Do You Get Enough Of The Sunshine Vitamin?
I happen to live in South Florida, which is also known as the Sunshine state so I get plenty of the Sunshine Vitamin, which is also known as Vitamin D. Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is needed to be healthy and maintain strong bones. Vitamin D is formed when the skin is exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet rays and is also found in dietary supplements and certain foods.
The main function of vitamin D is to help the body absorb calcium and phosphorus in the small intestine. Calcium is needed to support bone mineralization (hardening of bones), cell functions, and proper nerve and muscle function. There are 3 ways to get Vitamin D into your system.
- Being exposed to the sun. About 20 minutes 3 – 4 days per week is usually sufficient.
- Through the foods you eat.
- Through nutritional supplements.
Since I live in The Sunshine State getting vitamin D from the sun is not a big problem for me. Never the less, I still take a vitamin D supplement and I lay in the sun by the pool for about an hour each week, so I know I get enough vitamin D in my system.
But if you live in a place like Alaska where sunshine is rare a good part of the year, I recommend taking a vitamin D supplement. That’s why in the old days in the big cities people used take Cod Liver Oil, tasted nasty as hell, but it supplied the vitamin D necessary.
As we age Vitamin D becomes more important, it is needed to keep our bones healthy and strong.
Some of the signs of a Vitamin D deficiency are:
1. Getting Sick or Infected Often
Ther are foods that you can eat get your Vitamin D, some of them are:
- Any kind of fatty fish like salmon, trout, mackerel, tuna.
- Fortified Milk
- Fortified orange juice.
- Egg Yoks
- Fortified Cereal
- Beef Liver
- And of course Cod Liver Oil (Yuk)
The easiest way is to take a supplement, I take a Calcium plus Vitamin D supplement, it’s combined into one capsule so I take one per day.
Heart Health
According to the Health Professional Follow-Up Study, which checked blood levels of vitamin D in over 18,000 men who were healthy and followed them for 10 years, men who were vitamin D deficient were twice as likely to have a heart attack as men with adequate vitamin D levels.
Cancer
A four-year study published in 2007 examined the use of calcium (1,400-1,500mg daily), vitamin D3 (1,100IU daily) or a placebo in 1,179 women over 55. The women who took calcium and vitamin D had significantly less risk for all types of cancer combined, as did the women with higher vitamin D levels at the start of the study.
One of vitamin D’s most important roles is keeping your immune system strong so you’re able to fight off viruses and bacteria that cause illness. If you take a Vitamin D supplement along with a Vitamin C supplement like I do your immune system will thank you for it.
