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Stuff You’ve Gotta Know About Vitamin D


Robyn Openshaw - Jul 06, 2012 - This Post May Contain Affiliate Links


 

Did you know that Vitamin D isn’t really a vitamin? It’s more like a hormone.

(It’s a precursor for the mineral calcium, which has more functions for human beings than any other mineral.)

Did you know that after you go in the sun, your body needs a few hours to convert the substances collected on your skin to Vitamin D in the body?

(Hardly anyone knows this. That’s why I’m writing this blog. It’s a tip that could actually be lifesaving.)

If you’re going to get Vita D from the sun, get regular exposure during daylight hours, and then don’t take a shower for several hours!

Tank up on it during the spring, summer, and fall. Then, during the winter, take 5,000 to 10,000 IU of D3. You got that? D3, not D2!

The most assimilable forms will be in olive oil capsules, rather than hard pills.

Too many of us get very little of it, because we’re office workers who never get outside, or we live in climates with intemperate weather much of the year.

Next post, I’m writing a little about THYROID hormone, which affects many if not most American women—and some men, too.

Posted in: Health Concerns, Holistic Care, Natural Remedies, Supplements, Whole Food

22 thoughts on “Stuff You’ve Gotta Know About Vitamin D”

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Why D2 vs. D3, and how do we know which our supplement has? I don’t think I’ve seen anything more specific than “Vitamin D” on most labels…(but then, maybe I wasn’t looking?)

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      Sandy, it virtually always says D3 (or D2).

  2. Anonymous says:

    Hi Robyn, I had a quick question about traveling with a BlendTec blender. My husband and I are moving out of the country soon and I want to take mine with me, and I wondered what your experience was when flying with one of the blenders. In particular I’m worried about whether to pack the jars in my carry on or my checked baggage, and I can’t seem to find any info on the tsa website. Any help would be appreciated so we can continue our smoothies wherever we end up, thanks!

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      I think the blendtec is not under warranty if you use it out of the country, but you’ll need a converter I think? You can fly with your blender—I just pack it in lots of soft clothes in my suitcase, on the rare occasion I take it with me. 🙂

  3. Anonymous says:

    Hello!

    I was wondering if there was a specific brand of vitamin D supplement you recommended? I am a stay at home mom so my boys and I spend endless hours outside when the weather permits, but I’ve been trying to decide what type of vitamin D supplement we needed to take during the winter months. I heard that most Vit D supplements are bad and that you should only take excellent quality cod liver oil….thoughts??

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      Not a fan of cod liver oil, but an oil-based D3 is likely the best choice (olive oil base, for instance).

  4. Anonymous says:

    I have read somewhere that if you’re going to take calcium supplements, that you must also take magnesium, otherwise the Vita D can actually be bad for you (taken by itself). I couldn’t tolerate magnesium supplements because they made me feel too drowsy, all day long, along with another annoying side-effect. So now I just take emulsified Vitamin D3 by itself but wonder if it’s actually bad since I am not pairing it with magnesium…

  5. Anonymous says:

    Oh, and here’s another one of my comments/questions on an older blog post that Robyn may not have seen or had the time to spare, which is completely understandable given the number of comments and questions she gets daily:

    Hi Robyn, I’ve long been convinced now that green smoothies can really turn people’s lives around with it’s being so easy to make and it’s palatability but at the same time, it seems contradicting when I read things such as that greens and even too much plant protein isn’t good for people with failing kidneys and the power of healing foods is very limited when it comes to kidneys. It was an article by Dr. McDougall on his website. I was wondering what your general thoughts were off the top of your head about his perspective?

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      Too much plant protein, Kyung? That would be hard to do. Even if you eat nuts and seeds, your protein would be about 10% eating a plant-based, whole-foods diet with reasonable variety. And the proteins from plants are just 18 different amino acids that the body uses as building blocks to assemble muscle, etc., whereas “perfect proteins” or animal flesh matches our own, nearly, and converts quickly to muscle mass, but breaks down more quickly. The power of healing foods is limited when it comes to kidneys…..??? No, the kidneys desperately need healing foods, and lots of fluids, to function optimally.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Great post! Just wondering, what is the reasoning behind not showering?

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      You literally wash the Vitamin D off….the body must manufacture it from the substances left by the sun exposure, so not washing allows that. Kinda makes sense, right? Since throughout history people worked outside, so I can imagine God created a method that utilized a naturalistic lifestyle (agrarian economies were the norm until the past 100 years of history)…..

  7. Anonymous says:

    Great info. Thanks! I’m learning so much from you.

  8. Anonymous says:

    I think what you are doing is good and the way you are doing it is brilliant.Enjoyed the presentation today.

  9. Anonymous says:

    What happened to my comments?

  10. So how much sun exposure do we need each day on average?

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      15-20 mins. mid-day should do it, as I understand it, if you’re getting sun on a regular basis, several times a week, throughout the sunny months.

  11. Anonymous says:

    Good to know! What percentage of one’s skin needs to be exposed to the sun in order to start producing Vitamin D? I have heard differing opinions on this, just wanted to get your take on it. Thanks in advance!

  12. Anonymous says:

    I read somewhere on your blog about the website original fast foods site about how a free starter is offered for bread. I can’t seem to find where to request the starter. Can you help me? Maybe i could start my own starter instead? Any helpful hints? I am really interested in this whole soaking grains and making our own bread….my husband and I have two small children and hoping for more.

    Any helpful links to sites and book recommendations for doing this would be awesome!

    Blessings & thank you!

    Morgan

  13. Anonymous says:

    Robin, I had a melanoma removed 3 years ago and the dermatologist and other physicians have told me absolutely NO sun exposure due to the chance of melanoma recurrence. What are your thoughts on this?

    1. Robyn Openshaw says:

      Laura, I don’t know about that. I know that high Vitamin D level is THE most correlated factor to low cancer risk! Consult a knowledgeable, experienced holistic doc about this? One M.D. telling you something isn’t the final word, IMO.

  14. Anonymous says:

    Thanks for your article! I have NOT been very faithful taking my 50,000 IU prescription of Vitamin D, 3x’s a week. I never knew Vitamin D correlated with cancer risk. SCARY! I’m in the sun a bit but don’t know why my vitamin D has been really low for over 1 yr, of which I’ve been on vit D rx the whole time, but it’s still not enough. Maybe cuz I don’t take the pill like I should… 🙁 Any idea why my body wouldn’t store the vitamin D?

  15. Anonymous says:

    Not sure why but my comments are not being posted? Is there something wrong with this function?

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