The sun and me

As most of my friends and family know, 4 years ago this summer I was diagnosed with melanoma. It was a horribly scary experience and changed our lives in many ways. I was never a huge sun seeker, I just enjoyed it moderately on weekends playing volleyball on the beach, going for walks, hiking, etc. I never laid out all that often and didn't care about being bronzed to perfection.
Since being diagnosed, I've been literally quite scared of the sun's rays and what I thought it could do to my body. I certainly don't want to have to go through that experience again, for my sake and my familys sake. But in the years since I quit enjoying the outdoors, too scared to venture out during daylight hours for any length of time, too worried about protecting myself fro UVA and UVB rays to go for walks unless it was extremely overcast, early in the morning or very late evening...I've noticed that I've had a number of issues that could possibly be attributed to lack of, well, sun. I've been very susceptible to depression--which, I realise could easily happen with the life changes we've had through the years, but hey, doesn't everyone?? I've gained a significant number of pounds without much being changed diet wise--and I even exercise more routinely NOW because it's more of a scheduled event than before my children arrived. I know metabolism slows down as you age, but heck, I'm not even 30 yet! And surely it doesn't slow that much this soon.
My skin is pasty white, and I realise I'll have less wrinkles and age spots than those who are tanning vigorously...but I miss it. I miss the sun, being outside in the DAYTIME and I miss being able to play with abandon outside with my boys the way I did with my stepdaughter.

Then my friend Marie sent me some links and I have to admit, they make a lot of sense. http://www.newstarget.com/021903.html
From the article:

more people use sunscreen products, the more they'll get cancer. And that's due to two primary reasons: 1) Sunscreen blocks vitamin D production, a nutrient that strongly prevents cancer, and 2) Sunscreen products almost always contain cancer-causing chemicals that are absorbed through the skin and enter the bloodstream where they cause severe DNA damage, leading to cancer.

Basically it's saying that by blocking the Vitamin D you get from natural sunlight, it's actually helping PROMOTE cancer in your body. It certainly doesn't say "Go to the Tanning Bed until you fry!" or "Stay out all day without so much as a hat!" but it does say that sunlight in moderation very often is absolutely essential to your wellbeing, and that the sunscreens that are so highly touted are actually full of carcinogens that we are not only letting absorb into our skin, but putting into our environment via rivers, oceans and drains.
I was amazed at all the symptoms lack of sunlight could cause, including but not limited to the ones I mentioned I have. Obviously, I don't think just going outside more often is going to make me happier all the time or help me drop this 20 lbs...but I think it's a valid point. It also encourages people to eat berries, spirulina, carrots, and more to increase your skins own natural SPF, which allows the good rays in without being damaged by it on a cellular level. Makes sense to me! I've already begun introducing some of these things into my diet, and I plan to replace my sunscreen with some of the natural alternatives they suggest and throw out mine (which after inspection, I realised contains alot of chemicals that have been directly linked to cancers and birth defects--scary!) and see how it goes. Any thoughts on this? Email me at smithstation@cox.net
I'd love to hear opinions. And I'll let you know how my own experiment goes. I know I'm happier already...I get to go outside!
**Edited to add: when I say throw out my sunscreen and use natural alternatives, I mean I will still be using sunscreen--just ones that they reccomend with lower chemical compositions--mine is called UV Natural SPF 30. Here's one of the ones we used to use and it's score is "7" of "10"...10 being the most dangerous for use by their scale. The one I switched to is a 1. Almost everything man made has some sort of chemical in it, and some risk. My plan is to try to minimalize those risks as much as possible. http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/product.php?prod_id=49576&refurl=%2Fbrowse.php%3Fatatime%3D500%26sunscreens%3D1%26worst%3D1%26
Here's the list to see what yours has in it. http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/special/sunscreens/summary.php