Prevent cancer, diabetes, & heart disease with this....

Today's post: Friday, 4-10-2009

You may already know that eating right, particularly eating raw or lightly cooked organic vegetables instead of junky fast carbs that are made with refined grain and high fructose corn syrup or sugar, will do that. You may even be doing you best to eat that way already.

You may also know that getting regular exercise, particularly vigorous exercises such as progressive strength training and interval cardio also protects against all 3 of these, especially if you also get enough antioxidants in your food & supplements. You may even be doing this to the best of your ability already.

But what do you do if you want to increase your protection even more? Or you haven’t yet done these other two things very well yet and want some protection anyway if you can get it somehow?

Believe it or not, for about 12 to 15 cents a day, you can have it. And, this very inexpensive method protects against all three of these dangerous diseases AND makes osteoporosis less likely.

How?

If you aren’t already, take 2,000 iu a day of vitamin D3 in addition to your daily multivitamin, which still likely has 400 iu a day of vitamin D but may have the less effective form.

It’s been known for quite a while that vitamin D helps your body keep your bones strong.

But there are a long list of things about vitamin D that are new & were not known until just the last few years.

People used to be outside enough to get vitamin D from sun exposure except for in the worst winter weather. (You can easily make 10,000 iu a day of vitamin D or even more in summer sunshine.) And we now know your body will use up to 3,000 iu a day of vitamin D if it is available. But until recently, since most people still were outside a lot, most people didn’t need to get a lot more vitamin D except in the winter.

Now, 75 % of people are vitamin D deficient because they are no longer outside a lot, many who are wear extra clothes and put on a kind of sunscreen that prevents vitamin D production, and we now know 400 iu a day is far less than our bodies really need as a minimum, so even people taking that much are deficient.

That’s important since we now know that enough vitamin D strengthens our immune systems enough to help prevent colds and flu AND most cancers.

We also know that due in part to its role in proper use of Calcium in our bodies, getting enough vitamin D both helps prevent osteoporosis and things like hip fractures AND it helps prevent calcified plaque that increases blood pressure and also helps trigger heart attacks from forming or from getting nearly as bad as it does without vitamin D.

Now, today, I find that getting enough vitamin D also helps prevent insulin resistance, high blood sugar, and type 2 diabetes!

That means getting at least 2400 iu or at the very least 2,000 iu of vitamin D may be as important by itself as either doing a perfect job of eating right or doing an optimum amount of exercise each week.

Are you getting that much now?

If not, you can for between less than 12 cents a day to 15 cents a day.

(Carlson sells a bottle of 100 capsules with 1,000 iu of vitamin D3 each which most health food stores carry. Depending on whether you buy from a shop that discounts or prices low or not, this bottle of 100 costs between $5 & $6 a bottle plus you may or may not have sales tax as I do where I live.)

Here’s the article where I found the information that vitamin D also helps prevent insulin resistance, high blood sugar, and type 2 diabetes.:

"This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, a free newsletter dedicated to making money, improving health and secrets to success. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com."


“Let a Little Sunshine Into Your Life

By James B. LaValle, RPh, MS, ND, CCN

When our eyes don't take in enough sunlight, we can "experience a serious mood change... sleep too much... have little energy... crave sweets and starchy foods... [and] feel depressed," according to the National Library of Medicine. Studies link those symptoms to low levels of brain chemicals like serotonin and melatonin. Not only do we need sunlight in our eyes to produce those neurotransmitters, we need sunlight on our skin to produce vitamin D.

We've long known that vitamin D is critical for building and maintaining strong bones. But a big surprise in recent years has been that vitamin D also plays a critical role in insulin regulation, making it important for the prevention of diabetes and heart disease. It's also important for the regulation of your immune system, with studies linking low vitamin D levels to an increased risk of breast, prostate, and colon cancers, as well as to multiple sclerosis (an autoimmune condition).

It's hard to get enough sunshine during the winter months. And in summer, many avoid exposure to direct sunlight because they're concerned about skin cancer.

In addition, drugs used to treat heartburn, acid indigestion, and ulcers can deplete the body's stores of vitamin D.

What this means is that you have a good chance of being deficient in this critical vitamin.

It's easy to restore the vitamin D your body needs. You can get it by spending a few minutes in the sun each day. You can also get it from food sources, especially eggs, fatty fish, and fish liver oils. And if you don't like fish, there are supplements.

When taking supplements, avoid the old form of vitamin D (ergocalciferol). Vitamin D 3 (cholecalciferol) is the best form to use. Experts are now recommending that we get at least 1,000 IUs per day.

[Ed. Note: It truly is possible to improve your health just by making wise choices when it comes to diet and lifestyle. James B. LaValle, RPh, ND, CCN - founder of the LaValle Metabolic Institute and a nationally recognized expert on natural therapies - can give you easy-to-understand directions for living the healthy life you've always wanted…..]”

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Two other quick points.:

1. If you take drugs used to “treat heartburn, acid indigestion,” or “ulcers,” it goes from very important to critical to take vitamin D supplements as you’ll extract less of it from your food.

2. Note which cancers enough vitamin D known to help prevent.:

“studies link…. low vitamin D levels to an increased risk of breast, prostate, and colon cancers.”

No cancer is a good idea; but these 3 can often ruin the quality of life for even those who survive them. And they can be outrageously expensive to treat.