U3GP9R
Bobby approved app: https://www.flavcity.com/bobbyapproved/
Sun Bum: https://amzn.to/3IkTMtu
Neutrogena mineral sunscreen: https://amzn.to/4lFIuyV

Chapters:

00:00 Welcome to Crunchy Stewardship

01:03 Introduction to Today's Topic: Sun Health

01:28 The Science Behind Vitamin D Synthesis

07:46 Vitamin D and Skin Complexion

11:34 Maximizing Vitamin D Intake

20:24 The Importance of Non-Toxic Sunscreens

24:46 Choosing the Right Sunscreen

29:02 Sunscreen Ingredients to Avoid

39:42 The Sunglasses Debate

44:13 Conclusion and Community Engagement

Connect With Us:

Join Our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/crunchychristianmama

FREE How to Afford Non-Toxic Living Workbook: https://crunchystewardship.com/how-to-afford-non-toxic-living

Katie: 0:00

Hey, and welcome to Crunchy Stewardship. My name is Katie Jones.

Chrissy: 0:04

And my name is Chrissy Rombach We are two cousins who are passionate about learning and sharing knowledge to equip others to steward their spiritual, mental, emotional, financial, and physical health in order to honor God in every aspect of their lives.

Katie: 0:19

In our podcast, we take deep dives into what it means to be a steward of our lives as God originally intended for us with the resources that he has given us. We look at topics like food medicine. Finances, mental health, and lots more through a natural lens and with a biblical foundation.

Chrissy: 0:39

Before we get started, if you have been enjoying our podcast, please make sure to subscribe and leave us a five star rating. This helps other people find our show in the future. And if you aren't already signed up for our weekly newsletter, go ahead and take a moment by clicking on the link in the show notes to sign up for that. So today's episode, we are going to be talking about. Sunscreen vitamin D and sunburns and sunglasses and sun health in general.

Katie: 1:10

The sun.

Chrissy: 1:11

yeah, the sun, our best friend and also can be an enemy at times depending on who you are and your complexion. I kind of just wanted to start off this episode just like talking about, you know me sciencey, gotta talk about the science behind why the sun is actually. Good for us. And so I wanted to talk through, um, how vitamin D is synthesized in our body, because some people are like, oh, the sun touches my skin and it makes my bones strong. How what? Or a lot of people just don't even know what vitamin D does. So I just wanna take a moment. Go through that little, tidbit. Funny enough, this was actually one of my favorite topics that we studied in anatomy when I was in college because, um, my anatomy professor used cats and dogs in order to explain the concept of vitamin D synthesis to us. And it stuck. And now I won't forget it. So here we go. The vitamin D synthesis pathway. First and foremost, you need cholesterol. Yes, cholesterol is important for vitamin D. What a concept y'all. All these statins, decreasing our cholesterol is in interfering with our vitamin D synthesis and our bone health. Crazy how it's all connected. But anyways, so. First off, we have a chemical or a compound called dehydroholesterol which is formed in your skin from cholesterol. This is, um, the first process to vitamin D synthesis when Sun rays specifically the UVB sun rays touch this dehydrocholesterol It immediately changes it to cholecalciferol, which is the inactive form of vitamin D, also known as vitamin D3 This is the kind of vitamin D that you would take in a supplement if you were to be taking vitamin D supplements. But um, so it's the inactive form of vitamin D three. Once that is created in the skin, it then. Seeps into the bloodstream, gets moved around your body. This is the simplified version, by the way. It goes to your liver and chemistry happens and it gets changed into Calcidiol and then it goes back into your bloodstream and goes to your kidneys, and chemistry happens again and it's converted into Calcitriol And then after it's converted into Calcitriol, that Calcitriol goes back into your bloodstream, goes into the small intestines, and stimulates the re release of Calbindin, which is the calcium binding protein in the small intestine. To actually absorb calcium from your diet and then it leads to stronger bones. So, um, within the vitamin D pathway, first you got cholesterol, you need it, it comes from your diet. Then if you don't have cholesterol, you can't make the vitamin D. If you can't make the vitamin D, you can't absorb calcium and then your bones get weak. So. Um, yeah, it's, it's all interconnected and the diet and the sun and your strength is. All one thing and it's beautiful. And just a funny little side note that is sort of irrelevant, but I'm gonna say it anyways. Um, calbindin that calcium binding protein in the small intestine, when we learned about it in my anatomy class, that was the dog. And so I've always thought that that's gonna be the best dog name. You know, Calbindin Callie for short. Anyways, I don't think we're ever gonna get a dog, but we'll see.

Katie: 4:46

I kind of like that dog name, but I, I know for a hundred percent fact that we will never have a dog. Wes likes to remind me all the time that we will never have a dog because gosh, they are so messy. And a lot of times when I'm around dogs, I'm reminded that I'm not really a dog person either, but you know, that's okay. We will have all the chickens in the world. Maybe some goats and maybe some ducks and turkeys I'm sorry, dog lovers. I know it can be really offensive when I tell people that we're never gonna have a dog because people are like, oh my gosh, you're the worst person in the world. So I apologize. I, I am actually a pretty nice person.

Chrissy: 5:24

I still believe cats are superior, although right now we are dog sitting and the dog we are babysitting right now is a service dog. So she has made me really like dogs more, but I think that's just because she's exceptionally well behaved because she's an actual service dog.

Katie: 5:42

So, okay. So vitamin D obviously is essential for life and, and I, I love what you're saying and kind of what we always come back to with a lot of our conversations is that God did design all of the world and us to work perfectly together. And so it's not like. He designed it and we needed to come in and fix what he originally put together and put into place here on this earth. And it's like, okay, he had this in mind that the sun was necessary for life, for all living things, including us and plants and animals and so we need to learn how to use it effectively, but at the same time. The sun can be somewhat damaging, if we are exposed a little bit too much to it, but let's talk a little bit about getting the right amounts of vitamin D because. Uh, what I have learned is that so many of us, especially here in the United States, have a severe vitamin D deficiency, probably due to the fact that we spend a lot more of our time inside. And then I also feel like there's a lot of like. Fearmongering around the sun because a lot of people are like, don't go into the sun, it's gonna give you skin cancer. And while that's also true, we do need the sun. So do you have any tips for us or information that we can start with on like, how much should we get and how do we get vitamin D and, and how do we balance that all?

Chrissy: 7:15

Yeah, so the speed of vitamin D synthesis and the speed of getting burned by the sun quite literally, has a lot to do with a person's complexion. I. So people who have darker skin tones tend to not burn nearly as quickly. But with that, it also takes longer for their skin to start to produce that inactive Vitamin D3 from the U-V-D-U-V-D mm, from the UVB light touching the dehydrocholesterol in their skin. On the opposite side of the spectrum. People with lighter complexions who are incredibly pale, can be in the sun for 15 minutes and get sunburned. They tend to produce that inactive vitamin D much quicker than those darker complexion people. And so that is one thing to keep in mind is it's not a one size fits all sort of situation. Every single person is going to be different because every person's skin responds differently to the sun. Um. When it comes to absorbing vitamin D, though, the quote unquote solar panels of the body are actually the abdomen and the thighs. Those are the places where, um, the sunlight is absorbed more easily. I don't know if it's for. An accurate representation or an accurate theory, but my theory is that those are the parts of the body that don't often get as much sun, and so they generally have a little

Katie: 8:43

Yeah.

Chrissy: 8:43

bit of a lighter complexion than say your arms or your face or the lower parts of your legs. I just think of the, the tan that I had in high school when I was lifeguarding. It was like the shorts tan, you know? And then my knees were

Katie: 8:56

Mm-hmm.

Chrissy: 8:56

always like super dark and my feet were super dark, but everything in between was not, it was a fun time.

Katie: 9:03

It's weird that that is like the areas that are kind of the best. I, I've heard that too. Now that you say that and I'm like, oh yeah, my friend did mention that to me. But, you know, I've been, as I've gotten older and matured and everything, I, I tend to wear more modest swimsuits that do cover my stomach and my thighs and stuff. So I'm like, Hmm, that's kind of interesting. If those are the quote unquote solar panels that will absorb the vitamin D better.

Chrissy: 9:30

I tend to go outside in my backyard and I'll like lift up my shirt and lift up my shorts so my abdomen and my thighs are just baking.

Katie: 9:40

I bet your neighbors love that.

Chrissy: 9:42

uh, I don't actually know if they can see me, we have really tall bushes around our, patio so like They might not actually be able to see me all that much where I'm sitting, but if they do see me, they're probably like, what the heck is this chick doing? But anyways, I digress. Um, so yeah, I think just to get back to it, it's important to figure out what kind of skin tone you have and how your body reacts to that vitamin D or to the sun in general. If you tend to burn faster, maybe only stay outside for 15 minutes before. Covering up, or if you tend to not burn nearly as much, you can stay outside for much longer, 30, 45 minutes, maybe even an hour before your skin starts to be damaged from that sun. Um, the damage really comes with time and vitamin D synthesis comes before the damage. And so, um, it's your job to pay attention to your body and to figure out where, when is the appropriate time for you to get out of the sun or to put on sunscreen. Which kind of leads us into the next part of this conversation is talking about sunscreen in general and the things to look out for the toxicities that we can get from sunscreen on accident and, um, important things to know when choosing sunscreens.

Katie: 10:59

Before we actually jump into sunscreens, I wanted to share something that I learned about vitamin D, especially moving to. A place, um, up north. So now we're in Michigan versus Colorado. That's a very sunny place. Colorado's, you know, known for having lots and lots of sunshine throughout the year, even in the winter months. But here in Michigan, come October through April-ish. It is very cloudy and overcast and obviously snowy throughout the winter and very cold. And we don't see the sun a lot here. Um. And so I've been a little nervous about my Vitamin D intake and everything because I do know, if the, um, UV index is below three, isn't it true like your body doesn't produce vitamin D properly, so. I know in Colorado there's only a few months of the year that your body can't actually produce vitamin D naturally, so you have to kind of get it other ways. And so I've been kind of learning a little bit more about like, what do I do here in Michigan? Especially because it is so much darker for longer periods of time here. And so I learned a little bit more about taking cod liver oil. And so we actually, I started taking it, we started taking it, um, in the winter in Colorado for the, the few months where the UV index just does not get above three. And, the brand that we. Have been using was recommended by my friend, it's called Nordic Naturals, Arctic Cod liver oil. Yeah, they make it in both liquid form as well as capsules, and then they have'em like flavored. But I don't know about that. I got the unflavored stuff because strawberry cod liver oil sounds very strange to me. So that is not happening, at least for me. Who knows? Maybe Malakai will like it one day.

Chrissy: 12:51

does the cod liver oil like actually taste like cod oil, liver combo?

Katie: 12:58

So I actually haven't tried the liquid form. The one that I got is considered unflavored, but the capsules that Wes and I have been taking, they, they have like a slight like. Tinge of fishiness to it, but it's not like nasty. You just kind of pop it and swallow it and you make it a tiny bit of an aftertaste, but it's not like I've definitely taken some fish oil stuff that has been really fishy and you can like smell it when you open the bottle and this one isn't as bad, I would say. So yeah, actually there's this app that I use occasionally. Called D Minder, and it helps you. Track how much vitamin D you're getting by like putting in your amount of time in the sun also like how much clothing you're wearing. So if you're wearing like long sleeves and pants in the sun, your body isn't absorbing as much vitamin D while you're outside. So you can like put in like how cloudy is it and what kind of clothes are you wearing and all this stuff. And then based on your location, it'll tell you how much vitamin D you're getting. But then you can also put in there. The supplements you're taking or even the certain foods that you're eating that have vitamin D, which I think are like fish. Do you know any other foods that have like vitamin D like naturally in it?

Chrissy: 14:15

I know eggs do.

Katie: 14:17

really?

Chrissy: 14:17

I've, I've actually used that app a few times also. Um. And I, I was very good at documenting my breakfast, vitamin D intake, intake

Katie: 14:27

Mm-hmm.

Chrissy: 14:27

Um, but one thing I also really love about that app is it can give you reminders as to like when the sun is at its peak where you are. So you, uh, input your location and it'll give you a notification when the UV level gets above three, and then it'll give you a notification when the sun is reaching its quote unquote high noon or peak point of the day so that you can maximize your vitamin D intake in a shorter amount of time. Because as the UV index goes up, the faster you absorb the vitamin D and vice versa.

Katie: 15:03

Yeah, right now when I open it up, it says here where I'm at, the UVI is six and it's only like 10:30 in the morning here in Michigan. And it gives you like the ozone amount and. Even like the current angle of the sun here. I've never, like I've, I've looked at it a few times. But yeah, I, I haven't used it to, its full like effect, but I've heard really good things about it and I check in with it every now and then. So we'll link to this in the show notes as well as like any of the. Products that we recommend and stuff. So if you're looking to check those out, um, so like that cod liver oil that we use, I'll put that in there.

Chrissy: 15:43

One other thing that I think is pretty cool about this, D-Minder app is you can input your skin type. When you open the app originally, you can tell them

Katie: 15:52

Mm-hmm.

Chrissy: 15:53

what kind of skin type you have, and so that they put that into the calculations of how much, um, vitamin D you would absorb through the time that you spend outside.

Katie: 16:04

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Like if you. Do know that you have a vitamin D deficiency or if you want to find out a little bit more about your intake of Vitamin D and if you are getting a sufficient amount, this app can be really helpful in figuring that out instead of going and taking a test and stuff. Obviously, if you are really concerned going to your doctor and actually. Getting some labs done to determine that would be important. But this can at least give you a good gauge if you are actually receiving enough Vitamin D. But I actually, I read a book a little while ago. I didn't love the book. I don't recommend it, but I'll mention it just because I learned a little bit more about the vitamin D in general, but the book is the Vitamin D cure and. They basically talked about the importance of vitamin D and how vitamin D can really impact so many areas of your health and how important it is and how crucial it is to be getting a sufficient amount. Um, and that I. In general, most of us have a vitamin D deficiency to some degree, whether it's severe or not, and, and that was one of the big things that I picked up from this book, so that's, you don't have to go read it. There you go. That's it in a nutshell is like you likely have a vitamin D deficiency, so you should probably start to get outside a lot more, especially now that we are in. The middle of the summer as this podcast comes out, it's um, likely like mid to late July and it's a great time to be getting vitamin D. And one thing I've learned actually from this book, and I don't know if this is true or not, but it sounds like you can never overdose on vitamin D because the way that your body like stores it and utilizes it, it almost again, like God planned it perfectly because so much of the world does not receive the sunlight that is needed in order to produce the vitamin D necessary in the middle of winter. And so in the summer when you're getting lots and lots of vitamin D, your body apparently, again, don't quote me on this. This is, I think I read it in this book, but your body stores it up in a way that it can kind of. Utilize it through the winter as well when you're only able to get vitamin D from your food sources, because I guess that the vitamin D that you're getting from the food sources isn't as like bioavailable or it's not as. Like it's a different form, I guess. Like kind of what you were saying, Chrissy, it's like different forms of vitamin D, vitamin D3 and something else. But anyway, it's like God really did plan these things well. He actually thought you have the summertime when you're getting lots and lots of vitamin D, but then you have winter time when you're not receiving as much vitamin D But now Chrissy, let's talk about sunscreen and protecting ourselves from the sun because while we do need lots of sunshine in order to get appropriate amounts of vitamin D, we also need to be careful to protect our skin in the meantime. So do you wanna kick us off on our sunscreen conversation?

Chrissy: 19:02

Yes, sunscreen. Actually, before we do, just wanna add one more thing about the vitamin D. Um, last year when I got my blood tested at my like annual primary care. appointment, my vitamin D levels were on the lower side of normal, which was significantly lower than the year prior, and my doctor recommended a Vitamin D supplement, and then I started thinking about it the first year that I went to the primary care physician here in North Carolina. I got my blood drawn after having like four or five days off of work and I was constantly outside. I was in the sun. I was doing yard work. The second year that I went and got my blood drawn was the day after working three in a row, and my vitamin D levels were significantly lower. This is one thing that kind of bothers me a little bit is instead of telling me like, Hey, go spend some more time outside, try to implement vitamin D in your diet, things like that. My doctor just said, here, take a supplement. that was it. And she didn't like explain how to get more vitamin D in my diet. So if your vitamin D is low, just go outside guys.

Katie: 20:08

This is something that my friend also mentioned to me was that. You really should only take the supplement when you don't have any other choice, right? Because if it is the middle of winter and it's so dark and maybe you're not able to go and get as many fresh eggs and good. Fish or anything like that, then a supplement should be your last resort in that case. And even at that guys, when we, when we talk about like eggs and fish and things like that, if you are just getting conventional eggs from the store, they are. Much lower in the vitamins and nutrients that you need because they're, they're conventionally grown. You want to have the pasture raised organic eggs from the grocery store.'cause they're going to be much, much higher in vitamin D and in all the other good stuff that you need And one of the ways you really know that they have a sufficient diet, like, and they are full of the vitamins and nutrients you need. Is if it is not a vegetarian diet for the chicken. So if you ever see any packaging for whether it's actual meat, like chicken, meat, or eggs, and it says vegetarian raised chickens. That is a sign that they are not getting their full diet.'cause believe it or not, chickens are not vegetarians. They are omnivores. They eat bugs, they eat, they will actually eat meat. They eat chicken meat, which is crazy. They eat like Turkey, they eat literally all of our leftovers of any sort, and it's necessary to get all of that. So, moral of the story, don't eat vegetarian chicken.

Chrissy: 21:46

And good eggs taste better too, so it's worth it.

Katie: 21:50

They do

Chrissy: 21:50

Okay, now

Katie: 21:51

okay.

Chrissy: 21:52

Actually officially transition to talking about sunscreen. Now that we

Katie: 21:56

Officially.

Chrissy: 21:57

into our sunscreen episode, we're finally gonna start talking about sunscreen.

Katie: 22:01

Yay.

Chrissy: 22:02

Yay. Okay, so sunscreen. Ah, it is very sad because people didn't use to get skin cancer the way that we now get skin cancer. people also didn't use to wear sunscreen. The way that we now are told to wear sunscreen. and so I just want to go through and talk about some of the risks and things to look out for and red flags and green flags about sunscreen in terms of ingredients and amount and the process of making the sunscreen and everything like that. So, um, I think first off, we should probably talk about what kind of sunscreen you should look for So there's two different types of UV rays. There's UVA and UVB, broad spectrum sunscreens. Should cover both the UVA Suns. Uh, the UVA rays are the ones that are responsible for more skin damage. They're responsible for aging, and they're the ones that are actually more often than not, not covered by sunscreen. UVB is the sun rays that are responsible for your typical sunburn And because the typical sunburn is the effect that you see from the sun more immediately. That's the one that's more likely to be covered by a sunscreen if it's not broad spectrum. but it's important to look at, look for a sunscreen that covers both UVA and UVB because you wanna prevent that damage and aging from your skin that you're gonna see in the long term, and you wanna prevent the sunburn that you're going to get in the short term. They have done a lot of studies on different ingredients in sunscreen and things like that. There's like, oh, how much is it, Katie? Is it like 10 or 12 normal active ingredients that they use to make sunscreen?

Katie: 23:56

Yeah, it really should only be a few.

Chrissy: 23:58

Well, no, but I mean in terms of like all the sunscreens that are out there.

Katie: 24:02

Oh, the, the not good ones.

Chrissy: 24:05

Yeah, including the not good ones. I think

Katie: 24:07

Um, yeah, maybe. I'm actually not sure on that.

Chrissy: 24:11

there's quite a few. Ingredients that are used in sunscreens to prevent the sun's rays from damaging your skin. And I don't know if y'all's, if our listeners' parents ever did this to them as a child, but growing up when my mom told us to put on sunscreen, she said, put on sunscreen. And then you have to wait 15 minutes before you go in the pool.'cause you want it to absorb into your skin. And now thinking back, I'm like. That's actually so horrible because these, the active ingredient in the sunscreen is incredibly toxic for us. And so the ones that absorb into our skin then get into our bloodstream and can affect our hormone levels and can affect our digestion and our mentation and all of that.

Katie: 24:57

Especially in the middle of summer when you are sweating a lot, your pores are just wide and open, and anything that is going on in your body in that moment is being. So easily absorbed. And so that's why it's even more scary we are putting ourselves at such like in such a vulnerable state and it's, yeah, it is just so crazy looking back and you're like, now that we know all this, you're like, oh my gosh.

Chrissy: 25:23

Yeah. Yeah. So, um, I actually looked at a study that, I believe it was the FDA did this study and they looked at different types of sunscreens and how much each kind of sunscreen was absorbed into the skin. They had a group of participants wear different kinds of sunscreen for 30 days. And then after 30 days, they tested their blood to see how much of that active ingredient was inside their bloodstream. at the end of the study, there were only two active ingredients in sunscreen that were not significantly absorbed into the skin. And those two were zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. Now sunscreens that are created with these two. Minerals are known as mineral sunscreens. They are usually much better for you because those active ingredients don't actually soak into your skin. So it decreases the chances of them getting into your bloodstream and causing more of those systemic issues. these sunscreens unfortunately, in terms of a cosmetic standpoint, do tend to be a little bit thicker and they tend to be a little bit. Like oilier, like heavy on the skin because they don't absorb into the skin.

Katie: 26:36

I never actually really thought about that, but you're right, the, like zinc, uh, lotions that we have,

Chrissy: 26:42

mm-hmm.

Katie: 26:43

just look like a white. They make us look white, a ghosty, pasty, you know? And it is, Wes really hates it, but it's funny because it's like, oh, it's not absorbed.

Chrissy: 26:52

right? I always think of like grandpa on the beach with his white nose, you know? But that's the kind of sunscreen that's actually better for us because it doesn't get absorbed into our skin. Another thing that's actually important to, um, recognize about sunscreen is whether or not it has vitamin A added to it. So other

Katie: 27:12

Hmm.

Chrissy: 27:13

A is retinol, retinol, acetate and retinol. linoleate and retinal palmitate Palmin Palmitate. the vitamin A crazy enough is actually broken down by sunlight, so it can denature the sunscreen altogether and make it ineffective. also when it's absorbed into. Your skin, it can lead to osteoporosis and liver damage and um, brittle nails and hair loss, which, um, actually I am just now realizing that all of those are related to calcium levels. Crazy.

Katie: 27:53

Isn't retinol the stuff that you shouldn't be using when you're pregnant anyway? Right. Is that right?

Chrissy: 27:59

I've never heard that possibly.

Katie: 28:01

I feel like it's one of those, like I, I think retinol is that like anti-aging agent

Chrissy: 28:06

Mm-hmm.

Katie: 28:07

in a lot of like skincare products and I think when you're pregnant they recommend not using it. That just sounds like something that I read at some point while I was pregnant, but I don't know.

Chrissy: 28:17

You know, I think looking at things that are recommended to not use during pregnancy, I think is a good outline on. Good idea to look at, even if you're not pregnant, because my thought is, if I'm not supposed to use these products or eat these things while I'm pregnant because it could potentially harm the baby, what kind of harm could it potentially do to my own body if I'm not pregnant?

Katie: 28:45

Yeah.

Chrissy: 28:46

I just,

Katie: 28:46

like, if it's so toxic for an infant, is it actually toxic for me too? Yeah. I never knew about the vitamin A stuff, but I, I've been trying to learn as much as I can about sunscreen because I, I also have talked with some people who are like, oh, you shouldn't cover up with sunscreen. In general because you want the vitamin D, but I really still think that like you want to, I mean, kind of like you said earlier, if you're out in the sun for a certain amount of time, like more than 15 plus minutes, it really is important to protect yourself. But you really want. Non-toxic stuff and it often is the, the sunscreen that makes you kind of look more like a ghost. And it's okay, but it's protecting you better than the one that's gonna keep you looking good because it's like absorbing into your skin though I did recently learn about a sunscreen, I think it's the one from Primally Pure. It's super expensive, but it's made with beef tallow. And so the tallow with the zinc, it goes on a little bit clearer from my understanding, and I don't know this from experience, I think I just stumbled upon an ad for it, but it's super expensive. So if you're into that, you can definitely check it out. But, EWG, we've talked about them before. They're the environmental working group. They also put out the Clean 15 and the Dirty Dozen list for foods like fruits and veggies. They also are known for having a sunscreen list of, you know, sunscreens that are super safe that they, put their stamp of approval on. we can link to that because they, actually. Give you a handful of them that are a little bit more affordable because a lot of these mineral sunscreens tend to be a bit more expensive, because they're not as toxic. They're not using all these terrible ingredients in it that are harming you. They're actually protecting you a little bit more. We switched recently, The product that I am using, and I'm actually, I, I'm holding it right in front of me. I did not notice this until this very second as I'm staring at it, but it actually, Chrissy, it has an EWG stamp of approval in the top corner here, which is so crazy. I did not realize that until this very second. But

Chrissy: 31:05

fantastic.

Katie: 31:06

Now you're all like, what is this? What is this brand? Um, I think it's pronounced Babo. It's BABO Botanicals, and they have a handful of different mineral sunscreens. I am currently holding their. Broad spectrum SPF 50 and it's water resistant for 80 minutes. We also got their face sunscreen, they have like a stick as well as a cream,. for Malakai I've been using this brand called. Babyganics, like literally it's like the word organics, but instead of o in front of it, it's baby and it is Bobby approved, but it has an EWG rating of three, so it's, it's not on like the best. End of the spectrum but it is still like a green rating for EWG. we are going to continue potentially using this with Malakai we actually, I had two bottles of it and I accidentally had one in my purse while we went through customs recently, and so they took the bottle because it was liquid. So I was like, well, I guess that's one way to get rid of a bottle accidentally. So that was kind of humorous.'cause Wes and I. Just the day before that we're talking about switching sunscreens for Malakai and he's like, you just recently bought like two new bottles. And I was like, yeah, but I don't wanna harm my baby. And then they took that one away and I was like, I, I promise I did not do this on purpose. I did not purposely put it in here for them to take it away. I literally didn't even know that we had it with us. So kind of funny. But those are the two I'm using. Are you using any specific ones, Chrissy?

Chrissy: 32:36

Before I actually get to that, I actually think, and you know, that EWG gives ratings based on level of toxicity of items and the ingredients in products. I think one way that Even though a sunscreen or a beauty product might have a rating of three out of 10, 10 is the worst. EWG certified is like a zero. I think it, it's important to actually go into the website and look at specifically what ingredient are they saying is quote unquote bad

Katie: 33:05

Mm.

Chrissy: 33:06

and what's the reason that it's bad, you know?'cause some of them they'll say, oh, it's really bad because it has a high risk of allergies. Well, if you're not allergic to it then you shouldn't have a problem with it. You know, it's just an, an ingredient that more people tend to be allergic to. So, um, yeah, maybe just like go in and look at it, like why is this rated a three as opposed to EWG certified? And then you can decide for yourself whether or not it's a risk that you personally are willing to take. Because like we've said numerous times over, this is all a personalized, Process and journey that we are all on to live healthier and what works for some people won't work for other people. And so that's important. Speaking of what works with some people and not works with other people. I don't wear sunscreen the vast majority of the time. I

Katie: 33:57

Dun, dun. duuuunnnnn

Chrissy: 34:00

I can't stand the way it feels on my face. I can't stand the way it feels on my skin. I will literally only put on sunscreen if I'm going to the beach or to the pool in the middle of the day, but going on a walk in the middle of the day, I don't wear sunscreen. I don't put lotion on my face. my beauty products in general are so incredibly limited. Literally this morning I was dressed all cute and then I went to the mirror I was about to put on mascara and I was like, nah, I just don't want to

Katie: 34:27

Nah.

Chrissy: 34:28

to. So I am a very, uh, minimalist when it comes to anything beauty products and things that I put on my skin. So, no, I don't wear sunscreen on a daily basis. Um, although recently I did go to the beach and I I started learning about. These, sunscreen toxicities on my way home from the beach after lathering myself with the toxic sunscreen that we already had

Katie: 34:55

Of course.

Chrissy: 34:56

in the house. Right? And of course, the aerosolized one too, like the spray, which increases your risk of breathing it in, which is no. bueno and after going to the beach, I went up to Max and I said, Hey, so. We have to change something. He goes, oh, I was like, our sunscreen. He said, I was waiting for you to come up with that one. It's like he knows the things in the house that I'm going to figure out are toxic and he just like waits for me to figure it out. And then as soon as I figure it out, he's like, yep. All right. So we'll put it in the budget for next month for you to buy new sunscreen and we'll figure out how to get rid of this stuff even though we never use sunscreen. And so, That's in the budget next month to buy different kinds of sunscreen because literally every single one that we have is not good,

Katie: 35:43

pretty much all of your traditional, like the banana boats and all that stuff, I, I, for the most part are. All really not great. My sister recommended one I think it was like something Bum, beach bum, something bum. And it actually was a good one. I looked it up and it was considered, Bobby approved and I think EWG had some forms of it that were. On the green spectrum. I can't remember if it was completely EWG verified, but, um, I was pleasantly surprised about that.'cause I was like, that was a brand that I had heard of previously.

Chrissy: 36:17

I do know also Neutrogena, while the vast majority of Neutrogena sunscreen is not great for you, they do have a mineral line and the mineral sunscreen by Neutrogena is decent and is rated well on EWG. So. That's one thing to keep in mind. I did find that one sold at our grocery store. Was it more expensive than all the rest of them? Absolutely. But it's good for you.

Katie: 36:42

Well, the last thing I wanted to mention before we end this podcast episode is that an interesting thing that I have learned recently is that sunglasses might actually be causing us to burn. More easily, which is so insane to me because I have always been taught that like sunglasses protect your eyes from the sun obviously and from getting burned and from all the stuff. However, and, and I don't know how true this is yet, it's something that I have just recently in the last couple months heard, and I have not dived into too much, but I have heard that your sunglasses block your eyes from. Basically gauging how much like UV is actually happening. And then there's something in your eyeballs, like some sort of receptors that then tell the rest of your body to produce a certain hormone in the skin to then protect itself from actually getting burned. Now, at first I was like, well, that kind of sounds crazy, but then you think about for generations, like literally thousands of years. People did not wear sunglasses and yet they weren't like getting all these crazy issues with getting burnt and you know, they were working in the fields constantly. Like that's what people did for their livelihoods is they like farmed. And people, I assume like weren't getting like. Really bad skin cancers and things like that. And so I've been learning things about sunglasses that maybe we shouldn't be using them as often and as frequently when we go outside, especially when we're out there for long periods of time. And your Eyes need to actually receive the full amounts of light in order to tell the body to then produce a certain hormone that protects it from getting burnt as easily. So I don't know how true it is yet, and I've been seeing more about it lately, but also the fact that like. Sunglasses basically block your eyes from like, like impacts your circadian rhythm and, and so you also don't wanna wear sunglasses for that reason. I don't know. I've always been a sunglasses wearer. So what are your thoughts on that, Chrissy?

Chrissy: 38:57

Um, my thoughts are I have blue eyes and sunglasses are a lifesaver sometimes. So I also have heard recently, um, some. Not quite nearly as much as what you've heard about sunglasses, but I've heard more so along the lines of people figuring out how to prevent your eyes from being so incredibly sensitive to the sun. And one of the strategies that I have heard is waking up with the sunrise and going outside.

Katie: 39:28

Yeah.

Chrissy: 39:29

So that your eyes have like the gradual increase of light that slowly but surely makes them like more okay with the light. Whereas if you go from like your dark bedroom smack into like 11:00 AM sun

Katie: 39:45

Mm-hmm.

Chrissy: 39:46

it's more like shocking to your eyes and so they hurt more and especially me as a blue-eyed person. I just like can't open my eyes outside if I do that. But I have been outside recently, like at sunrise or closer to sunrise, and those days I'm much more able to tolerate the sun. Throughout the day than normal. I still have not quite figured out how to drive without sunglasses at peak sun

Katie: 40:13

Mm-hmm.

Chrissy: 40:13

because the sunlight like reflects off of the road and then reflects off my dashboard and reflects off my windshield also somehow, and just hurts my eyes a lot. But that could also be my astigmatism speaking so

Katie: 40:28

Yeah.

Chrissy: 40:28