Spring is coming… and we have had some very cloudy skies here in the Atlanta area… all winter, and still as we have begun to see a spring turnaround. Which brings the question about Vitamin D. If you have been taking it regularly for the winter, good job… if you still plan on taking it for the spring, well… lets see how your plan stacks up.
First off, it is important to trust that most people have a deficiency in Vitamin D. I believe it is in part due to the excessive fear of the sun that we have been under because of the skin cancer concerns… I love it when people begin to wonder, “is the sun causing skin cancer, or are all the chemical sunscreens?” I tend to think you need to look at reducing your skin protection, and work slowly to develop your resistance to the sun. It takes cautious behavior and wisdom, but with that, you can develop a very nice relationship with the sun, one that helps you with your vitamin D levels.
Read up here to better understand this line of discussion – http://www.healthsprout.com/?s=vitamin+D
But what about your use of vitamin D, now? What should you do right now in order to be sure you are being wise? First, do you even know why you need vitamin D?
Vitamin D’s importance has been skyrocketed by research over the last ten years. With some pediatricians leading the charge now… Dr. Eisenstein, who is a pediatrician who drama tends to find, and a speaker at Autism One conferences over the years, has been providing Vitamin D to infants for over a decade, and was chastised for such behavior. NOW, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants be given 400 iu of Vitamin D a day. Huh? What do you know.
Benefits of Vitamin D
Maintain bone and teeth health/strength
Support health of the immune system, act as an immune modulator (turns it off and on)
Reduces likelihood of flu (studied and tested)
Regulate insulin levels and help diabetes management – have you checked out www.60dayturnaround.net
Support lung and cardiovascular function
INFLUENCE the expression of genes involved with cancer growth, or death (positive function)
Specifically helps in reducing colon cancer such as this study suggest from Journal – Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology (you know, great bed time reading)
Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that vitamin D deficiency is associated with various human cancers. Vitamin D receptor (VDR) regulates most of the biological actions of the active vitamin D metabolite, 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3). VDR is highly expressed in small intestine and colon and has critical regulatory actions for proliferation and differentiation, intestinal barrier function, innate immunity, and host defense in the gut. Evidence strongly suggests the protective effects of vitamin D and VDR on colorectal cancer.
The link provides the opportunity to read much of the “meat” of the study. It is worth a quick glance to upgrade your smarts on this area, as it is wise for you to know why you are putting any capsule/pill in your body.
So then, what to do? Well… today was cloudy, and tomorrow is cloudy. I personally will put 5,000 units of Vitamin D in my body each of these days, and suggest the same. I will however, begin skipping days based on my sun exposure. 30+ minutes of sun on my arms, face, and some leg, will be enough to stay away from all supplementation. But if it seems as though day to day, I am in the sun 50% of the days, I will be more likely to move to a straight line, 2500 units per day.
Ultimately, if you have been tested, and you know your deficiency is significant, then you should be somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 units every day. If you don’t have a good brand to take, get Pure Pharma, or order it from us, and we’ll mail it to you. I like having coconut oil added, so that the delivery is a high percentage.
If you don’t know about deficiency or not, then you should get tested. These days it is easy to pressure your gen practitioner into adding a Vit. D test to a blood panel. So do it! It is important to know, or important to simply push towards higher doses. You don’t need to take it spread out throughout the day, like other supplements. Just pour it in!
So the key is to be cognizant of the weather as it relates to the clouds. Not the temp. On less cloudy days, get out in the sun and take advantage of making Vitamin D. Read up on sunscreens, to have a better understanding of how they typically block all production of vitamin D, and then perhaps consider reducing sunscreen use, so that you do get SOME value out of sun exposure.
Lastly, be sure to keep your nutrient density high! http://www.hsprout.juiceplus.com/us/en
I have been committed to Juice Plus for almost a decade, this is for a myriad of reasons, but one of those reasons, is that all other molecules are processed more readily with high nutrient density in the body. Literally all of them have less limitation from their rate limiting steps, if your nutrient density is high. This is such a big deal, there is no way to even teach it without the opportunity to stand in front of a white board for 60 minutes. Which is why my 60 Day Turnaround people know it better than anybody! You should consider joining… Live Facebook meetings every week for 60 days. You don’t need to be present, just present.
Be well and be blessed! – Dr. E
