By Elena Voropay

Applying a good sunscreen before heading outdoors to reduce your risk of skin cancer and prevent premature skin aging has been preached for a long time. Indeed, too much sun, just like too much of anything, can be dangerous to your health. But your body needs sunlight for many reasons. You can go without the sunscreen, enjoy the sunshine, get all the health benefits and protect your body from the damaging harmful effects.

There is something about summer that suddenly makes us want to be healthy. When the sun comes out, we are far more inclined to eat healthy foods like salad. And you have a great motivation here - foods such as avocados and tomatoes can also help protect your skin. Eating certain nutrients can help protect your skin from the inside.

Vitamins C and E are particularly effective in preventing and repairing ultraviolet damage to the skin. Eating foods rich in these nutrients has actually been shown to help prevent or lessen the extent of a sunburn! But the trick here is that these vitamins are much more effective together than either is by itself. On the other hand, there aren't many foods that are high in both nutrients.

Foods high in vitamin C include red and green bell peppers, guava, kale, parsley, collard greens, turnips, and broccoli. Vitamin E is found in wheat germ oil, sunflower seeds, safflower and sunflower oils, almonds, and avocados. To give your skin maximum protection, you'll need to combine foods from both groups.

Most of us don't get enough vitamin D. We can get some from our food, but sunlight is by far the best source. Our bodies cannot store vitamin D, so we need to soak up the sun to get our quota. Experts suggest that as little as 10 or 15 minutes of exposure to direct sunlight (without sun cream) is enough, and this is a short enough period for most of us to avoid getting sunburn.

If we are deficient in vitamin D, some experts believe that this might increase our chances of developing certain types of cancer in later life, as well as conditions such as osteoporosis, arthritis and schizophrenia. It also helps us to absorb calcium more efficiently, which helps to keep our bones healthy. What more of an excuse do you need to get out in the sun?