It's right here...enjoy! A lot of really good info here! Years worth of blogs to read!

I wonder about the wrinkling and sun exposure- was it the constant tanning that caused damage or rather those few bad burns you had? Dr. Eades talks about careful sun exposure- a few minutes a day, building up a base tan, not overdoing it even when you're well tanned- in other words, using common sense and avoiding burns.

I personally don't get a whole lot of sun exposure because I wear a lot of clothing for religious reasons- but what parts I do expose (hands, lower arms, face, lower legs) I rarely use sunscreen on, and only at times when I'm going to be out all day and I'm afraid of getting burned. So I basically get as much sun exposure as it's possible for me to get with my lifestyle, and I take cod liver oil every day. I don't think I'm getting 5,000 IU of vitamin D daily though- according to Fitday it's about 34 mcg. Is a mcg and an IU the same thing?

According to the chart I found, 400 IU is equal to 10 mcg. So, you're getting 1,360 IUs, Ruth. Living in NY and dressing modestly, I'd say you're a definite candidate for supplementation! Fortunately, as Dr. Mike points out, D3 is "dirt cheap" so it won't add that much to the budget.

007, You are totally cracking me up!

My ND tested my D3 level....it was 16.....it should be 60! So needless to say I got the 50,000 units per week capsule for the winter months.....I think it's helped a bit. I still feel SAD....and want to stay in bed all day.....

I live in rainy Pacific Northwest though...zero sun....and lots of grey dark rainy days...

And I go the the sunbed too....I need the warmth and dryness....I think it helps a bit. It's the UVB that increases vitamin d production....and most sunbeds filter out the UVB....the UVB is what causes the skin to burn.....I tried the super expensive high pressure beds....but it only has 1% UVB...the conventional tanning bed is around 5%....so I have found it better to do 5 mins in the conventional bed....just before I start to burn....rather than 20 mins in the expensive high pressure bed with no burning.

I am off to go today again.....it has been a couple of weeks.

I also use the full spectrum lightbulbs in all the livingroom and desk lamps.....

Have a great day!
Natascha

Good to know. Maybe I'll pick up some D3 to supplement my supplements.

It's probably cheaper than dirt- have you seen the prices on topsoil lately?

Most of the bronzed bimbettes I see have the wrinkles of someone 10-20 years older. That's why they keep bronzing - the wrinkles are more obvious when they are pale.

I am very fair w/red hair & blue eyes and don't really tan, but freckles with pink background look sort of like a tan. I take D3 in winter (recent changes to Canadian guidelines have made it more common in 1000 IU doses and cheap) and build up slowly in spring to summer, starting with only 5 minutes at a time (no sunscreen). Interestingly, I get more freckles without sunscreen than with sunscreen, and actually build up a tolerance. By midsummer, I don't put on sunscreen unless I'll be out for more than an hour in full sun. Since I started following the Eades advice in 2000, I've had fewer burns than I did when I faithfully used sunscreen from the first day out.

New information update from agent 007!

Yesterday (Sunday) I finally went to a tanning salon to get info. It turns out the girl who works there is NOT a bronzed bimbo, she was actually smart! Or, at least she claimed to be smart. She was wearing those Tina Fey glasses so I tended to believe her, i.e., she looked smart. She said she's planning on going to college to be a nurse or doctor. She impressed me as being smart (and cute in a "thinking man's woman" kind of way - i.e., my type) and I'm a total snob about these kind of things. Anyway, I asked her if she read "Protein Power." She has not, but she wants to read it. So, I'm going to photocopy the "Sunshine Superman?" chapter and give it to her (the salon is right across the street from my apartment).

Then, after she reads the chapter, she is going to recommend the type of tanning bed that most closely matches the actual sun according to the author's description in the book. There are several types of tanning beds -- all with different combinations/magnitudes of UVA/UVB rays, etc. So, she's going to tell us which one to use. Also, I quizzed her on electromagnetic radiation and she actually understood the theory. So, I think we can trust her advice. She also said, she will get her boss (proprietor) to read it, too, to get his opinion.

After I get this info I'll post back here (assuming any of you want to learn this). And thanks, ElleH for posting the blog link.

End communique from 007.......

James Bond Will Return

i'm in the sun pretty much everyday here in south florida.
i have always protected my skin and at 53, you can't tell my age, looking at my skin....

now..... last year i did 3-4 months of tanning in a salon with natural sun bulbs..
after that 3-4 month period, my skin dried out and aged a good 6 yrs....
wrinkles popped out and threw me for a loop.
it came up fast!

i'm now showing some of my age..
if you want to slow down the aging process.... i don't recommend the tanning salons. it really did a number on my skin....

because of that, i've taken to wearing my hat in the sun, whenever i'm outside, and i still use lots of protective lotions.
i haven't seen any increased wrinkle production this year..

and i will never do another tanning salon again, unless i want to look my age.

I used to lie around in the sun as a teenager...used tanning beds and had my own tanning lamp at home.

I had skin cancer by the time I was 23.

Since I am outside most of the day with my job, I now wear a hat most days...I also have an SPF in my make-up and chapstick...

I am convinced it was the tanning that gave me the cancer. I would never tan again...inside or outside.

To this day my mother will pull me aside and say, "You look so much better with a tan."

(rolling my eyes)

I love to tan, but it sure doesnt like me. I get outside as much as I can because I love it, but I cant anymore. If you all saw the lovely scar on my face from years of tanning in tanning beds and the years of tanning outside as a teenager, you wouldnt believe it. Scared me to death, had to have a skin graft to fill in the whole where what looked like a freckle came out.

But to the other point, I take vitamin d and it makes a huge difference for me in the winter.

If I could tan I probably still would, but I have discovered the magic of spray tanning. I have it done at a salon and it makes me feel great with the tan lines.

The Mercola website has lots of information about tanning, Vit D, and tanning beds. After reading it I decided to tan in a salon year round. It's not ideal, but it helps. Mercola is now selling 'safe' tanning lamps but they're $1300, so I'll have to wait a bit to afford one.

Oh it would be a dream to have safe tanning bulbs. My dermatologist who I see about every 6 months now has explained to me that anytime someone burns its bad for the skin. I don't let me kids out without sunscreen anymore and my 15 year old turns dark dark brown even with SPF 30 on. He just has that skin I guess. I am not the candidate for skin cancer. I have dark hair, darker skin, and my father is American Indian but I have it. They said it had to be from the years of tanning in a tanning bed.

I sure hope those bulbs are what they say they are.

As other posters pointed out, Vit D produced by UVB, which is also the "burning ray". The proportion of UVB in sunlight at noon in the tropics is about 5%. UVB is filtered by the atmosphere. Most of the year, very little UVB makes it through the atmosphere in most of the US.

I have also checked at the salon - read the training manual used by the salon staff, which says that the low pressure lamps are closer to natural sunlight (about 95% UVA and 5% UVB) and the high pressure lamps used in the stand-up "Hex" units and some newer beds have very little UVB - selling point because UVA doesn't burn as fast.

Since winter began I had been using the high pressure Hex unit because it was faster and quit supplementing Vit D, and damned if I didn't come down with about the worst case of the flu I've ever had. So I'm back to taking a vit D supplement and the low pressure beds.

look at pictures of old sun worshippers and then compare them to images of people who have been cooped up indoors. institutionalized mental patients often appear to be ten or twenty years younger than their peers because they receive little sun exposure.

That..... and maybe the meds just bloat them up enough that the wrinkles don't show!

Personally, I don't mind getting a bit of a base tan at the salon. I use a lot more moisturizer when I'm at the tanning salon than I do normally, so it hasn't been a problem.

And nothing can do more damage to my skin that the constant burn-turn tan that I did when I was a teen. Anyone else's mom advise them to use baby oil and iodine?? Geesh!

Lastly, sun is UVA; tanning salons are UVB rays. Even if you have a tan from a tanning salon, you still really need to protect your skin b/c you are tan due to a different ray. UVA is what produces the Vitamin D....