Last month I shared this blog post outlining the importance of getting adequate Vitamin D levels in your body since a deficiency in this essential supplement is leading to a whole host of health complications. Don’t believe me? Check out the blog of Dr. Michael F. Holick who is arguably THE leading expert on Vitamin D health research today. I’m working hard to get him on my podcast show to talk about why people need to be paying more attention to Vitamin D and the consequences of remaining deficient.
In Episode 65 of “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb On YouTube”, Christine and I talk about this subject of Vitamin D continuing with our own personal stories of being Vitamin D deficient. You’ll recall when I had my Vitamin D3 checked in July 2008, they measured in on the low end of normal at just 42 ng/mL. After interviewing Dr. William Davis from “The Heart Scan Blog” in September 2008, I began an aggressive 10,000 I.U. Vitamin D3 gel cap supplementation schedule for the next six months to see what would happen to my levels.
Watch today’s video to find out the results of my Vitamin D experiment and more:
Of course, Christine found out about her miserably low 9 ng/mL in January 2009 and we’ve been working hard supplementing her daily with 10,000 I.U. to get her levels up as well. By August, she should be well into normal range with this dosage schedule and I’m anxious to share the results with you when we get her retested. There’s much more to this Vitamin D discussion than I think any of us really know at this point and I’m working hard to stay ahead of the curve with all the latest updates and developments as they arise (at the recent ASBP/Nutrition & Metabolism conference in Charleston earlier this month, one well-known low-carb expert said that there was a noticeable increase in cholesterol levels since they started taking Vitamin D supplementation. Nothing else changed in the diet or supplements, so this could be an emerging concern regarding Vitamin D…or not! I’m working on finding an expert who can answer this question and more!).
Incidentally, if you want to get your Vitamin D levels checked rather inexpensively, then do yourself a favor and join in on the DAction project from GrassrootsHealth. This is how I got my test results and it was a quick and easy process. They mail you a kit where you share blood samples, mail it in, and they will e-mail you the results in less than two weeks. It’s that easy and you test for your Vitamin D levels twice a year. For $40 per test, that ain’t half bad. And if knowing your D3 number is as easy as a simple blood test, then why wouldn’t you do it, hmmm? I’m looking forward to sharing an interview on my podcast coming up this Fall with a representative from GrassrootsHealth to discuss this ambitious project.
We’re striving to reach 100 YouTube videos by the end of the year, so be sure to catch up on all our previous YouTube videos where we’ve covered a wide variety of topics. My wife Christine and I are honored to have over 1,000 subscribers to our YouTube video series now (HOLY COW!), so be sure to visit our YouTube channel and subscribe so you’ll receive all the new “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb On YouTube” episodes when they are posted. Christine and I appreciate hearing from our “peeps” on YouTube, so feel free to e-mail us anytime at livinlowcarbman@charter.net.
Hi Jimmy,
FYI, I just tried to enroll with grassroots health. New York state prohibits reside
I hope you post the rest of your comments, Jackie. NY state doesn’t allow what?
–Jimmy
Hi again,
Sorry, but my computer is ahead of itself.
As I was saying above.New York State apparently prohibits home Vit D testing.
What is the reasoning for this, Jackie? I wonder how many other states also prohibit it. THANK YOU for sharing!
–Jimmy
This is what it says on the ZRT site
California State residents:
California State health law does not allow the testing of specimens collected or mailed from California without a written order from a health care professional licensed to prescribe in California (M.D.; N.D.; D.C.; D.O.; N.P.; and L.Ac.). Therefore, we are unable to process Internet orders.
NY State residents:
New York State health law prohibits the testing of specimens collected in or mailed from New York and prohibits the transmission of data from our laboratory to NY physicians or residents. Therefore, we are unable to process Internet orders at this time.
So it looks like you will have to ask a friend/relative outside of California or New York State to order you a test kit and then go and visit them so the collection/mailing is not done in either California or NYstate.
You are sent an email notification to look online for the results so once you’ve signed up using an out of state mail address getting the notification sent to you home email is easy.
It’s a Health professionals protection racket to control the market.
For goodness sake think what would happen if people took control of their own health.
They may end up looking like Jimmy.
We make vitamin D from cholesterol when we get enough sun exposure, specifically a certain type of UV ray (UVB I think? I’ll have to look it up again), so if this person’s getting D from dietary sources and not getting out in the sun, his cholesterol’s building up from not being converted.
If you talk to him again soon, have him get outside without sunscreen for thirty minutes or so, a few days a week, and see if that helps.
Now that said, I wouldn’t worry about blood cholesterol anyway. I’m given to understand that low cholesterol is actually associated with increased mortality risk, not decreased, and we need it for a lot of things in our bodies–our hearts are literally saturated with it, it’s a major component in our nervous systems, etc. LDL is the lipoprotein carrying cholesterol away from the liver; HDL is the lipoprotein carrying it back to the liver. That’s why the former came to be considered bad and the latter good–the idea, I guess, was that cholesterol was supposed to stay in the liver and not go anywhere else.
As long as he doesn’t have the small-particle LDL and gets out in the sun occasionally I’d bet he’ll be OK.