Vitamin D

Vitamin D, many doctors recommend it and we are told it will help boost our immune system. Let's discuss Vitamin D where it comes from and why we may be low in it.

Vitamin D is a Fat-soluble vitamin, meaning it needs fat to be absorbed into the body. We can get vitamin D from food, from the sun, and many get it from supplements. Most supplements are getting it either from sheep wool or algae. Why can so many people be deficient in Vitamin D? Vitamin D deficiencies can be due to many factors such as melanin, sunscreen or lack of sun, weight, age and I will toss in one more, your liver is congested and you can't break down fat. Healthline.com stated that in 2011 41.6% of adults were deficient in vitamin D and in people with darker skin the percentage doubled.

Many of us are not out in the sun much these days, which means the sun isn't hitting the skin, and the cholesterol on your skin turning to vitamin D and being absorbed. We also have the factor that we have a large concern about skin cancer so we wear sunscreen, which is blocking us from using the sunshine to make our own vitamin D. It does not take being out in the sun all day to get good vitamin D, 20 mins with no sunscreen is a good dose daily.

There are foods we can get vitamin D from fish, mushrooms, and organic/raw milk to name a few. However, realize as with anything your foods have to be digested properly just eating something does not mean it breaks down and is absorbed. This brings me to one of the next things that impact vitamin D, as it is a fat-soluble vitamin you need to break down fat. This is the job of the liver, it does this with bile that comes from the liver to the gallbladder and then goes out into the small intestine to break down the fat. If you have an overwhelmed liver, gallbladder stones, or no gallbladder you need to support these organs or take bile salts, for those of you that lack a gallbladder. It won't matter if you take high, high volumes of vitamin D, if your foundational factors to absorb it and break it down, are not working.

Lastly, if you are overweight or you are dark-skinned these both can make it to where you are going to need a higher amount of vitamin D. The Melanin with darker skin makes it difficult to absorb vitamin D from the sun. Extra body fat also holds on to the vitamin D making it not as available, to the body.

I AM WRITING THIS NEXT PART IN CAPS SO YOU UNDERSTAND MY CONCERN!! IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO NOT BLINDLY JUST DO HIGH HIGH DOSES OF VITAMIN D. Vitamin D pulls calcium into the bloodstream, which we use calcium to fight off infections, bacteria, and support muscle contraction. If you get too much calcium in the bloodstream you can cause issues to kidneys and congestion in the bloodstream. If you tend to get kidney stones often the likely hood is you are not directing your calcium correctly and this can cause major issues. So before just cranking up the vitamin D, you should make sure there are no other issues first. I would highly recommend you support your liver. Fat directs the calcium where it needs to go vitamin K (also a fat-soluble vitamin) takes it to your bones and just fat drives into the tissue.

Need help assessing your body's nutritional needs? Click the link below and I can help make recommendations and personalized protocol. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd3XxA2iEr8cVXjTMtGdPRPfPadFkyeuNvGYwzz9gzZv9DIfA/viewform?usp=sf_link