Vitamin D – Give Yourself the Strength of a Greek God
Vitamin D may at first glance seem to have nothing to do with core fitness and core strength – but it has more to do with it than you may think. Vitamin D is actually the most important nutrient required by the body for maintaining the strength and health of the entire musculoskeletal system. Deficiency in vitamin D can lead to bone and joint weakness, muscle weakness, and arthritis and osteoporotic fractures. Vitamin D synthesis is also responsible for maintaining optimal function of the immune system and many mental regulatory mechanisms. More recently, studies have found evidence associating adequate vitamin D levels with reduced risk of heart attack and certain form of cancer.
Minerals and Calcium
Bones are made up of calcium, phosphorus, sodium, and other minerals, as well as the protein collagen. Calcium is required to make bones hard, which enables them to support body weight and makes them less susceptible to breakage. Bones are also responsible for storing calcium and releasing it into the bloodstream when it’s needed by other parts of the body, including the muscles and the joints. Every time your muscles perform a contraction, calcium ion influxes through the calcium dependent channels. In fact, every cell of the body is dependent upon calcium to function in a healthy way.
The amounts of certain vitamins and minerals that you eat, directly affects how much calcium is stored in the bones. But of particular importance is the attainment of vitamin D, as it is the prerequisite vitamin that enables the body to absorb calcium.
Vitamin D can be obtained from certain some foods, with the largest amounts available in certain fish. Sardines provide the highest vitamin D International Unit (IU) content, with every 100grams giving approx. 500 IU, followed by Catfish (490 IU), Salmon (360 IU), Mackeral (345 IU), Tuna, canned in oil (235 IU). Supplementary fish liver oils provide the highest amounts of vitamin D however, such as cod liver oil; 15ml provides 1,360 IU of vitamin D. These quantities are very high when we compare to the amount of vitamin D that can be obtained from other foods such as whole eggs (approx. 20 IU), and beef liver (15 IU/100grams). However there is one source of vitamin D unmentioned here that is provides far greater amounts than any food source – our sun! Given the place as one of the Greek Gods, Apollo was worshiped for his medicinal and healing powers by the Ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as in the modern Greco-Roman Neopaganism.
Vitamin D – A hormone
By normal definition, vitamin D is in actual fact a hormone and not a “true” vitamin because it can be acquired naturally with exposure to the sun. It is only when sun exposure is limited that vitamin D is rightfully considered a vitamin because it must be met through food sources. But attaining vitamin D purely through food sources may prove to be difficult, as research indicates a healthy vitamin D supply to be at least 5,000 IU of vitamin D daily. Although numbers vary between continents and seasons, adequate sun exposure provides us with 80–100 per cent of our daily vitamin D supply. To put this in relative terms to food sources, 20-30 minutes of winter sun exposure in Sydney, Australia or equivalent summer sun exposure in northern America allows the skin to naturally produce approximately 10,000 IU vitamin D. That’s the equivalent of 2kg (4.4lb) of sardines.
Run! Take Cover! The bad-ass Sun’s coming out!
Particularly in Australia, the health risk topic of the past decade has been the harmful UV rays from the sun, leading to skin damage and skin cancer. This has caused a whole generation of Australians heeding the message “slip, slop, slap” – as in slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen, and slap on a hat. But this has created a whole new problem–a population of adults and children suffering from vitamin D deficiency.
Of particular risk is the new generation of children that never go outdoors without protection from the sun. As a consequence, Australia, one of the sunniest continents on the planet, is witnessing the largest population of children with rickets disease, a condition in which the bones don’t harden and are more susceptible to breakage due to vitamin D deficiency.
Of course the whole skin cancer pandemic and fear of our life-giving sun was generated by a generation of idiots covered in oil, sun-baking themselves to a lobster on beaches all around the world, all in the name of vanity.
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How does that saying go… all things in moderation?
Now I’m not expecting you to take my word for it, and so I welcome you to do your own research if you care enough to find out the truth. But in short, under exposure to the sun, sun-screen chemical agents, processed food diets (especially lacking beta-carotene), constant chemical uptakes from various sources, and most of all our self-responsive mental stress, are all the true contributors to cancer. Over exposure to the sun, as in skin-burning, absolutely damages the skin cells, but it is not the direct cause of cancer.
The sun elicits UV rays that trigger vitamin D synthesis when absorbed by the skin. Now the amount of UV rays penetrating our atmosphere may have increased over the recent century, but it’s the same stuff coming through, just in a higher dose! The only correlation sun exposure has to skin cancer is when idiots peel, burn, peel and burn their skin over and over, which damages the collagen fibers and destroys vitamin A in skin. It’s not a mystery, but only common sense really. When your skin cells are damaged and trying to repair, and you lend a hand by continuing to expose them to in high doses to the very thing that is damaging them, at the same time as feeding yourself carcinogens and not providing your cells with the nutrients they need to repair and be healthy – well I don’t think it takes a genius to see that it’s unlikely they’ll respond all too well.
How much sun is healthy?
Like most things, how much or how little is a relative question. If you have darker skin, you naturally have a higher sun protective barrier. Herein, you would need to expose your skin to the sun for longer durations to absorb the same amount of vitamin D as someone fairer skinned. Also, as you get older your skin becomes less efficient at producing vitamin D. Another factor to consider is the time of day, the location of where you live or reside and the season. A few minutes of sun exposure in the tropics of Queensland, Australia may allow your skin to absorb the same amount of vitamin D as a couple of hours in northern America.
In the end, the best advice I can give you is to use your own common sense. Regular short durations of exposure allows for your skin to develop melatonin which acts as a protective barrier for your skin. If you have fair skin, stay out of the sun during the hotter hours of the day, and catch the morning and afternoon rays. If you’re working, playing sports or you’re on the water for several hours, cover up and stay hydrated. Listen to your body rather than your vanity. When you feel that your skin may be starting to burn, it might be doing just that. Hence, a good indication that you’ve had well enough of the sun’s good stuff.
With love, gratitude, presence and certainty,
Karl
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