SUMMER'S NEARLY HERE, Don't Sunburn To A Crisp, or

A Fish Tale Of Acquired Sunburn Immunity.

blushing scold

The subject of sunburn came up on gg's "Ireland's Not A Garbage Can" blog.
(It's not as off topic as it sounds. Ireland has a lot of Gingers. Gingers burn up in the sun. It was a logical progression. Kinda.)

But I digress.
I mentioned that for several Summers I've noticed I'd become immune to sunburn.
I didn't consider it a problem (what Ginger would?!)
But I found it most curious confused

Even when visiting Florida from a Northern state...
Dead fish belly WHITE...
To days spent at a pool under a straight overhead sun...
NO sunscreen...
AND
NO SUNBURN! - Hardly a tan!
(Some local Pentecostals concluded I must be very godly; it was a manifestation of providential protection that I didn't blister hideously & slough off skin like a moulting snake. I am NOT making that up! scold )

Anyway.
Gg asked if I eat much fish of the Omega 3 sort.
I most certainly do!
Sardines smitten
But I'd never heard that oily fish would turn a Ginger unsunburnable.

Imp chimed in & added that eating strawberries also prevents sunburn.

I searched it...

typing

and found this...



wow....love
You know all those damnable health studies that tell you you have to eat crap like seaweed or sawdust or you'll die?

NOT THIS ONE, Y'ALL! grin
Fish!
Tomatoes!
Watermelon!
Berries!
Butter!
Whipped Cream!
Chocolate!!!!

happy place

Anyway.
Yes. I realize one unfried Ginger - even a dead fish belly white Ginger in Florida that convinces Pentecostals a miracle has occurred - isn't exactly a clinical study.
But as noted in the article, if something works - you don't NEED studies!
laugh

Thought I'd pass it along; take it for what it's worth.

(This blog is not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat or cure any condition or ailment.)

There.
Y'all got the standard lawyer approved legal disclaimer.
If any of y'all blister hideously, slough off skin like a moulting snake, get cancer and/or die horribly, neither you nor your survivors can sue my @ss off.
tongue

cowboy
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Comments (29)

HA, to sue you we need your address. laugh

Fun blog Mic. I go red and peel, that was the last time I was in the sun. But our sun is a lot stronger than your sun, or maybe not in Florida where I visited July month and it was bloody hot. peace
miclee ~ that was to be in the famous Blog I intended to do about Gingers, the foods we need to eat.
The only thing is, you are still Ginger, so you still have Melatonin to protect you, that mop of hair.

, Food has a great effect on sunburn. I have lost the strawberry,I am now a whitish blonde [my father was a ginger that tanned with sort of darkish skin] my brother is very dark ginger, with brown eyes and dark skin...
very weird but slower to go grey than any other colour as the pigment is so strong.

So, Gingers are healthy old things. They have been maligned for centuries and accused of being
unlucky here in Ireland. My great grandpa would be going to Market in Galway with the Cattle, and if
he met a redhaired woman he would turn back, it was bad luck, just as it was to wear green to an interview.

Hard to think that an otherwise astute businessman with a huge farm and other interests, had a belief so
naive and primal. My grandmother who raised me would not let me wear Green, it was unlucky.
mumbling I will be following you hopefullly with more information on the great ginger race.
Wow, I eat all those things anyway, lucky break. I wear SPF15 and love hats and so far so good, don't burn quickly or frizzle up and disappear. (Always a fear for the ginger, who as all know is half-vampire and shouldn't venture into daylight)

Funny thing though I survived 40 years in Africa, moved to Scotland and got a touch of skin cancer uh oh

Now in Spain in a house without windows, sorted. Ok it has windows but none face the sun directly. laugh
Biff ~ I was a devil for sun all my life, never wore skin cream, factor what?wine Was nut brown all during summer... back in the days.
Then, in my 40s, started to use blushing despite warnings, Sunbeds. I became a Tanorexic.

Late 40s, got sense, grew up, I have ginger in my hair and veins, so no more sunbathing, factor 50 and a hat, and recently diagnosed with same as you, beside right eye.


I think you should continue to wear the hat. It is actually safer in Spain as you have an ozone layer, as you know Scotland, UK and Ireland do not.Happy times Biff.waiter
hmmm

Some folks may not know much 'bout Murkun Pentecostals (aka 'Jump & Shouts').
This'll bring y'all up to speed...



jaw drop

Note @ 4:45 - The nice Ginger lady howling like a hyena.
rolling on the floor laughing rolling on the floor laughing

I'll leave it to y'all's imaginings how folks in such a mindset would react to witnessing a dead fish belly WHITE Ginger unscorched after several days under a Florida sun.
Oh yeah. They're all that.
laugh

cowboy
sigh

I fear the vast majority of people cannot comprehend the burdens borne by Gingers...the world's smallest minority sad

This is because we characteristically bear up with a stoicism that can only be described as stony.

But that stony facade sometimes cracks.
A Ginger Snaps. (get it?...Ginger snap? laugh )
And the bitter truth, the cruel truth is revealed...



crying

cowboy
bouquet summer it is Miccheers
uh oh

When dealing with lawyers, keeps, I don't take chances.
If that disclaimer is good enough for Big Pharma -
Itself good enough for me.

cowboy
Mic - I have one rolling on the floor laughing

Seriously. Ordered it for a holiday, it didn't arrive in time, but it is strutting its stuff here in Spain, mainly when I am going out on my own because certain people make rude comments about my hats snooty

I love it nearly as much as my tatty black and it is of course much more versatile in a hot climate

tip hat
I have one of the little ones, with the brim you can tilt every which way, although they don't spring to life quite so crisply after being crushed a few times. Like a handkerchief on the head, weightwise, and bliss ...
The...HAT!



Scroll down to the comments.
What's said about Florida sun, heat & humidity thumbs up
laugh

Guys -
In the vid...imagine 'em turned around & the adjustment thingy becomes an homage to the Cavalry hat cord.
grin

cowboy
I think that's the sign of your spiritual awakening. professor


P.S. I never sunbathe.
Thanks, Miclee - I used to have one - I bought it in the Dominican Republic. What with several moves since then and being smushed in packing, I'm not sure it looks like anything to wear anymore! rolling on the floor laughing
My skin reacts to sun differently, depends on which part of the globe I am. ....so i have noticed.
wave Linds!

dancing....cool

grin

cowboy
Winter seems to have arrived early this year in SAsnowed in cold cheers
Luke, it hasn't really left here yet mumbling
What I miss most (at times) is when I step out of the shower to shave and getting dressed without using a towel to dry off.laugh
Luke, we have to use a towel before even going into the shower laugh
wave riana!

Spiritual awakening.
I hadn't considered that possibility.

BUT
May it be that it is the other way around?
Which came first? Spiritual awakening? Sunburn immunity?
Like that chicken & egg thing.

That is, spiritual awakening is the result rather than the cause of sunburn immunity.
When one isn't annually scorched into excruciating pain, one can more consistently focus on other things. Like awakening spiritually.
I find agony quite distracting.

Sunbathing -
Can't say I engage in that activity (inactivity?) per se.
But I do spend a lot of time just being outside.

Another consideration - Vitamin D3...the sunshine vitamin.
I'm forced to get an annual physical through a health program.
It's a bit of a nuisance.
It's usually scheduled in Spring...after Winter when I'm dead fish belly white.

I've been told every year that I'm a bit low in D3...take supplements.
Which I would do.
But it seemed it did little if any good...always a bit deficient.

Two things were different last year.
1) The health program offered free stuff (free is good grin ) if your doc confirmed you needed it. And one of the free things was D3.
So I took the form in to have the doc confirm I was D3 deficient.

BUT

2) Last year the physical got postponed until mid Summer.
So when I asked the doc to confirm the D3 deficiency so I could get my free stuff he told me he couldn't do that - I had plenty of D3.

I kinda jokingly mentioned that walking around in Summer attire was apparently much more effective than gulping supplements.
He quite unjokingly acknowledged that was so.

I pointed out Winter would return.
I would again be dead fish belly white.
So how 'bout my free stuff?
Nope.
The health plan would only give me free stuff based my most recent lab reports.
Stupid health plan mumbling
moping

The conclusion here is obvious.
Schedule physicals in Winter/Spring so you get free stuff.

cowboy
Skin reacts differently to different sun in different parts of the planet.
Absolutely, BA!
I can think of a whole bunch of reasons why locale would be a factor.

I'm glad you raised that variable sun point.

I saw this on PBS a few years ago...



It came out in '06.
Note in the opening the guy says we'd have 10 years to mend our ways.
If we failed to do so, we'd be doomed.
Bummer sad

Anyway.
That was also about the time I noticed I was no longer getting annually scorched.
Each Spring I'd remember that program and wonder if the dimming sun caused sunburn immunity.
Seemed plausible dunno

Indeed, when I raised the point on gg's blog I also raised the possibility of a changing sun as a possible explanation, & asked if others in other parts of the world had noticed it.

It was then that gg & imp brought up the food factor.

Thinking back...
Other than the sun going dim, what else might explain why I'd acquired sunburn immunity?
And more specifically...at about that time?

lightbulb

Wife died.
She'd done most of our cooking.
She didn't love fish to the same extent as I.
So we ate what she liked to cook/eat...less fish.
When left to feed myself - I ate more fish.
Sardines smitten
And sunburn immunity was subsequently observed...at about that time!

Gotta hand it to ya, gg & imp...
It adds up. It makes sense.
The Omega 3 fish hypothesis explains the observed phenomenon and accounts for the several variables.

It appears you nailed it! cheers

cowboy
@miclee

If you remember, when we discussed bears and hedgehogs, I suggested you should do the research about similar animals living in the warm climate. I think now is the time to start that project. professor

With a little luck, you might get a grant and spend the following winter on a tropical island with a lot of sunshine (and vitamin D3). cool
daydream I remember it well, riana!

I'm pleased to report the plan has been implemented & is proceeding apace grin

You being Autumn Ginger, I presume you've been briefed on the impending GWO (Ginger World Order) takeover of the planet, and how we of the 2% Master Race Of Destiny will divide it up among ourselves.
There's quite a lengthy discussion of it on gg's 'Ireland' blog.
Seems I spilled the beans on that...alerted an otherwise unsuspecting world.
My bad. sigh

Anyway.
I've staked out a claim on Hispaniola cool dancing

So. Riana.
What part of Earth have you selected for your private realm in the GWO?
There's still quite a few Caribbean islands up for grabs.
We could have neighboring realms! hug
grin

cowboy
Since I spend winters in Florida and the rest of the year playing softball (standing in an outfield 3 hours at a time), I have an unintentional year round tan.
I think that protects me somewhat.
However, on those days that I know I will be in the sun a long time and it being in the high 80's or 90's F.
I do use some sunblock on my face, neck, arms & legs.
I also eat a lot of fish (different types) and different berries.
The berries provide vitamin C and are loaded with antioxidants and the fish has omega 3 fatty acids.
So, I guess they help too.
Plus, I am not a "Ginger".
@miclee

I have no rights. blues

I'm not a natural ginger. blues

crying crying crying crying crying

But as a wanna-be ginger, I can give my support! flower
sad
nastics & riana...comfort

Y'all's honesty will be remembered in the GWO.
I'll put in a good word for you.
Hell. You might even get like a monument or something.

BTW riana - Perhaps the most famous Ginger wannabe...Lucille Ball.
She was a natural blonde.

cowboy

:
miclee ~ My days of lying in the sun for hours are well and truly over. Firstly there is no ozoe layer here. Secondly I think it makes me look like a brown leather handbag.

I prefer to walk around and see things, Just lying, roasting to me is a waste of a holiday, my opinon of course.
I do find that I only burn in Ireland when in other countries with an ozone layer, I go brown straight away.
Not very interesting information, just saying.confused
Right you are gg cheers

Sunbathing isn't an activity. It's an inactivity.
(See my previous comment to riana's previous comment.)

cowboy
Here you are, Ish cheers

cowboy
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miclee

miclee

North of the Straits of, Florida, USA

The Journey Is the Destination ...

'Not All Who Wander Are Lost.' - J.R.R. Tolkien.

Kids are launched.
I've a streak of wanderlust and nothing holding me anywhere ...
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created May 2018
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