My sister forwarded me this article from Time Magazine’s Healthland blog:

Can a Veggie-Rich Diet Make You More Beautiful?

We both used to obsess over tanning and it was the focus of almost every summer until a few years ago.

Around the time when we started to change our ideas about our diets and exercise a chef we worked with once commented that people tan because they are out of shape and “tan fat looks better than white fat”. The comment horrified us both and made us realize the creepiness and vanity that is tanning-knowingly hurting yourself to fulfill an unnecessary beauty standard. So, we dropped the tanning habits, picked up some strong SPF and spent our summers focused on changing our appearance with activities that actually participated in nature, rather than just frying ourselves in it.

We opted for health over the appealed tanned skin. If this article is right, this might actually yield better results. Maybe we can still have the glow of a bronzed epidermis without the health consequences. And if not, what’s so wrong with pale skin? It can still be beautiful.