Micronutrient Supplements YES or NO?
Do we need just more SUN? Let me introduce you to Vitamin D.
For many years I am on the mission of making people healthier and happy from the inside out.
Food and water are the elixirs of our life as our sunlight too.
As an average human, if we eat balanced meals and drinking enough water, we do not need any supplements.
There can be some exceptions for athletes or people working under extreme conditions. This could be a daily adding of magnesium and calcium.
Taken as a cure for just some weeks are often enough to get off from cramps or nervosity. Sometimes, women need a boost of iron during heavy menstruation. The reason is the heavy bleeding and not eating enough iron-rich foods. The result is to lose more hair and energy.
Still, in general, if we eat a balanced variety of foods, the right combinations of carbs, proteins, fats, and fibre we don’t need any other pills and powders.
There might be this one exception: Vitamin D.
This has two reasons, first, Vitamin D is just little to find in our foods and second it is produced in our body through the absorption of sunlight.
Mostly we find Vitamin D in fatty fish as salmon, mackerel, herring, cod liver oil, and mushrooms grown in the sun. Vitamin D is unique as it gets produced in our body by absorbing the sun through our skin.
At Motion Fitness Foods we have this December a special meal-plan which is rich in micronutrient. Have a look or order here.
We need to get a lot of the sun (UVB) on naked skin for our own Vitamin. D production. These can be enough in summer, a daily sunbath of 20min without covering the body but as we have to use these days sun blocker it is a kind of paradox!
Over evolution, it can be that our skin got lighter because darker skin blocks the absorption of UVB and is a kind of natural sunblock.
In the northern hemisphere, it is challenging to build Vitamin D.
Here you can spend as much time in the sun you want as it is impossible to reach the amount of Vitamin D we need. See in the graphic the recommended amount of 50-75 Nanomil pro liter and the real story.
Most people have a Vitamin D deficit if the life north or south.
A low vitamin D status is emerging as a very common condition worldwide, and several studies from basic science to clinical applications have highlighted a strong association with chronic diseases, as well as acute conditions.
The newest scientist tests (56) concluded that life expectancy is 11% higher when taken the right amount of a Vitamin D3 supplement.
But what are the functions of Vitamin D, and why is it essential?
We need it to transport Calcium through the body, which strengthens our bones and teeth and is essential for muscle functions. It is for Kids elementary not to get misformed bones. Meanwhile, scientists figured out that all organs have Vitamin D receptors, which is still not 100% explored. Just shortly, they figured out that Vitamin D is protection against flu. The Vitamin D lag could be why in colder and short days months people, the amount of Vitamin D is mostly in the northern hemisphere living cultures much to low.
People living in the southern hemisphere having also a lack of Vitamin D in their blood cells because of our new generation’s working environment and different socializing.
People live in towns and sit in the offices. They working in dark rooms and in their private life, spending most time inside in front of the television and computer.
It is even more challenging for older people to build an optimum Vitamin D optimum as they are more inside because of their conditions, and during aging, our skin produces less Vitamin D.
Vitamin D is as the Vitamins E, A, K, a fat-soluble Vitamin. It is useful when eaten these Vitamins to ad some good fat as Olive oil to your meal. Usually, we are eating Salad or sauteed vegetables, soups, etc., which we prepare with oil. Also, adding some seeds or nuts guaranteed the better absorption of these Vitamins. Overweight people need more Vitamin D as it gets stored in adipose tissue, and as more we have of it, the Vitamin D gets swallowed.
As well as darker skin types need more Vitamin D.
As darker the skin as more is your skin protected from the sunlight but this means also that they can’t absorb the needed UVB to create the Vitamin D.
You can test your vitamin D levels in your bloodstream in different seasons, especially in autumn and winter (October to March), using a Vitamin D3 supplement of 1000-2000IU. The maximum is 4000IU would be recommended for heavier people or very dark skin people living in the northern hemisphere.
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Love Mel
