If you don’t get much sun, protect your skin well from the sun with sunscreen (I do that EVERY day! I don’t want to become a raisin), don’t drink milk because you have a milk allergy or eat predominantly plant-based foods like myself or follow a strict vegan diet, you are at risk for a vitamin D deficiency. But how much vitamin D do you need? Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, is produced by the body when the skin is exposed to sunlight. It is also found in a number of foods such as cod liver oil, egg yolks, whole grain cereal products, mushrooms, liver, (fortified) milk products and oily fish. But the amounts are small and you never know exactly how much is in your piece of fish, for example. In addition, the functioning of the kidneys, your digestion, intestinal problems (eg, Celiac / gluten allergy or gluten intolerance) and also obesity play a role in the absorption of Vitamin D3 from your diet.
What makes Vitamin D so special is that it is not actually a vitamin but a hormone that your body can produce from the sun. Despite the ability to get vitamin D from food and the sun, an estimated 40%-75% of people are deficient because it is not sufficiently present os our current diet and the sun is not the most reliable source for everyone to make it. Vitamin D is increasingly seen as a very important nutrient, because it plays a crucial role in health and affects your immunity (many colds? Think about Vit D3! ), bone and dental health, the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, muscle weakness/strength, diabetes, glucose intolerance, hypertension (high blood pressure), multiple sclerosis, autoimmune diseases and according to scientists it also plays a role in obesity and one of the possible reasons why you do not seem to lose weight in all your efforts.
Many different factors affect the skin’s ability to produce vitamin D, for example: time of day you go outside, season, latitude (you probably remember this from your geography lessons), degree of air pollution, cloud cover, use of sunscreen and makeup, size of the body parts you expose to the sun, skin color and age. In my book and also in this other article on my blog, you can read even more about the importance of Vitamin D3 and why it is also important that you take the right form. For example, Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin and so it should be taken in an oil-bearing form where it doesn’t matter what oil is in your capsule. And in any case you want the best absorbable form and also no extra junk like dyes (like e.g. in the well-known Fultium that you will not find in my house). So in my other article on my blog you will read more about it.
In this article I mainly want to answer the question that I get so often in my Facebook communities and workshops: “How much Vitamin D3 do I need?
To determine how much Vitamin D3 you need, it is important to know that your weight and BMI plays a role in this. Vitamin D is withdrawn from the blood by fat cells which causes people with a body mass index of 30 or higher to have a low vitamin D level in the blood much faster. With the 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood test one can start measuring that level accurately.
The heavier you weigh and the higher your weight or BMI, the more important the right amount becomes. Research into weight loss even established that sufficient quantities of the vitamin are linked to the speed with which you lose weight.
In this table you can see how much you need according to your weight. As you lose weight, the amount needs to be adjusted.
Download this handy table and calculator tool HERE
It is also important to add up all your supplements, because often you take several supplements that contain a small amount and you therefore need to do some calculations. For example, if you take for extra support and more energy the fantastic MagneB Plus D Femina (or the version for men) with a highly absorbable form of Magnesium (about 70% higher than e.g. Promagnor) then you already take for example 800 IU (International Units) but you may still need to supplement with a capsule that only contains Vitamin D3 to get to your daily amount. It is best to take Natural Energy Vitamin D3 ULTRA or FORTE. (See also the other article)
With code takeyoutime you get a nice discount via LABOPHAR’s website you can order your supply there.
Do you have questions about your health, supplementation, weight loss, …? Then you can always book a personal health consultation with me (digital or in person). Just send me an email.
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