CrossFit South Bay | Hermosa Beach, CA

Your primary source of vitamin D

Vitamin D is extremely important, and unfortunately it’s estimated that at least three quarters of Americans are deficient. You might be thinking: “Oh that’s a big surprise Remy. When are you going to write a post on something the SAD (Standard American Diet) has done right?” The answer to your question is probably never, but in the case of vitamin D, I won’t be harping on refined carbohydrate or low quality oils so much. I’m going to suggest that you might need more unprotected… guess what?

Sun exposure! (get your mind out of the gutter), and possibly take a supplement.

Summary of some functions of vitamin D

Vitamin D is one of the few supplements that might be recommended you are living a well-planned paleo lifestyle. Why? Well, while you should be getting all the vitamins and minerals you need from food, the thing with vitamin D is you can’t really get enough from food — it is made in your body as a result of reaction with direct sun exposure. How did we evolve this way then, needing a vitamin that we can’t necessarily get from food? I recently read a great article from Dr. Mike Eades on vitamin D and folate; here he explains the skin color-vitamin D relationship and other relationships.

Vitamin D is integrally involved in bone building, heart protection, clotting functions, immune functions, warding off cancer, enhancing cognition, preventing mental illness and a long list of other functions. Those three-quarters of Americans are deficient in this vitamin (even with all the vitamin-D fortified dairy products in the SAD? yes, indeed, those amounts are relatively trivial). The mass deficiency exists because most live in northern areas and/or spend a lot of time indoors and/or because they use sunscreen or are mostly covered up by clothing when exposed directly to sunlight. Sunscreens block UVB and totally prevent the formation of vitamin D (and sadly, many sunscreens allow in the cancer-causing UVA rays).

Take-homes:

If you don’t get much unprotected sun exposure, take a vitamin D3 supplement. How much unprotected sun exposure? Check out this calculator. How much supplement? Adults should take at least 25 mcg (1000 IU) per day for those of us who live in Southern California and don’t get near full-body sun exposure for enough minutes.

The tolerable upper limit (UL) recommended by the FDA is 50 mcg (2000 IU) for adults if taken in the form of supplement. The 1997 studies on which both the RDA and UL were based are now largely in question with much a much higher RDA (recommended dietary allowance) and UL to soon come forth is my guess. Many experts suggest 2,000 IU may become the RDA. To learn about what the National Institutes of Health summarize/recommend see here. Also, this article from the CBA is good overview of the issues (article rec’d by Dr. Eades).

If your doctor recommended and you agreed take a statin to manage cholesterol, make sure you take vitamin D3. Eades explaines, “We can somewhat compensate by developing higher levels of cholesterol to trap what little UVB we get and convert it to vitamin D,” but while taking statin drugs, this process is inhibited.

If you are a pregnant woman or worried about folate intake, be careful of too much sun exposure and get enough protein to maintain albumin levels. Eades summarizes, “The main protein in the blood, albumin, prevents much of the UVB-induced destruction of folate. Albumin is made in the liver, and levels of it are a marker of liver function. When your liver is compromised, you don’t make as much albumin.”A well-planned paleo lifestyle means you’re probably eating plenty of protein so that you will make enough albumin. This albumin will protect your folate from the ravages of the sunshine that you bask in to increase your vitamin D.

If you do get a fair amount of sun exposure, make sure you take plenty of folic acid (you can also read Eade’s overview the more bioavailable kind of folic acid called methylfolate, here). However, if you’re eating a well-planned paleo diet with plenty of green leafy vegetables and colorful fruits throughout each day, these have large quantities of folate.

The recipe of the week is one I found on this blog I’ve come to enjoy called Feasting on Fitness for Cilantro Lime Curry Rice. Cauliflower rice is a great rice substitute. Here’s an excerpt:

Cauliflower is one of Barry Sear’s top 100 Zone foods for being filling, high in fiber, low in calories, and vitamin rich.  It has your recommended dosage of vitamin C in just one cup.  Its heart helping nutrients, folate and vitamin B6, break down homocysteine, an artery damaging chemical.  Its phytonutrients also protect against cancer.  One study found that combining the spice turmeric with cauliflower leads to protection again prostate cancer and slows its growth, perhaps accounting for the low incidence of prostate cancer among men in India.

WOD 3/2/2010

A. Barbell Turkish Get-Ups 3-3-3 (each side)

B. 4 Rounds
50M Farmers Walk (45 lbs/25 lbs each arm)
25 Double Unders
10 Power Cleans