OCT/NOV 2017
25
HEALTH|
IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN BEND BY DR. OLIVER J. WISCO, DO, FAAD, FACMS
Each year, as we transition into fall, a
feeling of refreshed optimism is in the air.
Whether it’s because the new school year
is underway or because a new season of
invigorating outdoor sports is about to start,
the change brings about a renewed excite-
ment for life. Most of us in Central Oregon
are likely transitioning workouts towards
getting prepared for winter sports. As you
reframe your daily routines and outlook on
life, make sure you take a comprehensive
approach to your health and don’t forget
about your skin.
With fall and winter, because we start
covering up more due to the colder tem-
peratures and because the sunlight hours
are shorter, our risk for ultraviolet damage
to our skin tends to lessen. However, this
decrease in daylight hours and temperature
also causes us to let our guard down. In the
dermatology community, we see a moder-
ate upsurge in photo damage during this
transition period.
Most people do a pretty good job of wear-
ing sun protective clothing and sunscreen
during the last half of the summer. I would
like think this happens because our sun
protection and skin cancer awareness cam-
paigns have educated the public, but the
reality is more likely that you got a painful
sunburn at the beginning of summer; there
is nothing like negative reinforcement to
emphasis the need for sun protection for
the rest of the summer. However, like all
important lessons in life, we tend to forget
over time and as the summer comes to
a close, there is a tendency to maximize
those last days of sun and warmth. That’s
when it happens...that swimsuit that now
fits just right is put back on one last time
and you spend the entire day at the river
or lake soaking up the last few rays. And
unfortunately, you ignore the sunscreen
bottle because you incorrectly think to
yourself “it won’t be sunny for very long.”
Then, at the end of the day, you look like
the well-cooked lobster at dinner and you
once again remember why you were so
vigilant about sun protection throughout
the summer.
Another scenario I often see stems from
the lingering mindset in the US that
suntanned skin is attractive. As the begin-
ning of the school year approaches, there
tends to be an increase in high school
and college students that “feel the need”
to visit the local tanning salon to get that
Colorful Vegan
perfect crisp tanned looked. In looking at
this scenario, there are two main points
to grasp - first, beauty has nothing to do
with how dark or light your skin is. The old
saying of “beauty is more than skin deep”
appropriately applies. Second, the “tanned”
look went out of style at the same time
Fabio did. If you are thinking...”whatever
happened to Fabio?” or “who is Fabio?”
then my point should be well taken. Fabio’s
popularity faded away long ago and so did
the mindset that a tan is attractive. In case
one of my readers is Fabio, I apologize!
don’t waste your time working on your tan.
We as a community need to take the same
drive that we have for physical fitness
performance to preventing skin cancer.
But once again, don’t stop spending time
outdoors, just be safe and minimize your
risk as best you can.
About the Writer: Dr. Wisco is a fellowship-trained
melanoma specialist and skin cancer surgeon and is an
Assistant Professor of Dermatology for Oregon Health
& Science University. When not at work, he is likely on
the trail running or riding his bike, or out skiing with his
family and friends here at home in Bend.
We live in a time that the deadly skin
cancer melanoma affects all of us. Multiple
studies have shown that it only takes a
few severe sunburns or a few trips to the
tanning salon to significantly increase your
risk for getting melanoma. Our community
has such an amazing drive towards health,
as emphasized in almost every outdoor
magazine, so let’s stop being the top statis-
tic of incidence of melanoma in the state of
Oregon. It is Deschutes County that signifi-
cantly contributes to Oregon being 4th in
the country in the occurrence of melanoma.
So, as you increase your time training for
fall and winter sports and you are looking
for ways to optimize your daily schedule,
By Kelly Maer
Two Minute Banana Oat Bread & Chia Seed Jam Recipes
The microwave can be a great tool for reducing time in the kitchen and producing quality recipes.
2-Minute Banana
Oat Bread
Easy Chia Seed Jam
I modified the 2-minute english
muffin recipe from “The Big Man’s
World” to make these. Ingredients:
1/3 cup oats + 1 TBS flax (both
ground in my clean coffee grinder), 1
TBS soy milk & 2 TBS mashed very
ripe banana. Form into a dough ball
then place into a microwave-safe
bowl. Dough should be sticky, not
dry. No need to cover. Microwave two
minutes then cool on a plate at least 5
minutes. Slice and serve.
Original Recipe Link: https://the-
bigmansworld.com/2016/11/08/2-
minute-flourless-english-muffin/
This easy 5-minute recipe can be
found on the Pick up Limes blog. It
will thicken as it sits. I used frozen
mixed berries + frozen blueberries,
the juice from a freshly squeezed
orange, maple syrup and chia seeds.
Recipe Link: https://www.
pickuplimes.com/single-
post/2017/04/06/Easy-Berry-
Chia-Seed-Jam