I am the modern caveman. In a man-made high tech world, I am ashamed to live…… Wait a second…On second thoughts……
My body is the result of billion years of evolutionary perfection. It can put any modern man and his technology to shame. No single Genome project can unravel ME completely.
A century ago, heart disease, cancer and diabetes were virtually non-existent except in rare cases. Now they are so rampant. Why is no one caring about this?
My ancestor, the original caveman was all natural, organic, and freshly breathing. He consumed water, nuts, vegetables, fruits, herbs, seeds, cereals--mostly uncooked-definitely NOT processed. Then 40,000 years back my recent ancestors started to cook food…
My present friends, along with me, consume sugar, sweets, biscuits, chocolates, coffee, tea, cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, processed milk, refined and processed carbohydrates, with ZERO nutritional value. ( white rice, white flour, white sugar, pasta ,bread…the list is end less…).Some of the foods like milk come from animals fed with chemicals supplements and are processed. I am distressed, I am diseased.
My friends have categorized their health problems into specific diseases. They are looking for a single ”MAGIC BULLET”….to CURE them of their lifestyle disorders. They want a “QUICK-FIX”…. A one-pop-pill solution…
This is NOT what I need. I am challenged nutritionally and also lifestyle wise. So, I have decided … Enough is enough, I am going to move away from my contemporaries.
I AM WISER, I AM EMPOWERED WITH KNOWLEDGE…
I am not fragile, My body is not fragile. I am the end result of thousands of generations , the pinnacle of evolutionary perfection.. A genetic champion. Let me regain my lost glory. I will break free NOW. Come, Join ME. I am on my onward journey through virgin paths in a dense forest. My Health is MY CONCERN…I do not need RDs to suggest this to me.
But first let me put down some thoughts on how this all came about and what are all the good things surrounding us.. First, there was the SUN and then there was vitamin D…..
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Our skin naturally produces our body's supply of vitamin D from direct exposure to bright midday sun with a mere ten or fifteen minutes' exposure per day. Simple? NO..The devil is in the details. Please Read ON…
Many of my friends are modern day "cavemen." Even when the sun's rays are strong enough to provide people with adequate sun exposure, you may be unable to get the vitamin D you require because you're cooped up inside all day. Most people get very little sun exposure during the summer. Their reasons might include working an indoor job during all the peak sunlight hours, avoiding the heat of the day, or cultural dress codes.
For decades, we have been the target of a misinformation campaign from the media and conventional medicine that created a fear of sunshine. Therefore, most people either intentionally or unintentionally avoid the sun -- or smear on sunscreen that blocks the beneficial wavelengths that produce vitamin D in your skin. ( Sun’s ray has UV-A, -B and-C)(UV-A causes sunburn and tan, UV-B generates vitamin D, UV-C is what is used for killing all the germs and bacteria in your home-water purifiers.)
For people working office jobs—or used to slathering on SPF 30 sunscreen to block the sun’s rays—sunlight isn’t always enough. Even on the weekend, if it's rainy, you may miss sun exposure. If that's your situation, you probably don't receive the vitamin D you need.
And did you know that your car, home, and office windows block most of the sun's wavelengths that your skin needs to produce vitamin D? So don't count on getting it indoors -- or in your car.
Further, if you live in an industrial area with high-sulfur content air pollution (acid haze) blocking the sun's rays, your levels are likely low.
Your bare skin needs at least 10-15 minutes of exposure to direct sunlight ( Sun above 30 deg in the horizon) every day to produce the vitamin D you need. Just as with windows, jackets and long pants also block the sun's valuable wavelengths.
• Overweight people. Individuals who are overweight often have considerably higher needs for vitamin D because vitamin D is oil soluble and hidden in their fat.
• Pregnant women. New evidence suggests that vitamin D levels during pregnancy may be critically important for you and your baby.
• The elderly. As you age, your skin loses the ability to generate vitamin D. Plus, the elderly tend to spend more time indoors.
• Dark-skinned people. Darker-skinned people have higher melanin levels, which blocks UVB radiation and limits the body's ability to produce vitamin D3.
What's more, vitamin D is very rare in foods, and is only available in very limited quantities in eggs, liver and fatty fish.
Current scientific research suggests that all cells and tissues in your body have vitamin D receptors (VDR)-- and further concludes that every cell and tissue needs vitamin D for its well-being. Vitamin D affects your DNA through these VDRs, which bind to specific locations of the human genome. Scientists have identified nearly 3,000 genes that are influenced by vitamin D levels, and vitamin D receptors have been found throughout the human body.
The serum level of 25(OH)-vitamin D must be at least 50 to 70 ng/mL. Sunlight, ingestion of vitamin D in milk or vitamin D supplements are the only three routes for getting vitamin D. UV-B cabins of West are kept out of this discussion since it is not yet relevant in India.
It has been shown, how by combining the science of measurement (of vitamin D levels) with the personal choice of taking action and, the value of education about individual measures that one can truly be in charge of their own health. It is never late to be wise. Another name for learning is LIFE….
Scientists believe that vitamin D appears to play a crucial role and serves a wide range of fundamental biological functions relating to many aspects of our health. Vitamin D engages in very complex metabolic processes within our body. But to do that it needs the help of many other nutrients and vitamins. Read ON …for a fascinating story of how man’s evolution under the SUN made him to utilize the sun’s rays to his benefit…
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Reminder: The Best Form of Vitamin D Does Not Come in a Pill...
It's important to realize that the IDEAL way to optimize your vitamin D level is not by taking a pill, but rather allowing your body to do what it was designed to do — create vitamin D from sun exposure . Sunlight is better for a number of reasons:
• It is natural.
• When you expose your skin to the sun, your skin also synthesizes high amounts of cholesterol sulfate, which is very important for cardiovascular health. In fact, Dr. Stephanie Seneff, believes that high LDL and associated heart disease may in fact be a symptom of cholesterol sulfate deficiency. Sulfur deficiency, in fact, also promotes obesity and related health problems like diabetes. (More of this in later blogs)
• You cannot get overdosed.
The only way to determine whether you’re within the therapeutic range is to regularly test your vitamin D3 levels. If it is less than 50ng/mL, then you might have to go for D3 supplements.{ One of my friends ( F-age 32 yrs. Otherwise, extremely healthy) was diagnosed with ‘ Non- haemorrhagic focal infarct in left medial thalamus’ about 9 months back. Her D3 level was 5.06ng/mL. With vitamin D3 supplement her level is now 38.2 ng/mL.}.
Let us just digress for a moment here….For so long, we've been told to take calcium for osteoporosis... and vitamin D, which we know is helpful. But then, more studies are coming out showing that increased calcium intake is causing more heart attacks and strokes. That created a lot of confusion around whether calcium is safe or not. But that's the wrong question to be asking, because we'll never properly understand the health benefits of calcium or vitamin D, unless we take into consideration K2. That's what keeps the calcium in its right place."
So, what is this vitamin K and how does fit into our knowledge about vitamin D?
Vitamin K engages in a delicate dance with vitamin D; whereas vitamin D provides improved bone development by helping you absorb calcium, there is new evidence that vitamin K2 directs the calcium to your skeleton, while preventing it from being deposited where you don't want it -- i.e., your organs, joint spaces, and arteries. A large part of arterial plaque consists of calcium deposits (atherosclerosis), hence the term "hardening of the arteries."
Vitamin K mainly comes in two forms -- K1 or K2 -- and it is important to understand the differences between them.
1. Vitamin K1 : Found in green vegetables, K1 goes directly to your liver and helps you maintain a healthy blood clotting system & keeps your own blood vessels from calcifying, and helps your bones retain calcium.
2. Vitamin K2: Research published in Atherosclerosis found that high dietary intake of vitamin K2 is associated with reduced coronary calcification (hardening of the arteries), a result that should also lessen your risk of heart disease. It is present in fermented foods, particularly cheese and the Japanese food natto,( prepared from fermented soya) which is by far the richest source of K2.
3.Vitamin K3: Is synthetic and manmade.
Why Might Vitamin K2 be so Beneficial for Your Heart?
A recent meta-analysis ( this type of analysis, with all its drawbacks, is still a good attempt at arriving at truth.) looked at studies involving people taking calcium in isolation, without complementary nutrients like magnesium, vitamin D and vitamin K2, showed that calcium can build up in coronary arteries and cause heart attacks. So if you are going to take calcium, you need to be sure you have balanced it with vitamin D and vitamin K.
While the ideal or optimal ratios between vitamin D and vitamin K2 have yet to be elucidated, Rheume-Bleue suggests about 150-200 micrograms of K2 will meet the need for the "average" healthy person.
Vitamin K2 not only helps to prevent hardening of your arteries, which is a common factor in coronary artery disease and heart failure, it also is an nutritional intervention for improving bone density, and for varicose veins. People with the highest intakes of vitamin K2 from their diet had a 20 percent lower risk of diabetes compared with those with the lowest intakes, according to the latest research from University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands. Past studies have also shown vitamin K to help reduce the progression of insulin resistance
As for dietary sources, eating lots of green vegetables, especially kale, spinach, collard greens, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts, will increase your vitamin K1 levels naturally. For vitamin K2, cheese is an excellent source, the only other source being natto, ( A Japanese and Korean delicacy made from fermented soya). Most yoghurts have almost no vitamin K2. Fermented vegetables, which are one of my new passions, primarily for supplying beneficial bacteria back into our gut, can be a great source of vitamin K if you ferment your own using the proper starter culture. Samples of high-quality fermented organic vegetables made with specific starter culture when tested, showed that a typical serving of about two to three ounces contain about 10 trillion beneficial bacteria, but it also contained 500 mcg of vitamin K2. There's no way to test for vitamin K2 deficiency.
The Importance of Magnesium
As mentioned previously, magnesium is another important player to allow for proper function of calcium. Vitamin K2 and magnesium complement each other, as magnesium helps lower blood pressure, which is an important component of heart disease.
Vegetables and whole grains are good dietary sources of magnesium. However, grains MUST be prepared properly to remove phytates and anti-nutrients that can otherwise block your absorption of magnesium.
The Role of Vitamins D and K in Diabetes:
Type 1 diabetes develops due to malfunctioning of the immune system. Mounting scientific evidence indicates that vitamin D plays a vital role in the normal functioning of the immune system and vitamin D deficiency can lead to the malfunctioning of the immune system
Life-style factors that are well known to cause Type 2 diabetes include obesity, old age and physical inactivity. It’s interesting to note that all of these factors also cause vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is important for normal glucose metabolism. In recent years, researchers have linked low vitamin D levels to insulin resistance and diabetes. Overcoming insulin resistance, in particular, could be a way to head off type 2 diabetes before it sets in. Over driving the beta cells by the use of sulphonylureas in the treatment of diabetes should a get a recall.
1. Vitamin D acts through several mechanisms on glucose metabolism:
2. Vitamin D directly acts on the muscle and fat cells to improve insulin action by reducing insulin resistance. In a study in the U.S., researchers found that vitamin D and calcium supplementation were able to reduce progression from pre-diabetes to diabetes. This protective effect of vitamin D was similar to other interventions such as a weight reducing diet, intense exercise and use of the drug, metformin. Evidence from interventional trials suggests that combined vitamin D and calcium supplementation may help prevent type 2 DM in only some populations at high risk for diabetes
3. Vitamin D indirectly improves insulin production and it’s action by improving the level of calcium inside the cells. For calcium to be directed to cells we need vitamin K2.
The researchers have found that people who had higher level of vitamin D were less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes. Thus vitamin D appears to have a protective effect against the development of Type 2 diabetes. Intuitively, to tell vitamin D deficiency can lead to diabetes is at the time, far fetched though there are numerous scientific studies which indicate the same.
Vitamin D is not a drug. There is no glory or huge profits in simply telling people to take enough vitamin D.
A Return to Common Sense
All in all, what most well-performed research is ultimately showing is that the rules of health are actually fairly simple and straightforward. Your health is a direct reflection of your total lifestyle, with diet being the predominant factor.
The primary factor of “a healthy diet” is wholesome food, grown in a natural way, without genetic tinkering and toxic chemicals. Food that is sprayed with agricultural chemicals, genetically altered, processed, pasteurized and irradiated, and then reformulated with added synthetic nutrients, additives and fillers, simply cannot take the place of real food. You cannot eat trash and supplement your way to radiant health. THERE IS NO MAGIC BULLET….
It’s also inadvisable to get too hung up on individual nutrients, as virtually all nutrients are dependent on other dietary factors for optimal function. Food supplement (XXX, sorry, YYY will CURE disease ZZZ…). Such statements do not have a place.) Aggressive supplementation can sometimes add to the problem by worsening nutritional deficiencies. This problem can largely be circumvented by eating a varied whole food diet, and in the case of vitamin D, you can expose large amounts of your skin to sunshine regularly. {Recommended is 40 % of your body to 20 minutes of sun’s rays ( above 30 deg horizon)}
It’s really not rocket science, and I would recommend placing a little less stock in those who insist that every single nutrient must be scientifically proven beneficial in order to validate a sensible whole food diet over processed alternatives. You cannot fool nature. And you can only fool your body for so long.
IT IS TIME TO CHOOSE. I HAVE MADE MINE… CHOOSE HEALTH….............
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