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Christine Hanisco - Serendipity Gourmet Specialties <[log in to unmask]>
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Fri, 29 Jul 2005 11:45:19 -0400
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<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Here is the summary about my post about tanning more easily after going GF.
Thanks for all of your responses! Basically, most have had skin color
improvements from not being anemic any longer or an increase in melanin, but
a couple of people had the opposite happen. 
Some of you asked if I was anemic beforehand, and the answer is YES. (The
weird thing is although I'm no longer anemic, my ferritin levels are still
very low, often between 5-15) I definitely noticed that my skin is rosier,
but the tanning has definitely increased as well. 

Here you go…
---
Yes, I have noticed the same. No freckles, though. Somewhere I read one must
have plenty of good fats in the body to tan, too, so maybe that is part of
it. Being able to digest and absorb one's foods makes a world of difference.
I'm even better once I started using digestive enzymes to help with all
digestion.  Glad to hear someone with a positive experience!  
---
I've noticed the same things.  My exception was that I didn't just burn
easily but because of the time it took to get a diagnosis I developed a sun
allergy.  Since going GF, I no longer have the sun allergy, I tan easy and
get lots of freckles (more than I've ever had).
---
I thought I would respond to your note, because I was diagnosed celiac 7
years ago, and have been a wardrobe consultant that specializes in color for
over 20 years.  I have some experience with both areas you are writing
about.  You didn't mention your age, but I can assure you that as you get
older, like over 40, you normally will lose color in the skin and it will
affect the colors that look good on you.  I am sure melanin plays a role
here.
     I am a natural redhead that had green eyes and freckles all my life.
After my dx my eyes slowly turned more blue.  Really strange for me, because
I still think of myself as having green eyes.  One theory is that as you
become healthier, green eyes will turn blue.  Something about the liver, and
being unhealthy.  I remember reading this and thinking that it implied that
folks with green eyes must have a medical problem but not sure how that all
works out.
     Back to the skin.  For a redhead, I did tan moderately until my 50's.
Now I have yellowish skin and still have freckles where the sun has shone on
it.
Pale pink/creamy in covered  areas.  I have used sunscreen on my face for at
least 25 years, so my face is still much pinker than my arms, for instance.
     You say you are from New Hampshire.  I am in South Texas.  I think the
kind of tan you get there would be much gentler than what we get here.  When
my pale daughter spent a month on the Riviera of France, at age 17 (with a
host family there) she came back with such a lovely tan.  It was probably
the difference in a slow tan and being broiled, as in S. Texas!
     Anyway, I find your comparisons interesting.  See how it goes once you
have been through the winter, and as you get older.
---
I also used to burn because of being so pale. Believe you're right in that
once you're no longer so pale you can tan instead of burn. After four years
I'm looking very tan this year and people also comment on how healthy I'm
looking!
---
Maybe your blood has improved and everything else with it!  I know I was as
white as a sheet when I was very ill before diagnosis!
---
Yes, I did!  I attribute my skin difference to being anemic prior to going
gf, tho.  I had a "clear porcelain complexion" that everyone raved about (my
hair was very dark brown), pre-gf diet.  lol  Actually, I nearly died
several times, I was so anemic.  Now my complexion is much ruddier and not
actually as attractive, tho I am healthier, certainly.  I sunburned easily
before and now I do not.  Now I lighten my hair and highlight it blond, as
my hair color did not seem to suit my complexion as much.  I notice, like
you, that I can wear more colors successfully.  I could never wear black
before--I looked like I died in it.  Now I look as good in all colors,
including yellow, which was also hard for me to wear.
---
Just read your email. My almost 14 y.o. daughter has been gf for almost 3
years. When looking back on pictures of her from previous summers we noticed
that when she was younger she would tan very easily and in more recent years
she seemed very "pasty". We passed it off as the fact that she was spending
her summers in the Northwoods in WI. This year we noticed she was
tanning...then I got your email and now I wonder if it is being gf. Thank
you for posting your observation...I am going to write my daughter now at
camp. 
---
     I have had the very same thing happen to me.  I spent all of my life
pale, I am blond and I have always burned easily and then I peel and start
over.  No matter what lotions I used I always burned in streaks and then
blistered and peeled.  
     Since going gluten free I am now very tan (not that I am trying to get
tan)  and my skin just looks healthier.  I do not apply lotions anymore for
fear of then containing gluten and I have noticed that I am no
longer streaky, I just have a nice even tan.  Now as an adult - I do not
intentionally go out and try to tan, but what little time I spend in the sun
has actually produced a tan.  All those years as a teenager baking in the
sun applying who knows what to my skin-never produced a tan. 
     I never really connected this to my gluten free diet, but your question
made me think about it and clearly there has been a change.  I was diagnosed
about 6 years ago.  I am not sure why but I will be interested in what
others say.  
---
     Heavens, yes! One of the symptoms of being celiac or gluten intolerance
is a resistance to tanning. My dh was very fair -- made redhead me look
downright swarthy, even though I was paler than most and "never tanned."
Our children were very pale as well.
     Last summer, after the kids had been GF for 2 and 3 yrs a piece, I
noticed they were both sporting beautiful tans. One boy had a beautiful
golden glow and the other was a pretty brown. They even freckled. Dh still
avoids being out in the sun, but he is tanning up this year (he's been GF 2
yrs now). Even I tan, and it's funny to worry about tanning "too dark." I
already have freckles on my face, but my arms and legs are freckling up,
too. lol.
---
I had the same experience.  My mother finally went off gluten and complained
that she had to buy new make-up because her skin color changed.  I am now
suspicious of anyone with very pale skin.  I think they might have celiac. 
---
I had the same thing happen but I believe that it was because I was not at
all anemic anymore and as my ferritin levels rose, so did my new found rosy
glow.
---
My daughter has experienced just the opposite from you. She is Asian and
used to get a dark tan from being out in the sun for two hours that would
last until winter. Now she can't tan worth beans. Her legs stay so pale that
she has resorted to going to a tanning salon just for her legs. She has been
GF for going on three years now.
---
noticed the same for me and my son this summer--GF one year and the best
tans now.  figured it was because our immune systems were healthy again!
---
I noticed the same thing.  Mine seemed to be related to an iron deficiency. 
Got the iron up, and skin color improved.
---
See more in Summary 2....

* Please remember some posters may be WHEAT-FREE, but not GLUTEN-FREE *

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