Passionately Holistic

With Spring Break around the corner I find myself daydreaming of aqua water and white sand. In a perfect world our 7 and 4-year old will be playing PEACEFULLY and HAPPILY with shovels and buckets, building sandcastles, finding seashells and crabs. No stress, a drink in one hand, a book in the other under an umbrella, music playing along with the sounds of the kids laughter, and let’s not forget the casual conversation with the hubs that doesn’t include errands that need to be run or what’s for dinner….Ahhh, can’t you just picture it and feel the warmth on your face? I can…again, this is my vision of the perfect vacation day! Let’s hope I get 1 or 2 of these days out of 6. Haha!!

Day to-day in my life is chaotic and as wonderful as it is it can also be insanely hectic, stressful, and fast paced. My hope this Spring Break is to take it all in, be grateful, live in the moment, and just know our littles will be grown before we know it so as crazy as life is now, we need to embrace it and LOVE it – even the straight chaos.

Along with embracing the current stage of life my Spring Break hope for me and everyone else is to have some quality family time, as well as much-needed rest and relaxation in the warm sun. The least of our worries should be the sunscreen we use to PROTECT our skin, bodies, and loved ones.  As sad as it is, before heading off to any activity outdoors take note when picking up your favorite sunscreen. Sunscreens contain so many ingredients that actually impact us negatively instead of protecting us from the sun’s harmful UV rays. It shouldn’t be like this right? I mean shouldn’t we just walk into whatever store we choose, look at the sunscreens, grab a pretty one that smells nice and walk out knowing we have just what our family needs to be fully protected? Unfortunately this isn’t our reality.

TOP 6 INGREDIENTS TO AVOID IN SUNSCREENS:

OXYBENZONE – disrupts your endocrine system

OCTINOXATE – disrupsts hormone balance, harms healthy cell and environment

RETINYL PALMITATE (VITAMIN A PALMITATE) – produce destructive free
radicals that are toxic to cells, damage DNA, and possibly cause cancer

HOMOSALATE – accumulates in our bodies faster than we can get rid of
it, becomes toxic and disrupts our hormones

OCTOCRYLENE – produces oxygen radicals that can damage cells and cause
mutations. It is readily absorbed by your skin and may accumulate
within your body in measurable amounts. Plus, it can be toxic to the
environment.

PARABENS – (butyl-, ethyl-, methyl-, and propyl-) can induce allergic
reactions, hormone disruption, developmental and reproductive
toxicity.  It has been suspected that parabens and other chemicals in
underarm cosmetics may contribute to the rising incidence of breast
cancer.

No matter the brand of sunscreen you decide to use, pick a safer one and
try to limit exposure to the list above.

ABC News published an article on February 21, 2019 stating the FDA has proposed a
rule to declare mineral sunscreen ingredients as safe, specifically zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. The agency said 12 other chemicals commonly used in sunscreens need more research to determine if they can be officially listed as safe, including oxybenzone and octinoxate. Read more at: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fda-mineral-sunscreens-safe-chemical-sunscreens-research/story?id=61217564

Here is another link from the EWG (Enviornmental Working Group) to check out regarding sunscreen safety: https://www.ewg.org/sunscreen/report/the-trouble-with-sunscreen-chemicals/

Download the ThinkDirty App or the EWG’s Skin Deep App to check the status of the products you are currently using or possibly purchasing. https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/