If you live in a part of the world that is cold in the winter months, you most likely spend less time outdoors like I do. I enjoy the winter months: the cold, walks in the snowy woods (though we haven’t had much snow this year so far!), but I don’t spend near the time outdoors now as I do in the spring, summer, and fall. When I am outside in the cold, I like to be bundled up with scarves, gloves, boots, and of course a thick coat. This means that my skin is only getting a minimal amount of exposure to the sun.
The problem with this is that your skin needs sun exposure in order to produce a substance that is vital to you.
The Supplement You Need To Take Now But Not Later
So why is the sun so important?
When your skin is exposed to sunlight, it is receiving the sun’s energy and creating vitamin D. Vitamin D is so crucial to many aspects of health. It’s not actually a vitamin, but a hormone, which means it’s not just a nutrient for your bones. Vitamin D is one of the most potent hormones and regulates bodily functions and genes more than any other hormone known to date.
Vitamin D Lowers Cancer Risk
The intestines, bones, kidneys, colon, prostate, breast, blood vessels, brain, and heart all have vitamin D receptors. These receptors have anti-cancer functions. It’s important to have adequate amounts of vitamin D in the body in order for these receptors to have the ability to fight cancer.
Vitamin D Helps Your Immune System
Vitamin D helps your body to produce over 200 antimicrobial peptides, which fight off a wide range of illnesses. This Japanese study showed that vitamin D can reduce the risk of catching influenza A by 58%-which is better protection than the flu vaccine can claim! I will gladly skip the flu vaccine and help protect myself with healthy, non-risk vitamin D, thank you very much!
There are some foods with Vitamin D such as:
- Cooked Salmon
- Mushrooms
- Cod Liver Oil
- Eggs
While you may get some vitamin D in the foods you eat, it is most likely not enough to keep your levels high enough to fight cancer and illnesses. The best source of vitamin D is the sun, but in the cold months when your skin isn’t bathing in the sunshine, supplementation is a very great idea!
You would need a blood test to truly know what your vitamin D levels are, but I simply follow the recommendation on the bottle. If a person were to have cancer or another disease, I would recommend getting a blood test done so you can know exactly how much vitamin D you need to help your immune system fight whatever it is battling.
One way to supplement vitamin D is through gel caps (like these), but my personal favorite way is with vitamin D drops (like these). Liquid is more absorbable and is an easy way to give this nutrient to my girls that don’t like to swallow pills.
Vitamin D is very inexpensive to supplement. The bottle that I buy from Beeyoutiful (you can find it here) costs $10 and will last us about 3 or 4 months – which is about how long the winter season is! The drops also have no taste, so it’s very simple to place them under the tongue for easy absorption, like this…
Vitamin D is just another affordable key supplement that I add to our regimen in staying well and helping our immune systems to function as God created them to.
Do you spend a lot less time outdoors in the winter months? Do you supplement vitamin D? Let me know in the comments below!
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We supplement with Vitamin D! My elderly father’s Doctor also told us that elderly people who supplement with Vit D have significantly less falls!
That’s great to hear! Thanks for sharing, Jonique!
Jill York recently posted…The Supplement You Need To Take Now But Not Later
I have read your body makes less vitamin D as you get older regardless if you are getting enough sunlight so I supplement all year round.
That’s not an aspect I’ve looked into! Thanks for sharing!
Jill York recently posted…The Supplement You Need To Take Now But Not Later
My family and I supplement with vitamin D year-round. We’ve had our vitamin D levels tested, and we found that (for an unknown reason), our bodies don’t make enough vitamin D even in the sun without sunscreen. If I forget to take it for a while, I can tell a big difference in my energy levels! I learned my lesson and make sure I don’t run out now.
Wendy recently posted…Taking New Year Inventory of Your Homeschool
Thanks, Wendy!
Jill York recently posted…How To Create A Natural Medicine Cabinet For Cold and Flu Season