Vitamin D and You

Depending on the location and time of day, ten to thirty minutes of sunshine on unprotected skin gives enough Vitamin D needed each day.

It's a good thing I check my ego at the door each day, because yesterday would have been kind of painful...

My meat-eating doctor told me my Vitamin D levels were 23; I need to take 1,000 IU daily with calcium every day now.

Here's what I found out:  although I took my supplements suggested when I turned RAW vegan, my Vitamin D levels became dangerously low.

This is because I was told to take B-12 every day, 1000 mcg, and Dr. Shulze's green powder and RAW meal. Nobody mentioned Vitamin D.

So here is the dilemma--Vitamin D is kind of hard to get with my schedule. It is important in bone health. Mine is so low if I was growing I would get rickets with the levels I have in my system. That is why Vitamin D is added to milk, both Goat Milk, Cow Milk, Soy Milk and sometimes even Orange Juice.

Here are the numbers:

• Vitamin D levels less than 30 are 'officially low'
• Vitamin D levels between 30 and 50 are 'officially normal'
• Vitamin D levels around 50 to 65 are 'considered possibly optimum'
• Vitamin D levels above 150 are 'toxic'  because they can lead to hypercalcemia

The symptoms of hypercalcemia are:

• feeling sick or being sick
• poor appetite
• not wanting to eat anything
• feeling very thirsty
• having to pass urine often
• constipation or diarrhea
• muscle weakness or pain
• feeling confused
• feeling tired

Hypercalcemia can lead to some serious health problems with the electricity conduction through the pacing system in the heart and even muscle and nerve function.

Well why do I have LOW Vitamin D?

Here is the differential--it's either low food intake (With RAW vegan diet this is common) or Primary Hyperparathyroidism (my body wants to get rid of calicum in my bones from a tumor of the parathyroid gland, which low Vitamin D is protective to prevent hypercalcemia).

How do I know which is which?

• Normal Vitamin D is between 30 and 65, and normal Calcium is between 9.0 and 10.1 (in adults over 35).
• Low Vitamin D intake would have Vitamin D levels have Vitamin D under 30 but the Calcium is always less than 10.
• Low Vitamin D that is protective in Parathyroid tumor (in the neck) is under 30 but the Calcium is always 10.2 or higher.
• http://parathyroid.com/low-vitamin-d.htm

So what is a RAW vegan with a left thyroid nodule to do?

Get an ultrasound, and possibly a biopsy of the thyroid. And double check on the Calcium levels.

If the Calcium level is low, then it's nutrition, and treat it.

If the  Calcium level is high, then treat the parathyroid disease (with surgery).

Assuming normal Parathyroid function, the RAW vegan is in a bind--take supplements or consider 'food as a medicine'? Which is more 'natural'? I don't know.

What I DO know is that RAW plant-based foods have more Vibration that is good for Spiritual Growth and Development. The foods are closest to the original structure and Vibration, and therefore carry not only more nutrition but also more Light energy with them too. This is good for Spirit.

I also know that as one advances in Spiritual Development, there is a Universal lack of desire to eat meat and animal products. They appear 'very dead' and do not stimulate the appetite any more.

What are my options? I need a LOT of Vitamin D!

1. Sunlight On Unprotected Skin: with my olive skin coloring (half Sicilian) and living in Southern California, this is theoretically possible to get thirty minutes of direct sun every day. It is important not to shower off after sunbathing! The Vitamin D process that takes place for twenty four hours after exposure in the top layer of the skin is disrupted. Only cool water and soap limited to 'your stinky parts' is not going to stop the manufacture of Vitamin D in the skin. However, with my schedule, natural sunlight is out of the question. I can, however, make time for sunbathing on my days off when the weather is good, for my health.
2. One tablespoon Cod Liver Oil every day:  this gives me over 1000 IU.
3. 'Sunlight treated' mushrooms: this is best with Shitaki mushrooms that have been exposed 'gills up' to sunshine for six hours. This reaches the over 1000 IU range.
4. Wild-caught salmon: this is in the hundreds of mg Vitamin D. I would need this every day.
5. A Broad Spectrum Light Box, or a Grow Light: These range from expensive to cheap, and I do not have thirty minutes a day to sit.
6. Changing my diet:  Include ricotta cheese, whole milk, light tuna (less mercury than white tuna), eggs, and beef liver.
7. Taking supplements: Vitamin D3 is better absorbed and lasts longer than D2 (note, mushrooms have D2)

Note--the USDA 'daily dose' is 400 IU. Supplement range in the absence of low Vitamin D is about 600-800 IU a day.

How will I know I've 'fixed it'? Well, Vitamin D3 has a long half-life of fifteen days! So by one month to six weeks we should start to see changes. 

Remember, take a lab test after you begin treatment to make sure your progress is on track!

Sometimes I wonder why everyone is so low on their Vitamin D? 

I think for my health, I am going to need to change from RAW vegan, to RAW. That's up to seventy percent RAW foods with the strong Light vibration to support mine, and then some combination of 'medicine' in the form of food--tuna, salmon, whole milk (I prefer goats), ricotta cheese, and eggs because they are more 'kind' than beef liver. I will also seek sunlight, and begin calcium and cod liver oil.

You know, I had been starting to crave mushrooms about two weeks ago.

I had been wondering why.

The body sure is smart, isn't it?

Aloha and Mahalos,
Namaste,

Reiki Doc