To stay healthy during winter time you need to know what is missing when Santa Claus is coming (except the presents). The days are short, the sun is in a lower angle and hits you with fewer rays. And thus you start to suffer from Vitamin D deficiency. “What is the best Vitamin D supplement?” It will be answered when you understand first how much “Hormone D” (Yes it is actually a hormone, if you do not know already) you really need. So that you can stay healthy all year round and keep on exercising.
Vitamin D Dose
Knowing that Vitamin D is actually a Hormone and not a Vitamin leads to the important fact that it needs to be balanced for optimal health. If other hormones like estrogen and progesterone are out of balance in woman for example, it would lead to several health issues (that are most likely treated wrong). So you should better have an optimal level for “Hormone” D.
The Optimal Level looks like in the Chart below. (If you are overweight, I would recommend you to keep the dosage closer to normal weight rates for your size)
I just realized that I need a balcony to write this. This chart is based on the recommendation of Dr. John Cannell who is specialized in Vitamin D. The Chart is showing you the total amount of Vitamin D from supplements or/and sun exposure needed. So if you go out in the Summer regularly, you will need none or little depending on how much you are exposed to the sun. Our ancestors from Africa have been under the sun for the whole day. Today you go into cave offices to earn paper with numbers called money and return to cave houses using your turtle with wheels.
One other thing your body needs “mainly” to process Vitamin D efficiently is magnesium. If you are on a Vegan diet and following a meal plan similar to this one you will have more than enough and don’t have to worry about it. The minimum Magnesium intake daily should be from 600-800 mg depending on your weight.
The Vitamin D hormone is necessary to process calcium in your body. Calcium is what your bones depend on. Back pain from working in the office can actually be a calcium deficiency.
Vitamin D2 or Vitamin D3 Supplementation?
Yes there are two types on the market.
The difference between them is that your body can only absorb up to about 2000 IU with Vitamin D2 because it can’t store it. So if you take more it would be useless.
D3 on the other hand can be stored in your fat cells for several weeks just like Vitamin D from sunlight. That means you can take a very high amount and that will be stored. But you shouldn’t take more than double your recommended IU/day daily for a long period of time to risk intoxication. However, you can take up to 7 times your recommended dose weekly if you like.
So which one to choose? I would recommend the D3 for Winter and outdoor workout in summer. The D3 should not be higher than 1000 IU per capsule for proper dosage, especially if you want to give it to children.
If you are taking medicine, ask your doc for advice before taking Vitamin D supplements.
Vitamin D Supplementation VS Sunlight exposure
For some reason I’m thinking of tanning my big white butt. Well that’s one benefit of sun, it can make you look nice. Might be because it’s an instinctive sign of health to look a bit tanned (like having visibly enough D). That’s on courtship.
Summer sunlight is the natural way your body learned to use for Vitamin D production and will always be the best. No need to look on a chart, just go out and it will be done for you. You might heard you need only 15 minutes of summer sun a day. That’s true for most Swedish maybe, but depending on your skin type it could be up to 8 times as much. The general rule is: You don’t need to turn into a tomato. If you know how much time it roughly takes for you to get red you just divide it into half.
Depending on how long and how much your skin will be baked, you can get 2 to 5 times the IU of Vitamin D you need. And there is no need to panic if overdose. Like mentioned before, your body can handle the sun better than supplements and prevent overdosing. The Winter season is crucial for some Vitamin D supplements though.
And finally sunlight helps your body to produce Coenzyme Q10 by combining with Chlorophyll (plant blood form veggies). [wp-svg-icons icon=”wand” wrap=”i”] This is another pro for the natural source.
Protection of too much sun exposure
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I am no fan of chemical Sunscreen and thus don’t recommend it. The ingredients in most sunscreens are more likely to produce skin cancer than the sun itself. In case you will be under longer sun exposure and want to protect your skin from burns, there is one antioxidant called Astaxanthin that helps many people to prevent sunburn.
One other thing you can do to protect yourself from sun damage, is to install a window film on your windows.
In general, darker skin types have higher pigmentation and melanin that protects them more efficiently from UV damage. But damage does still occur.
Something unclear? Share your experience or write your questions down in the comments section.
Cheers
See ya
Alex 
