What do vitamin D, lard, and cholesterol have in common?
There are actually multiple correct answers to this…
- They are all important for your health
- Lard is a great source for cholesterol and vitamin D
- All three are very misunderstood
But let’s be really clear first:
I’m talking about vitamin D3 (not D2), and the lard I’m referring to is from pastured, naturally raised pigs.
Because each of these three topics is huge, I will break them down into 3 newsletters.
Let’s start with vitamin D.
There are tons of studies on vitamin D, and they can be very contradictory!
Some claim vitamin D does nothing for the immune system…
But when you take a closer look at those studies, they used it in isolation (as in, not in the harmony of other nutrients necessary so your body can actually use it).
Some studies used vitamin D2, that is typically from irradiated yeast or other molds. It makes no sense to claim vitamin D doesn’t work when they used the wrong vitamin D.
Some use doses that make no sense… as in, you shouldn’t do 1 massive dose of vitamin D one time and expect it to work.
Exact dosage does depend on the person, but on average I recommend around 8,000 – 10,000 IUs per day.
Of course, season, altitude, living location, age, skin color, all play into how much vitamin D is needed.
Additionally, when looking at vitamin D we need to make sure the liver is functioning.
You know I always put a lot of emphasis on the liver, and besides the seemingly endless functions the liver has, vitamin D is a big reason for it.
If your liver isn’t working well, vitamin D will be an issue.
Interestingly, because of the major role the liver plays with vitamin D, there are people who claim we shouldn’t supplement vitamin D at all and it’s just all about the liver…
But this is where we’re heading into the next newsletter topic already! Lard!
What I will add for now though is that not all supplements are created equal.
Of course, at bare minimum they need to be organic and properly sourced.
But especially when it comes to vitamin D, it has to be with its harmonizing nutrients so your body can actually use it.
Having the right ingredients together is so important that you can actually find studies saying vitamin D is toxic!
But again, that’s using the wrong supplement and not vitamin D’s fault.
For that reason, the only vitamin D supplement I use is DV3 from Systemic Formulas.
And as a brief reminder of why vitamin D is so important for your health:
- it supports your mood and brain function
- needed for learning, memory, concentration
- it is your immune regulator (your immune system depends on it)
- needed for your bone and skin health
- helps manage blood sugar levels
- may protect against cancer
- important for your heart health
- facilitates hormone regulation
Of course, sun exposure is important for your body to produce vitamin D herself. But for many of my patients, we currently have winter and live too far north.
In part 2 I’ll explain what lard has to do with this and why you need to pay attention to it.
