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Vitamin D - free and full of benefits

Today we are talking about the freest of the free way to regulate and balance your mood, to boost up and mediate your immune system, to protect against cancer (including skin cancer), to regulate blood sugar, to improve focus and concentration and memory too, to build strong bones, and help regulate blood pressure…

What miracle drug am I talking about? You probably know better at this point, but I am not talking about a drug or a supplement or even a food! I am talking about good ol’ vitamin D Benefits!

Yes, VITAMIN D!

First I want to do a quick shout out… I love getting positive feedback from my clients and from you my audience… so today I want to highlight Kimberly -

Kimberly says - I struggle daily with anxiety and depression and 2 autoimmune diseases but I have to give a huge shout out to a gifted woman, Audrey, for helping me get this under control. Every day isn’t perfect yet but I feel much better almost all of the time and I know that longer-term remission is just around the corner.

Whooooop! I love hearing stuff like that. Thank you for sharing that Kimberly!!

This is also a really good time to share with you my most popular and completely FREE downloadable guide and in it, you will find 5 steps simple to start healing your autoimmune disease TODAY. You can download it at audreychristie.com/autoimmune - you will find a link in the show notes too!

What is vitamin D?

Vitamin D is kinda funny, because even though it is called a “vitamin” and is forever enshrined with the other fat-soluble vitamins...it really isn’t a vitamin at all. It is for sure vital to your health and wellness but Vitamin D is a HORMONE (more than 1 chemical messenger gets lumped under the D) that is primarily produced in the skin through exposure to sunlight.

Vitamin D is a rebel really, it breaks the other rules for vitamins because it's produced in the human body, it's not naturally occurring in any foods except fish and egg yolks. Even if you can get it from foods, it's that same principle that you aren’t what you eat, you are what your body can digest and put to use - same is true for vitamin D.

Vitamin D is not even a singular chemical in the body - but the culmination of many - and again, it's important to remember it can’t do its job whether you get it from the sun or a supplement without your human suit doing its part too.

You see, sunlight gives us D3 via ultraviolet energy, most supplements are in the form of D2, but since their function is almost identical they are usually lumped together and called just plain ol’ Vitamin D. Once you have D in the body, it goes to the liver - (big clue on why keeping it in good working order is critical!!!), in the liver the Vitamin D picks up a couple of extra molecules (oxygen and hydrogen to be specific) and becomes something that you may be familiar with - 25-hydroxyvitamin D - this is what you will see on your lab report.

From the liver - the Vitamin D with its new buddies heads to the kidneys where it picks up another pair of hydrogen and oxygen molecules to become its active form. I like to think of it as grabbing its cape and becoming the superhero it is in our human suits. Cool right? Those of you suffering from lupus may start to understand here how Vitamin D deficiency plays a role in your autoimmune condition too.

Vitamin D Deficiencies

Back in the day, you probably only heard about Vitamin D to help keep bones healthy - it for sure does that. But now we know (and your doctor may even be up-to-date on some of this) that almost every tissue in the body has vitamin D receptors. Meaning it does so much more than the important bone strength.

Vitamin d deficiency is can be caused by a lack of sunlight, be it an issue of not getting outdoors, living in a climate where sunlight isn’t available, or simply being a sunscreen addict. Internally, it caused by liver issues or kidney issues or a combination of the two halting the benefits of the sun.

Over 75% of us here in the US are deficient in Vitamin D. Crazy right? Especially because marketing would have you think you were getting plenty of it from your fortified milk, cheeses, cereals, and juices. Guess what? Those fortified vitamin D’s aren’t usable by your human suit! Sorry!

Vitamin D deficiency shows up in many ways, it can be part of the cause of any number of mood and mental disorders, kidney disease, diabetes, many cancers - including skin cancer. How’s that for ironic? Another sign of vitamin D deficiency is lacking energy or fatigue and if you catch every cold, flu, or virus that is floating around. Difficulty sleeping can also have vitamin d deficiency at its roots too. As well as - autoimmune disease - including lupus - although there are some big caveats to lupus and vitamin d. Many of my clients report that even eczema and psoriasis goes away in the summer...one of the big reasons for that - vitamin d.

Unfortunately - this rapid discovery of every tissue in the body hosting vitamin d receptors has led many docs to dip their toe in the pool and inadvertently make half beneficial or just plain bad recommendations that can actually lead to trouble in your human suit, specifically with cardiovascular issues if you start to load up on a ton of vitamin d supplements.

Sunlight Deficiencies

There are more risks than vitamin d to missing out on the sunlight we human animals used to soak up effortlessly. Our desk jobs and indoor lifestyles have taken away the energetic benefits of sunshine too.

More than just the Vitamin D deficiencies the energy of the sun (sometimes called prana or chi) in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Ayurvedic principles, and energy medicine plays a huge role in stress management and energy metabolism. It is the fire of getting stuff done, the powerhouse. It brings the energy of quiet confidence, motivation, and purpose. It also causes a lack of connection to the cycles of nature - all are important but most notably your circadian rhythm or sleep/wake cycle. Do you see purpose, confidence, motivation missing in you? What about in the world around you?

Try taking a minute out in the sun, to gaze at your palms, and notice that you are light, energy, and power - just like the sun.

Vitamin D Benefits

As I mentioned at the top of the episode - those benefits are too great and the solution too simple to skip taking advantage of just 15 - 30 minutes worth of golden goodness.

Having adequate levels of vitamin D is really important - most conventional labs will report a vitamin d level around 32 or 32,000 is a-okay. From a functional perspective, especially if you are having issues I really like to see them around 60,000-100,000.

When you reach appropriate vitamin d levels and your body has the ability to utilize it, you will find that you reap major benefits:

• Mood benefits from the serotonin increase
• Much lower risk of cancer
• Way better sleep
• Improved bone health and recover
• Lower blood pressure
• Better regulated blood sugar
• Improved clarity, focus, and memory
• Faster skin healing
• Major immune system help including autoimmunity
• Reduction in pain

Just to name a few. Energetically you can feel confident, motivated, empowered even. It's a beautiful thing that sunshine!

How to Improve Vitamin D Levels and Your Prana Energy

As I mentioned - its the freeset of the free - yeah? All you need to do is get as much of your human suit as legally possible out in the sun for 15-30 minutes. If you have more melatonin in your skin (darker complected) it will take more than 30 minutes. If you are very light complected, you may need to work your way up to 30 minutes.

The keys here are to make sure it not through glass (like a window) and it is not through sunscreen (that blocks the beneficial rays).

If you can’t get in the sun for some reason - perhaps you are suffering from lupus or other kidney disease or you live north of Philadelphia (if you drew a line starting at Philly, east to west around the globe) or if you live in a particularly sun-free area of the world - then Vitamin D supplementation is critical.

Earlier I mentioned most docs missing the boat on this Vitamin D thing - they know enough to recommend a supplement but here’s the deal - if you are taking Vitamin D supplementally, it is CRITICAL that you take a vitamin D + k2 supplement. K2 is a little helper that tells Vitamin D where to send the calcium floating around in your bloodstream. Without it - it can end up in your blood vessels as build-up, significantly increasing your risk of heart disease and cardiac events.

My favorite Vitamin D3 + K2 is by Livewise and is available on Amazon here. I like it because it bypasses the digestive tract (which most have some sort of issue with) and goes directly into the bloodstream.

Another way to get your vitamin D is through mushrooms. Mushrooms are the coolest and the more we learn about them the more exciting it is. Mushrooms that are sun-dried have as much vitamin D in them as a supplement - PLUS you are getting all of the other benefits of the adaptogenic qualities. It’s like a superhero super food unicorn. A study from University Medical Center in Frieburg, Germany found that using the mushrooms worked as well as using a supplement and it worked the same crushed in a cap or in a soup.

I am all about getting the nutrients we need from our FOOD - I have said a million times, god, nature, universe whatever label you put on it put everything we need to put a vitamin or mineral or property from a food in the food itself.

Consider all winter long - throwing lots of mushrooms into every meal.

Supplement the sunlight energetically by incorporating Sandalwood essential oil, any of the citrus oils, or Ginger. This is best diffused, but you can also apply them to your pulse points on your wrists, ankles, behind the ears and then on your solar plexus as well. 

Meditating with citrine, pyrite, and orange calcite is another way to bring that sun vibe into your energy field to reap some of the energetic benefits and boost your receptibility to the sun's physical benefits.

To wrap this up -

Gosh, how's that for free, yeah? Just get in the sunshine and you are good to reap all of the benefits - regulate and balance your mood, to boost up and mediate your immune system, to protect against cancer (including skin cancer), to regulate blood sugar, to improve focus and concentration and memory too, to build strong bones, and help regulate blood pressure…

Pretty epic and easy right? Simple and sustainable - get out there and get to it. I have mentioned a few times about lupus and sunlight - if this is you - be sure and schedule a complimentary mini case review for more information on lupus and vitamin d - science shows us that its a little of a chicken or the egg situation - but by getting clear you can successfully reap the benefits.

Thanks for listening to the Naturalistic Nurse Podcast, if you’d like to contribute to this podcasting effort of getting the work out about how to shift your practice to ditch the bandaid fix and shift to root cause resolutions that stick be sure and subscribe, rate and leave a review - I’d be oh- so grateful.

Be well!