The Vitamin for Vitality

Although we've been lucky this year with a mild Fall season, the reality is Winter is just around the corner. I'm the person who dreads this time of year, every year. I try to make the most out of embracing the cold, but the reality is, I still don't enjoy it at all. I have found 1 thing that helps my "winter blues" more than ever and that's what I'm here to talk to you about today. 

I'm sure you, like most people, feel better in the summertime, soaking up the sunshine. Do you have any idea why?

What we soak in and make from the sun is extremely healing for our bodies. Vitamin D is a powerful tool and in many leading health care providers' opinions, the most critical one in building our immune system and fighting off diseases. They are finding however, that most Americans are extremely deficient for many reasons. 

So what's the big deal? 

Here are some facts that you may not be aware of:

1. Vitamin D prevents osteoporosis, depression, prostate cancer and breast cancer, and even effects diabetes and obesity. Vitamin D is perhaps the single most underrated nutrient in the world of nutrition. 
   
2. Vitamin D is produced by your skin in response to exposure to ultraviolet radiation from natural sunlight.
3. The healing rays of natural sunlight that generate vitamin D in your skin cannot penetrate glass. So you don’t generate vitamin D when sitting in your car or home. 
4. It is nearly impossible to get adequate amounts of vitamin D from your diet. Sunlight exposure is the only reliable way to generate vitamin D in your own body. Our bodies can produce vitamin D on their own when exposed to sunlight but the skin must be free of sunscreen, sun blocks and clothing, which all interfere with the process (this is why so many are deficient).
5. A person would have to drink 10 tall glasses of vitamin D fortified milk each day just to get minimum levels of vitamin D into their diet. But, most people can't tolerate dairy in any capacity. 
6. The farther you live from the equator, the longer the exposure you need to the sun in order to generate vitamin D. Canada, the UK and most US states are far from the equator.
7. People with dark skin pigmentation may need 20 to 30 times as much exposure to sunlight as fair-skinned people to generate the same amount of vitamin D. This is why prostate cancer is epidemic among black men—it is a simple but widespread sunlight deficiency.
8. Sufficient levels of vitamin D are crucial for calcium absorption in your intestines. Without sufficient vitamin D, your body cannot absorb calcium, rendering calcium supplements useless.
9. Chronic vitamin D deficiency cannot be reversed overnight; it takes months of vitamin D supplementation and sunlight exposure to rebuild the body’s bones and nervous system.
10. Even weak sunscreens (SPF 8) block your body’s ability to generate vitamin D by 95%. Sunscreen products can actually cause disease by creating a critical vitamin deficiency in the body.
11. It is impossible to generate too much vitamin D in your body from sunlight exposure: your body will self-regulate and only generate what it needs.
12. If it hurts to press firmly on your sternum, you may be suffering from chronic vitamin D deficiency right now.
13. Vitamin D is activated in your body by your kidneys and liver before it can be used.
14. Having kidney disease or liver damage can greatly impair your body’s ability to activate circulating vitamin D.

{Adapted from “The Healing Power of Sunlight and Vitamin D: An Exclusive Interview with Dr. Michael Holick,” by Mike Adams}

The best way to know your levels is to get tested through your next routine blood screening. How to get your vitamin D is a controversial topic, but I strongly believe in supplementation. I take 5000 IU of vitamin D every day, all year round. I have found that it has helped with many of my issues, including seasonal winter depression. 

If you are looking for more information please check out: http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/ & I will leave you with this quote: 
"In all my many years of practice of medicine, I've never seen one vitamin, even vitamin C, have such profound effects on human health." - Soram Khalsa MD.

To the Healthiest Winter Ahead, 
Alicia