7 Awesome Natural Sources of Vitamin D
The skin cancer scare has rendered many Americans vitamin D deficient, with many avoiding highly beneficial natural sources of vitamin D. Although caution should be used when exposed to the sun for extended periods of time, unobstructed access to the sunshine vitamin can improve dental health, slash the risk of getting the flu by half, and aid people suffering with everything from asthma to cancer.
In the approaching winter months, however, sunlight plentiful in vitamin D will become scarce. We’ll have to expand our diets by eating lots of foods high in vitamin D (but taking care to avoid mercury-laden fish) and potentially high quality vitamin D3 supplements. According to Harvard, how much vitamin D our bodies need varies with our age and skin color. Natural health experts agree that between 5,000 and 8,000 international units (IUs) daily is most beneficial.
Here are 7 great natural sources of vitamin D:
1. Salmon
Three ounces of fresh sockeye salmon has nearly 450 IUs of vitamin D. It’s also loaded with healthy omega-3 fatty acids, a natural anti-aging nutrient and known obesity fighter. Always remember to buy from only high quality organic fish producers and avoid any fish around the Fukushima disaster or the Pacific as a whole.
2. Sardines
Two sardines contain 12% of the FDA’s recommended vitamin D daily intake. While the FDA’s recommended intake is very low at only 400 IU a day, sardines can be a great source of vitamin D when adding to additional intake. To avoid BPA leaching into your healthy food through canned food, stick to fresh fish rather than canned varieties.
3. Eggs
A large egg yolk has 37 IUs of vitamin D, and they also provide protein and healthy cholesterol. Don’t worry—the theory that eggs are as bad as cigarettes is a myth was recently debunked by a Canadian study. To get the most nutrients (and to be nicer to the planet and its other inhabitants, like chickens), stick to farm-fresh varieties. You’ll know them when you crack them because the yolks are bright orange, not yellow.
4. Cheese
Cheese can boost your diet with vitamin D, but as always you will want to eat it in moderation — especially if it is not raw and from a local farm. Get farm-fresh cheese to ensure that the dairy cows are at least eating grass, as they’re meant to, not M&Ms and doughnuts as many now are.
5. Beef liver
Three ounces of this beef liver gets you 42 IUs of vitamin D as well as a healthy dose of iron. Iron is generally useful particularly for women who may be deficient in the substance.
6. Mushrooms
“Mushrooms contain a compound called ergosterol that gets converted to vitamin D when exposed to UVB light,” says Tara McHugh, a researcher at Western Regional Research Center of the Agricultural Research Service.
7. Sunlight (The Absolute Best)
Depending on your skin hue, anywhere from 10 minutes (light skin) to 30 minutes (dark skin) of near-full-body exposure in the summer sun without sunscreen will fulfill your vitamin D intake. Remember that sunshine cannot create vitamin D through glass, and it is always important to build up your skin to the sunlight by going outside in increasingly larger amounts each day.
If you’re concerned about excess sun exposure, you can always wear extra clothing or a large hat. In addition, fix up your diet to include raw fruits and vegetables along with organic dark chocolate. By changing your nutritional intake, you can enhance the ability of your body to fight off sunburn.
Additional Sources:
Vitamin D Deficieny in endemic world wide. Vitamin D has been found to be essential in most, if not all, body systems. One must consider the current overwhelming geoengineering with constant chemtrail spraying which is blocking UVB at an alarming rate a significant factor in this ongoing and worsening depletion. Do you consider that we need to lobby governments worldwide to cease and desist with this practice? In order for people to obtain adequate vitamin D from sunlight exposure there must be adequate UVB radiation, these levels are falling as we speak.
Keep up the fight and the important information coming!
Many thanks,
Kerry
Agreed with Kerry! How in the world are people to stay healthy with all the chem-trailing which has been going on for 2 decades? Something has to be done to stop all this…our future as a civilization depends on it. How are they allowed to get away with such atrocities?
Thanks for the great articles you guys put forth:)
~Demetra
Does cooking the foods that contain Vitamin D destroy the Vitamin D?
Could you please discuss the harm to our bodies from plastic…which our food and liquids are package in. What is being leached into our food and water and what is the effects of this leaching on our bodies. Why can't we go back to glass bottles. Glass can be recycled.
Thank you very much for the information you provide.
Peggy of this leaching
Cooking can destroy vitamins, enzymes, amino acids, and other nutrients in the food. The higher the heat and the longer the food is cooked, the more nutrients are lost.
BPA, (Bisphenol-A), a toxic chemical that helps destroy your endocrine system. Some are going to BPS, (Bisphenol-S), which is not quite as toxic as BPA, but 17 times more absorbable and some say is even worse. So when it say no BPA on the bottle it may certainly be BPS.
Choose glass over plastic, especially when it comes to products that will come
into contact with food or beverages, or those intended for pregnant
women, infants and children.
Vitamin D is very important especially during the growing years. It pertinent to bone formation and will prevent Rickets which is an abnormal bone formation in children; especially seen in the legs.
Bowed leg, knock knee, lazy foot, pigeon toe, are some of the conditions of Rickets some times known as Blount’s disease, and are some of the milder forms of bone problems, which is caused by vitamin D deficiency.
Depression is another form of D deficiency, especially during the winter months in many Northern countries. Shut-ins should be getting out in the sun and/or vitamin D3.
Cod liver oil is the second best source of Vitamin D3.