The importance of Vitamin D in your family’s diet

Lately I’ve been feeling a little “blah.” The launch of my Snack Smart Solutions App in December has been a whirl wind of marketing and being my own PR agent, topped with the holidays and family visits.

At the end of 2012 I vowed to take care of me again. I preach to moms that if we don’t take care of ourselves, who will, so I went to the doctors for a full scale blood work. Yep, the whole sha-bang.

I blogged about what to ask for when you get your annual or bi-annual blood work done, but there were a couple of tests that my doctor left out: Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D. The results came in, low iron and low Vitamin D levels. I was actually surprised. I mean, I take 5000iu of Vitamin D3 drops per day! And any conventional doctor would freak out at me telling me that was too much because that is way over the Recommended Daily Allowance, eh whatever.

“Nope, not even close,” he told me.

“I need you to take 10,000iu per day for the next 3 months and we’ll check your levels again. Since I know you won’t take iron supplements, get your iron through foods and you’ll feel better again. You know what to do Jasmine, see you in three months.”

I was shocked! Low iron, low D3, but my Vitamin B12 was fantastic (Thank you nutritional yeast).

I have been reading about the importance of Vitamin D for years, way before conventional doctors were beginning to think about it. I have written close to a dozen articles stating the importance of supplementing Vitamin D and I am sure my Facebook Friends are tired of me preaching about it virtually.

To date, almost 40,000 research journals have been published about how Vitamin D can prevent colds, flus, all types of cancers, heart disease, lose weight, prevent preeclampsia, reduce Autism rates, reduce c-section rates and gestational vitamin D deficiency, reduce depression, anxiety, postpartum depression, ADHD, help with autoimmune diseases, improve bone mass to reduce osteopenia and bone fractures… need I go on?

I hate to tell you that going in the sun will actually cure all of your problems. We live in Chicago and in case you haven’t noticed, we only see Mr. Sunshine about 189 days per year, (84 sunny days, 105 partly sunny days to be exact) and if you are slathering on non-toxic sunscreen (yes, I am one of those moms) then your ability to absorb the Vitamin D becomes two percent. And no, milk does not cover it unless you are drinking 8 glasses per day (anything more than 16 oz can cause anemia in children. Confusing indeed!).

Vitamin D is critical for good health and disease prevention and the best way to get this is through supplementation. The darker the skin or the heavier you are the less likely your body is absorbing it, so testing is crucial.

What is a parent to do? Ask! Ask your doctor for a complete blood test having them include Vitamin D and B12. Ask your pediatrician to run the blood work, too. Yes, it sucks holding your kids down, but they’ll thank you later in life.

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