Did you know that approximately 75 percent of folks in America are vitamin-D deficient?
This is extremely sad news considering vitamin D is a wonderful gift from Mother Nature! It doesn’t cost a thing apart from time spent outdoors and that, alone, is a gift in more ways than one!
Perhaps it’s the fact that I was born and raised on the sunny island of Bermuda that makes me absolutely adore the feeling of the sun warming my skin.
I recall so much of my childhood spent outdoors doing things, such as gymnastics in the back yard, climbing trees, riding bikes, and romping around the safe neighborhood with my cousins and friends.
Those were the days!
The Natural Vitamin D Supplement
Oh, and let’s not forget the many summer family camping trips and the tons of time spent “down the rocks.”
Down the rocks? you ask.
Yes, that was our local non-beach style of swimming which consisted of going to one of many natural rock formation areas around the island that safely allowed us to jump into and swim in the big, beautiful turquoise ocean. We would find a spot that allowed us to easily climb out of the ocean after jumping in, and that jumping-in-and-out-of-the-water activity went on for hours and hours at a time throughout the summer.
Today, for when I just have time for brief moments of stillness in the sun, I visit a chair placed directly outside my front door, and the bright sun shines down on it. On a recent sunny day when working on a writing assignment, my breaks from the computer consisted of several mini “dates” out to that chair to be one with the sun.
This has now become my routine on those days that require extended computer work.
Then, when I have more time and want to get my whole body into it, I go around to the side lawn where a water floaty awaits me; I stretch out on it and soak up some sunshine “medicine” that way, too.
The sun really does feel like natural medicine to me. And, it is!
“Letting the sun warm your skin is extremely important because skin synthesizes vitamin D from the ultraviolet rays of sunlight,” says Jordan Rubin in The Raw Truth: Transform Your Health with the Power of Living Nutrients.
Once we receive our dose of vitamin D, this vitamin can then get on to its job of helping our bodies absorb calcium and phosphorus which, in turn, gives us strong bones and teeth.
The workings of nature never cease to amaze me.
It’s just so fascinating how it all connects, starting with the sun! But, we’re not only limited to healthy bones and teeth from vitamin D. Among other benefits, Rubin also lists “blood pressure, cell replication, immune system, and colon health” as some of the other areas of our health supported by vitamin D.
“You need to expose your face, arms, hands, and back to the sun to provide your body with adequate vitamin D — the ‘sunshine vitamin’,” Rubin states in “The Raw Truth,” a complimentary resource in health food stores across the country. In Chapter 10, Rubin discusses RAW Sunshine/Vitamin D.
Since the weather in many areas is now showing its sunny “face,” why not spring on outdoors for this beautiful, complimentary gift called vitamin D?
While out there, reap the host of additional benefits to be gained: improved health from a nature walk or another form of exercise, fresh air to cleanse the lungs, aroma therapy from trees and flowers, uplifted mood from nature’s scenery, and the list goes on.
Vitamin D and Skin Synthesis
Be careful not to wash all your vitamin D away!
If you should happen to use your time outdoors for taking a brisk walk, running or such, be sure to note this important fact that I wasn’t aware of until reading “The Raw Truth.”
If we shower too soon after coming in from the sun, we can tend to wash away the vitamin D that the body just received, because the sun’s ultraviolet rays are still being synthesized by the skin when we’re back indoors.
According to Rubin, research reveals that the time frame for maximum absorption would be about 48 hours, but who wants to feel unfresh for that long, right?
So, if we must immediately go from sweaty to fresh, Rubin suggests that during your just-in-from-out-in-the-sun shower to simply soap up the armpits, groin and hair, leaving the other body parts exposed to the sun to keep on synthesizing!
Well, off I go to change into a halter top so that my back can also get some sun exposure while I mow the lawn today.
While I am planning to hold off from immediately showering once I’m done, it won’t be a 48-hour waiting period, though!
What about you?
What are your outdoors plans for the day?