Can You Avoid Sunburn and Avoid Sunscreen?

We've been told our whole lives that we need to use sunscreen or we'd get skin cancer and die. Right? At least I know I have. But now researchers are saying that our "indoors" lifestyle combined with our penchant for sunscreen wearing has led to a phenomenon of huge amounts of people being so deficient in Vitamin D that we're all getting sick. 

You see, you can't get Vitamin D from the sun if you're wearing sunscreen. 

Look at the articles out there now about Vitamin D deficiency possibly being linked to autism and you have a situation that is really worth re-evaluating how we do things at home.  Add to that the fact that the majority of sunscreen products are loaded with toxic chemicals - it just seems like a slam dunk change that needs to happen.

Our family has stopped using sunscreen unless we're going to the pool (I'm still building up our diets - see below) and otherwise just stay out long enough for everyone to pink up. Usually this is about an hour, but that time frame keeps getting longer and longer. We cover up or come indoors once the pink starts showing up.

So how can we avoid sunburn without sunscreen?

There are lots of resources out there on using diet, whole healthy fats and real food to be precise, to keep your skin a the optimal level of health so you get the vitamin D without the burn. 

Check out some of the sites I found to get you started. 

How to balance not burning and still getting sun is a new issue for moms in my generation. Have you thought about going without sunscreen?