Embrace the sun

The world cannot exist without the rays of the sun and it’s not surprising that it’s vital for your body vitamins and minerals are essential for the mind and body to work. If any of these are less than your life is a mess. Natural sunshine stimulates the production of Vitamin D in the human body.

It’s no wonder that Vitamin D is often called the Sunshine Vitamin - technically a hormone produced within the body when the skin is exposed to the ultraviolet B rays in sunlight. I remember my grandmother always sitting in her garden or balcony basking in the sun after her bath and encouraging all her grandkids to do so.

Often in the western world do we see people crowding the beaches to sunbathe and rightly so! It is a natural reaction after being starved from sunlight leading to low D levels often causing one to feel gloom popularly known as the Seasonal Affective Disorder Syndrome or SAD Syndrome.

Often today it is horrible to see babies being born with low Vitamin D levels and unfortunately once you hit your fifties your body doesn’t produce Vitamin D easily. Sunlight conversion to Vitamin D along with the kidney being unable to convert Vitamin D into a form that the body can use.

Your skin colour plays an important role in the levels of Vitamin D. The darker your skin the more time is required in the sunlight as compared to fair skin. You require more Vitamin D if you have more muscle weight.

It is very interesting to learn that Vitamin D acts as a regulator to your thyroid gland and low levels of D can increase hyperthyroid making you sluggish and gain weight. One of the root causes of calcium deficiency is insufficient levels of Vitamin D as it helps the absorption of calcium.

Thus D3 deficiency can cause osteoporosis and joint pains. Latest research is showing that the heart health is too linked with D levels in the body. Insulin production is codependent on the production of D3 and blood sugar levels can rise if D3 is low. Alzheimer’s, memory and dementia all can be prevented if there is sufficient production of Vitamin D in the body.

Today in cancer prevention and care, Vitamin D plays a crucial role as it may prevent the cancer cells from forming and slows the progression of various cancers of the breast, prostate and pancreas. One of the most important things to remember about D3 is that it is a fat soluble vitamin and that it cannot be absorbed without fat. Therefore it is very important to consume good quality fat cow’s ghee, coconut oil, nuts and seeds.

Vitamin D2 and D3 are very important for the body. D2 is procured from plants and d3 from exposure to sunlight. Both are converted in the liver then transported to the kidney where it activates such that it can be used by the body. Oily fish, egg and shitake mushrooms are your only food sources for
vitamin D.

Fear not the sun, embrace it and see that it is every day in your life. If you are not used to taking sunlight, begin slowly with 5 minutes a day gradually increasing to thirty minutes without any sunscreen is more than enough for your body to synthesise Vitamin D.