Category Archives: Vitamin D

Rockin’ The Cornerstones of Health; How I Let Go of New Year’s Resolutions

January 2017 Newsletter

I’m not really one for New Year’s resolutions. I don’t even start new protocols on a Monday after I realized years ago that I was setting myself up for failure if starting something new with a bang. My resonance organs dictate a mindfulness in motion that begs me to be accountable to myself each and every day; self-love is a continually evolving gesture of self-honour and self-care.

After sitting for three days a week in clinic I typically feel compelled to go on a mini-pilgrimage, usually this takes form as a good 10-12 km romp into the town or hills where I live… and my step counter will show about 17,000 steps by the end of the day. Jeff and I generally enjoy the same jaunt together on the weekend. During the week, I tend to engage in an hour of something each day; I love swimming, hiking the cobbled streets where we live, taking photographs, and enjoying an hour of yoga twice a week to ensure I’m maintaining upper body strength.

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I do not love plank poses, although I do love the way they make me feel when I’m regularly engaged with my practice. A thirty minute daily meditation also is part of my regular regimen. You may ask how I find the time… well, it has taken me twenty years to unhook from a life of obligation and now my health soars, with few supplements, by allowing my spirit to be free of living totally out of obligation. A decade ago, my goal was to craft a life that I no longer felt I needed a vacation from, and this goal has most definitely been achieved!

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I will take Vitamin D3 in the winter months only if I’m getting insufficient sunlight, although for the last two years we’ve lived in Mexico in winter, so I don’t bother much with this anymore. If I notice any thyroid challenges, I’ll take kelp and nascent iodine to help on those occasions. I also take zinc periodically, as well as some greens powder (spirulina/chlorella). I drink 2-3 litres of spring water a day which helps to keep me feeling clear, calm, and restored. I’ve always been a very thirsty constitutional type and so drinking a lot, especially in the mornings, really helps to set me right for the remainder of the day.

Mostly I eat quite scantily, fasting a couple days a week for most of the day; as I get into my more “senior” years I find that this approach helps keep my mind and body running optimally. At this high altitude of seven thousand feet above sea level, I sleep hard and soundly given the lower oxygen levels, and seven to eight hours a night without waking is beyond restorative to me. The less I eat, the better I sleep!

Being happy and in love with my partner and my life help a lot. We enjoy great recreation such as attending the orchestra, travelling with friends to a spa or organic farm in the country, or just lying around and reading. Having tea and discussing art, photography, principles or the concepts of Heilkunst enthuse me no end and it’s great that I get to do this with Jeff. I’m also adored, nurtured and well loved on, and kissed thoroughly with intent every day. I wish every human being benefitted from this much loving and fulfillment.

jeff-and-ally

Lastly, I’m rocking what I’m ordained to be. I used to wake with whole poems in my head as a child. I’ve always loved to write and it is a big part of who I am and the vehicle I use to serve others by crafting books in natural medicine and Heilkunst. I’ve also always been profoundly intuitive and so I use these skills to diagnose my patient’s deeper issues, and then use my knowledge and compassion to help them get to where they’d like to go with regard to the resolution of their chronic ills.  

Jeff and I both love hearing your monthly impressions as you work through the tangle of your challenges and wins each month. It is a living model of rejuvenation similar to a fever event, when your child speaks for the first time as they shed the Autism diagnosis.  You might now be able to imagine what it means when a patient tells us that she has found the love of her life as a result of going through this system of medicine, and that she no longer suffers chronic fatigue because she also let go of that gnarly day job where her creativity was suppressed.  

It is our resolution to be healthy enough to continue to support you in the ways that you expect, exacting the healing and curing principles of Heilkunst Medicine to the very best of our abilities.  We love serving you and it means so much to us that you keep coming back monthly and also refer your friends and family.  Our hearts are filled with purpose and meaning because of you.

Vitamin D3

 

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About 20 minutes of full sun exposure a day, on your bare skin, is all you really need to stay whole and healthy. Vitamin D is one of those elements that the body stopped producing as a function of our evolution. However, we still need vitamin D to build and maintain strong, healthy bone structure and teeth.

If you’re not able to be exposed to sun on a daily basis, it can affect not only your bone density, but also your state of mind and immune function. We’re light bearers, as the iron in our blood actually metabolizes light and needs a regular source to help us feel enthused and healthy about ourselves and our lives.

If we risk times of depletion, like winter months in a more northern or southern climate, then supplementation is wholly necessary. While we use vitamin D3 drops in our home, as pictured above, foods such as cod liver oil, tuna, salmon, and sardines naturally contain high sources of vitamin D. In addition, broccoli, sesame seeds, raw milk and eggs can also be a reliable sources albeit more on the moderate side.

Vitamin D3 promotes the absorption of calcium that is critical to a baby’s, child’s, and teen’s growth and development, while also helping adults and more elderly folk prevent bone loss. At every age, we will replace every cell in our bodies, including our bones, every 7 years. It is important to ensure a bioavailable supply of vitamin D, so that the body does not have to struggle to source it out. Actually, this is why babes will suffer teething symptoms as it is due to a lack of bioavailability of minerals for constructing bone and teeth.

Vitamin D3 has been proven to boost our immune function while also decreasing the risk of rheumatoid arthritis, muscle weakness, rickets, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, hypoglycemia, and the development of type 2 diabetes, along with certain cancers such as colon, breast and prostate. Often skin issues, such as acne and psoriasis, can be improved with the supplementation of vitamin D3. In all cases above, though, it is best to address outright the predisposition for any of these diseases through principled medicine, as supplementation is healative, not curative.

Source: Linus Pauling Institute, http://bit.ly/OregonVitD

As per Dr. Mercola, “Additionally, a robust and growing body of research clearly shows that vitamin D is absolutely critical for good health and disease prevention. Vitamin D affects your DNA through vitamin D receptors (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.” Also, Mercola goes on to dispel any myths around overdosing and harmful effects associated with the over use of vitamin D3 on his page below.

Source: http://bit.ly/MercolaVitD
Recommended Daily Dose
If you can sunbathe for 20 minutes per day year round, chances are you won’t need a vitamin D supplement. However, for us, the winter months in Canada are dark and we need about 2,000 I/U a day to get our vitamin D, in order to keep our immune function high and maintain healthy bones and teeth.