I don’t recommend taking a lot of vitamins and supplements because it is always preferable to get the bulk of your nutritive needs in a natural form from your diet. Eating plenty of fresh fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts and seeds will give you almost everything you need to function at a high level. One thing that might be missing though is vitamin D.
This essential fat-soluble vitamin, which includes vitamins D1, D2, and D3, is produced when sunlight hits your skin. Unfortunately, many of us don’t get much sun for months at a time, and if you live in the northern hemisphere the likelihood of getting enough to produce the level of vitamin D that is required is slim. When you lack vitamin D, you increase the risk of developing osteoporosis, which is bone loss leading to fragile bones that break easily, or osteomalacia, which means soft bones.
Action – If you live in an area with high pollution, spend a lot of time indoors, wear sunscreen, or have darker skin, it is likely that your vitamin D levels aren’t where they need to be. There are few naturally occurring foods high in vitamin D, and sources like egg yolks, sardines and shrimp may not be suitable for your diet. Many foods are fortified with vitamin D, including cereals, milk and orange juice. The easiest way to meet your requirements is with a daily supplement.
Steps – Research is still trying to figure out the optimum amount for supplementation, but somewhere around 600 IU for most people or 800 IU if you are over 70 is a minimum recommendation and can bring the levels in the blood to a normal range. Pills are commonly between 1000-2000 IU and this seems well-tolerated. Consult with your doctor if you have any health concerns before adding anything outside of the recommended ranges to your diet. A simple blood test can check your levels and if they are extremely low, your doctor may prescribe a higher dose to get them back to normal and monitor you for bone loss.
Why It Makes You Feel Better – Daily supplementation of vitamin D can improve a number of different conditions you may be experiencing. Symptoms of a deficiency include an overall feeling of not being well, aches and pains, lethargy, severe bone or muscle pain and a weakness that affects how you walk or the ability to climb stairs. You may even incur stress fractures due to the weak nature of malnourished bones.
Vitamin D has other benefits too, including helping to ease depression, boosting weight loss by suppressing appetite, and helping you ward off diseases like the flu or heart disease. It’s one of those unique vitamins that, due to our modern lifestyle, is likely lacking in most people.
Example – If you can get out in the sun for at least a half-hour every day, without sunscreen and with much of your skin uncovered, your body will produce all of the vitamin D that it needs. It’s important not to spend too long in the sun because that will cause other problems such as sunburn that negate any health benefits you are trying to attain.
For many of us though this daily sun exposure just isn’t practical. The benefits of supplementing with vitamin D, most notably in the form of D3 because it is thought to be better absorbed than D2, is crucial. Take it with a meal that has a little fat in it to increase absorption and you won’t need to worry about losing bone strength as you age.