Vitamin D finally seems to be receiving the recognition it deserves as a key player in the prevention of chronic illness and the creation of optimal health.
Vitamin D is one of the critical fat-soluble vitamins, along with vitamin A, E and K.
Vitamin D3 is manufactured in the body from cholesterol, in the presence of sunlight.
The fat-soluble vitamins allow us to utilize the minerals we ingest (like calcium and phosphorus) and help us absorb the water-soluble vitamins in our diets.
Without the fat-soluble vitamins, we can consume all the minerals and water soluble vitamins we want, but we won't properly or fully benefit from them.
Along with vitamin A, vitamin D is needed for proper development of the brain and nervous system, healthy bones, insulin production, immune system function, proper growth, reproduction and normal sexual development, and muscle tone.
Vitamin D has been shown to protect against cancer and multiple sclerosis, and is also known as an important part of the arsenal to protect against immune system offenders like the flu.
If you're concerned about "flu season" or the hype about swine flu, in addition to a healthy balanced diet that's rich in pure nutritional foods and low in toxic foods, regular exercise, a healthy mindset, stress reduction and daily fresh air, you can increase your intake of vitamin D3 in order to prevent (or reverse) the flu.
Keep in mind, a lifestyle that regularly includes Happy Meals, Twinkies, low-fat toxic convenience foods, couch-parking and stinkin' thinkin' cannot be overcome by any vitamin (or drug, or vaccine).
Supplementation can only get you so far! Most leading experts in health and nutrition agree that it is not enough to get outside and get some sunshine in order to make sufficient amounts of vitamin D.
Although unfiltered sunshine is certainly a requirement, we cannot make vitamin D if we lack the building blocks that come from our food.
How much sunshine do we need? There are too many individual variances to give a specific recommendation.
It depends on your natural skin tone, where you live, the time of year, how tanned your skin already is, how healthy your diet is, the time of day, and so on.
The point is that we need regular exposure to unfiltered sunlight (and vitamin D rich diets) in order to produce sufficient amounts of vitamin D3.
In climates where it is not possible to receive sufficient doses of natural sunlight year round, it's important to meet your body's needs in other ways.
Although I still recommend getting outside in the sunshine even when it's cold, it's even more important to maintain a very healthy, fat soluble vitamin-rich diet during these months.
This is also a good time to consider adding a nutritional complement like pure cod liver oil and a very high quality vitamin D3 supplement - NOT the inferior and harmful vitamin D2.
To get an accurate idea of how much you need, you can get a specific blood test for your current levels of vitamin D.
Our optimal levels should be 50-65 ng/mL.
As far as nutritional supplementation, generally speaking, experts say we need 5,000 - 10,000 IU of vitamin D3.
Children need 2,000 IU.
If you cannot get out in the sun, another "supplement" option is to use a healthy tanning bed - one that shields the harmful emissions.
Food is the underlying key, though.
Animal fats are the superior natural sources for vitamins A and D.
Foods like, whole butterfat (especially from grass-fed cows, goats, etc.
), whole eggs, fish, shellfish, fish eggs, marine oils, liver and organ meats.
Leading nutrition experts recognize that North Americans tend to fall short of optimal levels of these critically important fat-soluble vitamins.
We have mistakenly moved toward reduced animal fat consumption with our low fat and fat-free this, skinless that, and egg-whites-only approach to diets.
Meanwhile, our healthiest ancestors ate these necessary animal fats liberally.
We seem to have lost sight of the simple fact that animal protein foods, like meat, eggs and milk, always come with their naturally occurring fats.
This is how we should eat them.
We need these naturally occurring fats, rich in vitamins A and D, in order to assimilate protein.
Diets that revolve around low fat and fat-free milk products, egg whites only, and "lean" meats only can render us seriously deficient in the fat-soluble vitamins.
We simply cannot express optimal health and function when this is the case.
Real foods, real sun.
That's the solution.
Vitamin D is one of the critical fat-soluble vitamins, along with vitamin A, E and K.
Vitamin D3 is manufactured in the body from cholesterol, in the presence of sunlight.
The fat-soluble vitamins allow us to utilize the minerals we ingest (like calcium and phosphorus) and help us absorb the water-soluble vitamins in our diets.
Without the fat-soluble vitamins, we can consume all the minerals and water soluble vitamins we want, but we won't properly or fully benefit from them.
Along with vitamin A, vitamin D is needed for proper development of the brain and nervous system, healthy bones, insulin production, immune system function, proper growth, reproduction and normal sexual development, and muscle tone.
Vitamin D has been shown to protect against cancer and multiple sclerosis, and is also known as an important part of the arsenal to protect against immune system offenders like the flu.
If you're concerned about "flu season" or the hype about swine flu, in addition to a healthy balanced diet that's rich in pure nutritional foods and low in toxic foods, regular exercise, a healthy mindset, stress reduction and daily fresh air, you can increase your intake of vitamin D3 in order to prevent (or reverse) the flu.
Keep in mind, a lifestyle that regularly includes Happy Meals, Twinkies, low-fat toxic convenience foods, couch-parking and stinkin' thinkin' cannot be overcome by any vitamin (or drug, or vaccine).
Supplementation can only get you so far! Most leading experts in health and nutrition agree that it is not enough to get outside and get some sunshine in order to make sufficient amounts of vitamin D.
Although unfiltered sunshine is certainly a requirement, we cannot make vitamin D if we lack the building blocks that come from our food.
How much sunshine do we need? There are too many individual variances to give a specific recommendation.
It depends on your natural skin tone, where you live, the time of year, how tanned your skin already is, how healthy your diet is, the time of day, and so on.
The point is that we need regular exposure to unfiltered sunlight (and vitamin D rich diets) in order to produce sufficient amounts of vitamin D3.
In climates where it is not possible to receive sufficient doses of natural sunlight year round, it's important to meet your body's needs in other ways.
Although I still recommend getting outside in the sunshine even when it's cold, it's even more important to maintain a very healthy, fat soluble vitamin-rich diet during these months.
This is also a good time to consider adding a nutritional complement like pure cod liver oil and a very high quality vitamin D3 supplement - NOT the inferior and harmful vitamin D2.
To get an accurate idea of how much you need, you can get a specific blood test for your current levels of vitamin D.
Our optimal levels should be 50-65 ng/mL.
As far as nutritional supplementation, generally speaking, experts say we need 5,000 - 10,000 IU of vitamin D3.
Children need 2,000 IU.
If you cannot get out in the sun, another "supplement" option is to use a healthy tanning bed - one that shields the harmful emissions.
Food is the underlying key, though.
Animal fats are the superior natural sources for vitamins A and D.
Foods like, whole butterfat (especially from grass-fed cows, goats, etc.
), whole eggs, fish, shellfish, fish eggs, marine oils, liver and organ meats.
Leading nutrition experts recognize that North Americans tend to fall short of optimal levels of these critically important fat-soluble vitamins.
We have mistakenly moved toward reduced animal fat consumption with our low fat and fat-free this, skinless that, and egg-whites-only approach to diets.
Meanwhile, our healthiest ancestors ate these necessary animal fats liberally.
We seem to have lost sight of the simple fact that animal protein foods, like meat, eggs and milk, always come with their naturally occurring fats.
This is how we should eat them.
We need these naturally occurring fats, rich in vitamins A and D, in order to assimilate protein.
Diets that revolve around low fat and fat-free milk products, egg whites only, and "lean" meats only can render us seriously deficient in the fat-soluble vitamins.
We simply cannot express optimal health and function when this is the case.
Real foods, real sun.
That's the solution.
Source...