The media spotlight has been on Vitamin D for the past several years now, and the D-iva loves it. Every month there are new studies (real ones!!) showing how beneficial this vita-MONE is as an immune booster, in prevention of colon and breast cancers, and for the maintenance of brain function. I call it a Vitamone because it is classified as a vitamin but its chemical structure is that of a hormone.
Hot, Vogue, Provocative, Mysterious....Vitamin D is the Lady Gaga of the vitamin world, and I'm her biggest fan.
Most people are Vitamin D deficient. D3 is a very inexpensive vitamin to buy. It works great during cold and flu season for prevention. Hmmm...cheap and necessary....sounds like a deal.
Most of us don’t get enough sun, especially in the winter, to make the amount of vitamin D we need. Getting extra vitamin D is a good idea, either from supplements or from vitamin D–fortified foods. For those looking to supplement to correct or prevent deficiency, a new study shows that of the two forms commonly sold, one of them will impact vitamin D status more efficiently.
The most common form of D used in food fortification is a synthetic variety called vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol. It is also the only available prescription form of vitamin D.
Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is made in the body when skin is exposed to sunlight and occurs naturally in foods like eggs and fish. In order to produce vitamin D3 for supplements, some manufacturers are extracting D3 from wool fat that has been exposed to ultraviolet light.
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism published a study comparing the effects of vitamin D2 and D3 supplements on vitamin D levels in healthy adults. The participants took capsules providing 50,000 IU of either vitamin D2 or D3 once per week for 12 weeks. Blood samples were drawn every two weeks to measure changes in blood vitamin D levels, and fat biopsies were taken at the beginning and end of the trial to measure changes in tissue vitamin D levels. In addition, a final blood sample was taken six weeks after the last dose. D3 does the trick faster !!
Blood vitamin D levels rose throughout the trial in both groups, but rose more rapidly in the D3 group. By week 12, the average vitamin D level had risen nearly 50% more in the D3 group than in the D2 group. The increase in tissue vitamin D levels from the beginning to the end of the trial was roughly three times as great in the D3 group. Blood levels dropped at a similar rate in both groups after stopping the supplements, but because the D3 group had higher levels by week 12, they maintained an advantage over the D2 group at the 6-week follow up. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2011;96:online publication) These results show clearly that D3 produces a substantially larger effect than D2, as measured both by serum vitamin D status and by fat storage of the vitamin.
It is not easy to keep adequate levels of Vitamin D in your blood, but here are some tips:
• Get vitamin D3 from rich natural food sources such as fatty fish and fish oil. Fortified foods are also fine (remember that vitamin D2 raises vitamin D levels in the body, just not as quickly).
• Spend a little time in the sun. Just 15 minutes without sunscreen a few times per week will help keep your D3 production strong.
• Obtain a Vitamin D blood level yearly. Your doctor can order this for you. Aim for a blood level between 55 and 80
• Look for nutritional supplements that contain cholecalciferol or vitamin D3 or be sure to conscientiously use your D2 supplements to ensure maximum benefit.
• I sometimes need to combine the use of Vitamin D2 and D3 in order to achieve optimal levels. Please call me if you are having trouble raising your serum level or maintaining it.
• Difficult to maintain good levels during the winter months. I usually increase the dose for most patients during the gray winter months, and certainly during flu season.
Ok my bloggie babies, if you have any questions on this just shoot me an email or post here.
Be happy
Aim high
Choose health.
Love you ALL
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Up Close and PERSONAL
Good Morning my Blogsters.
Beautiful day here in NY. The sun is shining. Finished an early morning hike. I love to feel the cool fresh air in my lungs; it intoxicates my brain!!
Of course, what I never forget to do is take my daily load of vitamins/supplements. I get so many emails and everyone wants to know what it is that I personally take. I guess they want to know if I practice what I preach. As you can see by the photo of my personal pillbox....I AIN'T joking around here!!! I also have a smaller pillbox by my bedside for certain supplements/hormones that I take VERYYYY early in the morning on an empty stomach.
Before I get started, I just want to remind everyone that certain vitamins are standard but for the most part, supplements are very individual, and you cannot follow any one person's routine.
So just check with me first before you start swallowing pills that your neighbor's mother swears by.
So here it goes:
High potency Vitamin and mineral supplement.
High dose B-complex.
Extra Folate and B6
Mixed tocopherols, gamma tocopherols.
Vitamin D3 6000 IU daily.
Magnesium 600 mg daily
Selenium 200 mcg daily
Zinc 30+ mg daily
Chromium 200 mcg daily
EPA/DHA (fish oil) 2000 mg daily with food
Olive fruit extract 300mg daily
Sesame seed extract 30 mg daily.
CoQ 10 30 mg (Q-gel) daily
Proanthocyanidins (grape seed&skin extracts) 150 mg daily
Resveratrol 250mg daily
DHEA 25 mg daily
Lutein 10 mg daily
Zeaxanthin & Meso-zeaxanthin 4 mg daily
Natural Astaxanthin 6 mg
Carnosine 1000mg daily
ArginoCarn 675 mg daily
Benfotiamine 150 mg daily
R-lipoic acid 150mg daily
BioPQQ 10mg daily
Luteolin 8mg daily
Complex digestive enzymes 2 x daily: bromelain, papain, inositol, cellulase, lipase, amylase, ficin, pancrelipase, SOD & catalase, organic beet extract 200 mg, CLA 10mg
Vegetable culture w/organic methyl donor 600-900 mg daily
5-HTP 200mg at night.
Secretropin (amino acid blend) at night or Free Form Amino Acid liquid 2 x daily.
Now this is my baseline. I add and subtract supplements depending on my need. For example,If I am working out hard I add D-ribose and creatine. If I am fighting a viral illness, I add a variety of natural anti-virals and immune boosters. I increase Vitamin D3 in the winter months.
I am not going to mention any hormones here, aside from the DHEA, because those are very individual and by prescription only. But please, obtain a DHEA-S level at least yearly before taking continuous supplementation.
Stay focused. Stay true. Stay healthy...mind, body, spirit.
Oh, and... Happy Day of Love to All.....cuz love is all we need!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Was the Donut Worth it?
Today was an exhausting day. I had to tell a very sweet special patient that she now has Diabetes. She cried. I gave her some tissues, and it felt like that was all I had to give.
The truth is that I knew this was coming. I've been warning her of PRE-Diabetes since 2007. She would always confide that she had a weakness for powdered donuts and ate them all the time...since she was a young girl. "I know that they are bad for you, but I just LOVE them"
I gave it my all in trying to educate her, teach her to make some lifestyle changes that would get her off the road to Diabetes. I preached about the evil of a highly processed, high carb diet. I explained that a bagel is not a meal (and neither is a donut). Stop eating pasta everyday. I tried to get her to understand that her life was too sedentary, that she was not a farmer and that her body did not earn the amount of carb calories that she was giving it each day. I pushed fresh fruit and raw vegetables. The response is always the same, "Oh I like fruit, but it just goes bad in the fridge." "Oh but I dont really eat much...just a little piece of cake once in a while" "Oh, I can't walk on the treadmill because my knee hurts". " I never eat sugar, so I don't understand"
When she brought me chocolates for Christmas, I explained that I don't eat them but that I would share them with the staff (you know, the pre-diabetic ones). I wanted her to learn by example. I REALLY wanted her to succeed.
Today I was again reminded that health is a very individual journey. Her diabetes is HER diagnosis, not mine. I can give her the tools, the information, the books, and all the dialogue, but its her choice to take it, or to just sit and cry. So I handed her more tissues.
The reality is she will go home and be upset for a couple of days. She'll go and buy some sugar-free donuts, Diet pepsi (which she has been drinking for years), and those stupid 100 calorie snack pscks. She'll join a gym. She might even make an appointment with the nutritionist and go once or twice. But over time, the shock and the novelty of the diagnosis fades. Old habits creep right back in. And we all know how true love.....between a woman and her donuts....never dies.
Type II Diabetes is a silent disease. She feels nothing. So she is not reminded of her diabetes on a daily basis, aside from the meds she now has to take. What she doesn't realize is that all that excess sugar viciously reacts with your body's proteins causing damaging GLYCATION reactions, which fuels chronic inflammation and the production of destructive free radicals.
It is rare to find a type II Diabetic that does not also have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and triglycerides, arthritis, poor vision, and coronary artery disease (even if they passed their stress test). Helloooo, those are all inflammatory conditions.
I offer my diabetics lots of supplements like Irvingia, green tea, propolmannan, brown seaweed extract, cinnmamon extract, chromium, etc. The key to success though lies in the diet. You must eat LESS (<1800 cal daily), and eliminate simple processed carbs. You simply do not need them. Period. There really is not much more to say about that.
People also develop II diabetes as they get older and hormone levels decline. It is so very important to maintain youthful DHEA and TESTOSTERONE levels which help with insulin sensitivity.
Type II diabetes is preventable, yet it is predicted that the number of Americans living with diabetes will TRIPLE by 2050. THAT is the greatest tragedy of all.
So, get to the gym today. Do 30 min on the bike. Eat an 2 apples a day. Eat the tuna salad on a platter without the bread.
Commit to health. Keep your fasting sugars less than 85. Your after meal sugar level should be no higher than 40 points above that. Call me if they are not. Early intervention is the key to success.
Ok bimbaccioni...
Be healthy. Make smart choices.
Like Nike says, "Just Do It"
The truth is that I knew this was coming. I've been warning her of PRE-Diabetes since 2007. She would always confide that she had a weakness for powdered donuts and ate them all the time...since she was a young girl. "I know that they are bad for you, but I just LOVE them"
I gave it my all in trying to educate her, teach her to make some lifestyle changes that would get her off the road to Diabetes. I preached about the evil of a highly processed, high carb diet. I explained that a bagel is not a meal (and neither is a donut). Stop eating pasta everyday. I tried to get her to understand that her life was too sedentary, that she was not a farmer and that her body did not earn the amount of carb calories that she was giving it each day. I pushed fresh fruit and raw vegetables. The response is always the same, "Oh I like fruit, but it just goes bad in the fridge." "Oh but I dont really eat much...just a little piece of cake once in a while" "Oh, I can't walk on the treadmill because my knee hurts". " I never eat sugar, so I don't understand"
When she brought me chocolates for Christmas, I explained that I don't eat them but that I would share them with the staff (you know, the pre-diabetic ones). I wanted her to learn by example. I REALLY wanted her to succeed.
Today I was again reminded that health is a very individual journey. Her diabetes is HER diagnosis, not mine. I can give her the tools, the information, the books, and all the dialogue, but its her choice to take it, or to just sit and cry. So I handed her more tissues.
The reality is she will go home and be upset for a couple of days. She'll go and buy some sugar-free donuts, Diet pepsi (which she has been drinking for years), and those stupid 100 calorie snack pscks. She'll join a gym. She might even make an appointment with the nutritionist and go once or twice. But over time, the shock and the novelty of the diagnosis fades. Old habits creep right back in. And we all know how true love.....between a woman and her donuts....never dies.
Type II Diabetes is a silent disease. She feels nothing. So she is not reminded of her diabetes on a daily basis, aside from the meds she now has to take. What she doesn't realize is that all that excess sugar viciously reacts with your body's proteins causing damaging GLYCATION reactions, which fuels chronic inflammation and the production of destructive free radicals.
It is rare to find a type II Diabetic that does not also have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and triglycerides, arthritis, poor vision, and coronary artery disease (even if they passed their stress test). Helloooo, those are all inflammatory conditions.
I offer my diabetics lots of supplements like Irvingia, green tea, propolmannan, brown seaweed extract, cinnmamon extract, chromium, etc. The key to success though lies in the diet. You must eat LESS (<1800 cal daily), and eliminate simple processed carbs. You simply do not need them. Period. There really is not much more to say about that.
People also develop II diabetes as they get older and hormone levels decline. It is so very important to maintain youthful DHEA and TESTOSTERONE levels which help with insulin sensitivity.
Type II diabetes is preventable, yet it is predicted that the number of Americans living with diabetes will TRIPLE by 2050. THAT is the greatest tragedy of all.
So, get to the gym today. Do 30 min on the bike. Eat an 2 apples a day. Eat the tuna salad on a platter without the bread.
Commit to health. Keep your fasting sugars less than 85. Your after meal sugar level should be no higher than 40 points above that. Call me if they are not. Early intervention is the key to success.
Ok bimbaccioni...
Be healthy. Make smart choices.
Like Nike says, "Just Do It"
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