February 22, 2024
Let’s talk vitamin D…
What is it? What is its role? And where do we get it from?
Well, vitamin D is actually not a vitamin at all, but rather, a steroid hormone, being that it is synthesized from cholesterol and is considered a cholesterol metabolite. It has various roles in the body, which I will discuss and outline all of these throughout this article as we move through each assumption and re-examine or view vitamin D through various other lenses, rather than only through the mainstream accepted ones that not only medical practitioners hold, but also those in the natural health field. Am I saying that I know absolutely everything there is to know about this topic? No, but I feel that taking a look at (and breaking down) many of these assumptions concerning what experts think they know and what is actually known is a great place to start.
The most prominent way that we, as human beings, synthesize vitamin D for our body is by getting adequate levels of UVB (a spectrum of ultraviolet) light from the sun and/or tanning lamps (gasp). Yes, I said tanning lamps…when used therapeutically, of course. I can hear the shrieks now, “but what about skin cancer and melanoma?” Well, research has actually shown that these experiences have been linked to not enough sun exposure (especially if wearing sunscreens and/or sunglasses, since the eyes need light in preparation for the skin to accept these light photons from the sun), toxic product use (think lotions, sunscreens, beauty products/cosmetics, and so on here in this category), and overall, someone who has poor metabolic and/or mitochondrial health, which the latter is also assisted by the sun as well, but instead of ultraviolet rays being the beneficial light source, red and near infrared light are the wavelengths of light that are mitochondrial supporters. We can also get vitamin D through our diet from certain fatty animal products since animals store vitamin D in both their fat and protein (and they spend a great deal of their time in the sunlight so vitamin D is more plentiful there), and it can be found in cod liver oil as well. Supplementation with vitamin D has been viewed as an alternative and mainstream option, but not one that I would recommend, especially with long term usage since it acts much like a steroid, often compared to a weaker version of Prednisone, in the body and thus, can create [terrain shifting] consequences with its prolonged usage (even minimal usage), along with the fact that many do not know that when they supplement with this hormone, they end up pulling a good amount of calcium into the bloodstream, where it may then get stored in the tissues and/or arteries and this often happens because one’s microbiome, or terrain, doesn’t have comparable or adequate amounts of vitamin K2 that is required for an excessive [inactive] vitamin D3 uptake, most likely due to low nutritional intake, so the body offloads this calcium into an area that it can be dealt with later, or it puts excess pressure on the parathyroid gland, liver, and kidney to modulate calcium levels by converting vitamin D3 to its active, useable form. This is often why people have calcium deposits in various areas of their body, but especially within their joints, arteries, and kidneys. Calcium often pairs up or bonds with oxalate and uric acid crystals as well as all other forms of “crystals” in the body (and this includes cholesterol too), where they can then lead to damage in different areas of the body. So, in turn, excess calcium in the body leads to a more likelihood of the development of kidney stones, gallstones, bone spurs, calcium deposits, plaque formation, hypothyroidism, and essentially, poor metabolic health. This is why I highly advise against supplemental forms of both vitamin D (cholecalciferol – D3, which is an animal-based product and ergocalciferol – D2, which is a plant-based product and is not really utilized appropriately by the human body) and calcium because we have to look at the underlying root issues as to why there is a disconnection or depletion when it comes to these nutrients being available for utilization in the body. The depletion itself is not the root cause, nor is any depletion (or what some label as a deficiency)…the root cause would be what is creating the depletion in the first place. That is where someone should always look.
So, if you have been following my “Real Talk” posts, you will know that I tend to bring up a topic that is often viewed as being “settled science,” “factual,” and sometimes even controversial in the natural health field, and with that, I then present those assumptions that have been taught about the topic versus what may actually be true…and the controversy around vitamin D is no exception. I have heard a few theories over the years from others in the natural health field about why vitamin D “deficiency” occurs, especially in the winter months for many northerners, as well as why supplementation is the preferred route or method of “therapy” to resort to during those times…but as always, I tend to differ in my thought processes as to why none of that may actually be true, so without further ado, let’s dive into those assumptions and break them down a bit when it comes to the topic of vitamin D.
Assumption #1: Vitamin D “deficiency” happens in the winter because the earth’s axis is tilted away from the sun so we don’t get the same angle of sunlight, or direct sunlight, as we do in the summer months.
Just listen to this statement a minute…does it ring true? Does it pass the initial sniff test? For me, that is a huge no. Is the sun ever at a direct angle to us as northerners? Not really. According to their heliocentric model, the only supposed direct angle of sunlight would be at or near the equator. Furthermore, a light source that is supposedly millions of miles away (93 million miles or something along those lines) provides light for an entire solar system, yet it supposedly isn’t going to provide “adequate amounts of light” during a certain time of the year, or “cycle,” because of an angular tilt and this is what supposedly creates a so-called “deficiency.” I’m just going to call it like I see it…this is complete bull honkey. However, this “bull honkiness” leads me to yet another assumption, which is that you need “direct sunlight” in order to synthesize vitamin D from cholesterol within our skin, as well as the simple fact that this in turn, negates the evidence of refraction, bending, and the scattering of light, or in other words, its energetic, electromagnetic, and non-linear “characteristics” are entirely overlooked as a possibility (beyond their physical and materialist conditioned view of this reality), which this essentially means that these limited and linear assumptions aren’t so cut and dry as they would like you to think, especially when any such “angular” light is going to refract/reflect, bend, and scatter as these wavelengths slow down (and this change in speed bends the light) as they enter into our atmosphere from this supposed “vacuum” of space and they go even slower in mediums like water, which can be found all throughout our atmosphere as well as on the earth’s surface. To think that light going through “an atmosphere” won’t bend, refract/reflect, and scatter, especially with water, snow, humidity, and condensation in our environment, is kind of comical. If we think of light as moving waves, or in wavelengths, because that is exactly what it is, then these waves reach you in some form or fashion regardless of the angle at which they “came in” and they can be “absorbed,” whether that light can be visually seen by us or not. Essentially, what this points to is that the angle at which sunlight “reaches you” doesn’t make it more difficult for you to synthesize vitamin D because all that you need is for the light waves to “reach you” and then your body does the rest that is required of it with of course, adequate supports of complementary nutritional needs and such. From my own perspective, this assumption actually has more to do with the fact that in the colder months/temperatures, we tend to cover our bodies more often with heavy clothes/jackets/etc. so there is less sun exposure on the skin and thus, absorption of these wavelengths can vary, as well as the fact that during these same winter months, there tends to be more cloud cover (at least in our area) so this slows the speed of these light waves down even more as well as scattering them all greatly, so there may be less sunlight exposure in that way as well, but who knows, maybe we still absorb what we need to in these winter months, but it is our lifestyle and actions during these times that use up more vitamin D.
There are many reasons as to why the body may experience “lower levels” of vitamin D beyond just not getting adequate amounts of sunlight and these can include the following: an excess amount of tissue damage, created by toxins and thus, the body responds with an inflammatory response, where vitamin D is utilized as an inflammation modulator (aka, an anti-inflammatory) so in this sense, it gets depleted or utilized more heavily with higher levels of inflammation. Lower levels of cholesterol in the body may also be a reason for lower levels of this hormone in the body, either due to a low dietary intake of cholesterol, the use of statins and other interventions that lower cholesterol, and/or when there has been quite a bit of damage done in the body since cholesterol is a responder and "patcher" to those areas and that as well. Cholesterol is required for the synthesis of vitamin D in the skin from UVB light so without it, then there is no production of vitamin D. Some other possible reasons for a vitamin D depletion can include too much dietary calcium or calcium supplementation because vitamin D is responsible for the absorption of calcium as well as phosphorous and magnesium. It is also used to modulate the clean-up crew, which is often referred to as the “immune system” by germ theorists, so in other words, if you have a messy, toxic, inflamed, and damaged terrain, then one’s bioavailable vitamin D can be utilized/mobilized more rapidly and thus, it may be in short supply over an extended period of time until it gets replenished or the pathways work more appropriately for recycling it and/or converting it between the inactive and active forms of the hormone. Furthermore, the active form of vitamin D when converted from UVB light, protects the cells against premature cellular breakdown, which in turn, keeps the clean-up crew from being overwhelmed and overextended with this cellular debris. The buildup of cellular debris, the inflammatory response, and the symptomology are what many in the medical and scientific research community refer to as “viruses,” “infections,” and/or “cancers/tumors.” Since cancer is often the result of a toxic and distorted terrain, vitamin D in its active form is also involved with the clean-up of that debris via its modulatory effects on the inflammation processes as well as keeping cellular damage in check so in those instances, it can be highly utilized as well. Vitamin D can also be depleted if there is a clear impairment with mitochondrial function in the cells/tissues, which the mitochondria can be damaged by any number of things, including, but not limited to toxins, radiation, limited light exposure, medications, a poor diet, and the like. On top of that, if one’s liver and/or kidneys are not functioning appropriately, likely due to excess damage from toxins and one’s diet, then vitamin D cannot be synthesized and converted appropriately to its most active form and thus, utilized by one’s body. Furthermore, the parathyroid gland has an active feedback role with vitamin D as well since it is a modulator, or regulator, of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium in the blood and bones so its role is to send out a catalyst enzyme in order for the body to know to begin producing active vitamin D, which means, that an “issue” or interruption of sorts with this feedback system could create a greater need or heightened response for vitamin D and K2 as calcium needs to remain in check within the body, especially in the appropriate places, because it is damaging otherwise. If the parathyroid gland is weak or having “issues” (due to a terrain disturbance/distortion), then looking at one’s kidney function is warranted (and thus, one’s diet and toxic load) because if the kidneys aren’t functioning appropriately, then converting vitamin D into its active form can be affected and thus, these higher levels of calcium in the blood and body can become a greater issue for the person because the pathways of calcium modulation are effected. In essence, there are numerous reasons for why vitamin D can be depleted in the body, but saying that it is simply due to the tilt of the earth in the winter months is absolutely NOT one of them.
Assumption #2: Blood tests give an accurate depiction or view of one’s vitamin D level(s) within their body.
All blood tests are simply a snap shot of what is going on in one’s BLOOD sample at any given moment in time. Does that mean conclusively that this is the overall picture of what is really going on inside one’s body at all times? The answer to that is unequivocally, no. The blood can vary from minute to minute, moment to moment, depending upon one’s environmental exposure(s) and/or what is going on within one’s terrain at that particular time. Stress is a big disruptor of one’s terrain, so for someone who doesn’t like needles and has been requested to get their blood drawn, then that stress response may skew the overall results or picture entirely that is then being perceived as “true” results of the blood, but neither the medical industry nor the natural health field really takes all of these factors into consideration…they simply say, take this supplement and we can check back with you in a few months in order to see your levels or to see if your symptoms have resolved. Well, what happens when one stops taking this supplement then, especially if the root issue hasn’t been addressed? It is highly likely that their bloodwork or muscle response testing will again show a weakness to the energetic input of vitamin D and thus, will reflect the same as it did when they were first found to have a vitamin D “deficiency.” The only thing that this does is creates a cycle of frustration because the distortion in the terrain/microbiome is not being addressed. Essentially, the “why” has been left unanswered and if the “why” isn’t addressed, then symptoms are simply masked and often diagnosed as some other “disorder,” whether that is “chronic vitamin D deficiency,” “osteoporosis,” “fibromyalgia,” “chronic pain disorder,” “autoimmune disorder,” and so on. Many times, those in the natural health field will go along with these diagnoses as well because their underlying assumptions are the same, or they will continue to recommend certain supplements based upon how they align with relieving symptoms of these so-called “disorders,” yet the underlying root is still not addressed or resolved. It’s essentially the same story as western medicine, but they play whack-a-mole with supplements and remedies instead of petrochemical medications, which in that sense they may not be as harmful or toxic per se, but they can create issues if not used appropriately or aren’t fully understood and in turn, are just willy-nilly recommending them based upon assumptions of how the body works and their supposed method of action.
Figure 1.4 - As you can see, these vitamin D tests are checking for 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, which is still an inactive form of D3…the active form is 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. So essentially, if someone is testing low in an inactive form of vitamin D3, then this can mean that they are actively converting it into the active form of vitamin D3 so that it can be utilized, which can translate to either someone who is experiencing a lot of inflammatory conditions in the body or someone who possibly has a diet that is high in calcium, is taking a calcium supplement, or someone who is simply experiencing hypercalcemia or calcium dumping issues and possibly even a renal or kidney impairment/disruption. If this tests shows in the normal range or even the higher end of the range, then this could mean that someone is supplementing with vitamin D3 or they do not currently have any active conditions that require the conversion of this form of vitamin D3 into its active form in order to be utilized most appropriately, as well as still having the possibility of a renal or kidney impairment, especially if there is other symptomology present that validates or confirms this suspicion. A simple muscle response test in the natural health field would be able to show a kidney weakness as well, which would point the practitioner's awareness to the need of more support in this area, and this can be done by assessing certain behaviors that one is partaking in that would affect the kidneys as well as looking at the implementation of new behaviors that would better support the kidneys.
Furthermore, it is great to ask ourselves, does having this knowledge about nutrients in the blood give us an accurate depiction for how those nutrients are being utilized in and by the body? What if they are found at the site of damage instead of in the blood, or in an area that requires more of their assistance or support at that moment, and this is why the blood levels are reflected or perceived as “low” at that particular point? Even one step further than that, does a higher or lower level of any nutrient in the blood indicate one’s health status? What if that is where their body is operating comfortably at, no matter the mean or “normal” measurements set forth by certain standards and/or criteria in the medical field? What if they are measuring the wrong forms of a certain nutrient (the inactive form versus the active form) and then making a decision based upon that, which is exactly what they are doing with vitamin D testing and nutritional testing in general in the first place? Does measuring at a certain "level" indicate that this is the root cause for that individual? No, often not, especially if a practitioner cannot extract out information from certain data appropriately (and in an honest, non-distorted fashion) in order to establish a root cause (or often root causes) and then instead of assisting with lifestyle factors leading to these "causes," they go on to prescribe medication or recommend supplementation only. This is why I find that isolating and extracting out this information from one’s blood gives people a false sense of insecurity (or security, whichever way you look at it) and/or a distorted perspective of their overall health status because it is essentially, only a tiny sliver of the picture for what is actually taking place in one’s body. I even have to keep this in mind myself when looking at a live blood cell analysis sample too since it is only a small sample or snapshot in time of blood (and getting the proper sample is an essential part of the process too because squeezing the blood out of the finger will distort the sample as will using the first drops of blood that comes out after the initial prick); however, there are certain clues that can be utilized along with other triangulation methods for gathering information/data so that we can see a more holistic picture of what may be going on, which is how I look at using a live blood cell analysis. I wouldn’t use it as a standalone method or tool without gathering other pertinent information from the client, which is crucial when putting together the larger picture of root cause challenges so that one can truly be assisted.
So let’s go ahead and use an analogy to describe this assumption further. There is a large pond that is known to have many species of frogs that live within it. One day a group of marine biologists went to this pond in order to see if they could find a specific species of frog in this particular pond that they were interested in studying. They decided to walk a majority of the boarder or “shoreline” that surrounded the pond as a way to find possible signs of the frog, yet they didn’t see or find anything so they then decided to back their motored boat into the pond in order to get into the areas of the pond that were inaccessible by foot because the brush was too thick. They found sightings and evidence of other frogs near the lily pads, but at the end of the day, they didn’t have any encounters with this particular frog. Does this mean that this species of frog is not in the pond somewhere? Nope. This means that via their information gathering tactics, the frog was not located at that particular moment in time. Likely, what happened in this analogy was the frog’s environment was disrupted with the sound of the marine biologists as well as the motor from the boat and so they burrowed themselves into the sand, where they couldn’t be located. This doesn’t mean that the lake is “deficient” in this species of frog, but that at the time of examination, it was not found in the sample within the area that they were looking…and that is simply that. As this relates to vitamin D, the body may be so intelligent that it is sending vitamin D to where it is needed, where it is “safe,” and where and in a form that it can be utilized best for the benefit of one’s body. So in other words, a blood sample that shows “low levels” of vitamin D simply tells us that there isn’t a lot of inactive vitamin D in the sample that was tested…nothing more, nothing less. However, if that is a concern, then there are basic health recommendations that could be implemented in order to bring it up naturally without having to waste a ton of money on supplements, along with the risks that can come with long-term supplementation, since it has been known to act like a steroid hormone in the body. These long-term risks that I am referring to include gut microbiome shifts, which places more stress on the microbes within one’s terrain, as well as other gastrointestinal side effects, thinning of the GI tract walls (where perforation of the bowel is then more possible), metabolic shifts, psychiatric effects, other nutritional depletion effects, connective and soft tissue issues, and there is a greater possibility with it mobilizing calcium so there is a greater likelihood of calcium stones, bone spurs, and other calcium deposit “disorders.”
So, do I feel that blood tests are necessary or even an accurate way of defining our health? Absolutely not! From what I have seen, it simply creates more fear and in turn, more of a likelihood to undergo invasive (and often harmful) interventions because the underlying assumptions are already distorted or skewed from the start. If only everyone understood that what we put into our bodies as well as expose ourselves to greatly influences our health and symptomology, then we would truly be able to empower ourselves to make any changes or shifts in perceptions that are necessary (and supportive) rather than clinging onto those unnecessary types of “medical” and even supplemental interventions. Trusting and supporting our bodies is key to harmonizing our field and thus, our terrain so when someone (or even some “test”) is whispering in your ear, or living in your head, with assumptions about your body being flawed, incapable, or disempowering you in any number of ways, then the harmonization process of your biofield (aka, healing) is often more difficult because you are buying into, focusing on, and believing those false narratives/assumptions, the inaccurate/skewed/flawed tests, and the limited opinions of others within your experiences as your truth, rather than listening to your own alignment of truth, which is where all of our power lies...so don't forget to use that and realize that you actually have a say in what happens in your life.
Assumption #3: Vitamin D supplementation is a safe and effective way to support and increase blood serum levels.
Dosing merely one vitamin and thinking that it is going to be the “Holy Grail” (or the root cause answer as to what is “wrong with you”) is something that has been heavily programmed into humanity, since it is seen as being a “quick fix” and that is what many humans want because well, they want to enjoy their lives, get back to work, etc., etc….but, what if these “despised” symptoms and needing to rest and take it easy are actually the healing answer itself? When we try to intervene with simply one vitamin or a slew of individual synthetic vitamins, minerals, and/or supplements, it creates a distortion within one’s bio-terrain because the body usually receives these nutrients via a normal, recognizable “pattern” or pathway in a whole food, complex, and cofactored/coenzymated form, which simply means that it is in a complex, or complementary/stable form, which can then assist in activating enzymes and binding with proteins to assist with overall function. So what happens if it isn’t taken in as this whole form? The body has certain buffers and/or pathways in place to handle situations like these, but as I stated before, it can end up utilizing other cofactors and nutrients in order to process this single, high-dosed vitamin/supplement, and like in vitamin D’s case, it will utilize vitamin K2, calcium, and possibly other minerals, like magnesium, boron, and iodine as well so essentially, it can deplete other nutrients in order to be able to convert and utilize the intake of a single vitamin and this in turn, can have damaging effects on the body, as well as added stress on the liver and kidneys. What many fail to realize is that nutrients tend to work closely together with one another so cofactors and coenzymes (as in a whole foods form) need to be accounted for or else, it may create even more symptomology or so-called distortions in one’s terrain.
Furthermore, vitamin D3 in particular is a pre-hormone steroid, meaning that it is an inactive, intermediary metabolite that will convert in the liver and kidneys into its active form. Since it is a steroid hormone, it will of course end the process of detoxification, inflammation, and most symptoms associated with those, which are simply the “healing” symptoms of the body that we experience, and the medical establishment has merely deemed these as “diseases” because they are uncomfortable and outwardly can appear as insufferable and this is simply to get the experiencer’s attention so that they can create some shifts in their life and thus, fully harmonize their biofield. The body will experience symptoms as it continually tries to harmonize itself because there is a need for it to reconstitute its crystalline gels, or the structured water within, which in turn, means that it will release the toxins (often via excess mucous, diarrhea, vomiting, etc.) and this isn’t a pleasant experience for humans…especially, if they continue to dump toxins into and onto the body and/or they continue distorting their terrain balance in any number of ways. This disruption in the process of detoxification by supplementing with vitamin D as well as the disruption in the microbiome or terrain will essentially, compound the toxic load and create a clean-up phase for the next time that will be that much more intense for the individual. If done so enough over periods and periods of time, then this can lead to one’s death because all of the toxic damage will become too much for the body to handle.
Many of the studies that have pointed to safety and efficacy of supplemental vitamin D have done so from an epidemiological standpoint, which isn’t necessarily accurate and thus, doesn’t really point to its safety nor efficacy. Furthermore, despite serum level increases, some of the studies (with placebo controls) found that chronic health conditions, like cardiovascular disease, cancer, and the like, did not improve health outcomes. So, what does this say about supplementing with vitamin D? Is it really beneficial to our body in this non-traditional way? The answer to this appears more and more like no, but I feel that the underlying cause for a lot of this hype really revolves around or lies in how it has been classified as a vitamin, instead of a steroid hormone…because vitamins are exogenously obtained [through our diet] and tend to not be synthesized by the body, and vitamin D’s main way of production is from UVB light and a thermal reaction in the skin of our body with cholesterol. Furthermore, any cholesterol metabolite has been named a hormone as well so vitamin D is no exception to this rule. So essentially, what one is doing when they supplement with this is flooding themselves with a steroid hormone, which simply shuts down the normal inflammatory and detox mechanisms in the body, where it then is no longer “protected” from poisons and as a result of this, tissue damage and terrain shifts will follow suit.
As much as everyone wants to believe that inflammation is at the root of all disease, there are “offenders” that precede this natural response in the body. So why exactly does the body become inflamed? How would it exactly be beneficial for us? First off, the body becomes inflamed when and where there is a threat to the tissue and it requires “stabilization.” This could be from an injury itself to the tissue (like in instances of a broken bone, sprain, strain, torn tissue, etc.) or from an exogenous or metabolic poison that causes death and damage to our tissue(s) so in turn, our body inflames these areas in order to stop further damage from taking place due to the poison and/or injury. Therefore, it is seen as a protection mechanism and is in our best interest [for this natural process to occur] when any type of damage is being done to our tissues. We have to address the root cause though, instead of simply taking an anti-inflammatory when this occurs, and if that doesn’t involve an acute injury, then we must look for the terrain disrupting offender and assist our body in detoxing that out and then reconstituting our gels in order to create harmony again in the body. This is where things like a sauna, an IonCleanse, activated charcoal, castor oil packs, zeolite, and all other similar forms of detox supports can come into play, which will assist us in using our own natural detoxification pathways (i.e., perspiration, respiration, urination, defecation, and menstruation for women) in order to release any offending poisons/toxins that are leading to the inflammation in the first place. Like I already stated, it is essential for us to address the actual root cause of one’s health challenge(s) and a “deficiency” is most often not a root cause…it is actually the result of a root cause issue because the system was disrupted in some way from one’s basic health foundations, which involves the following - air quality/oxygenation/electromagnetic charge, food/nutrition, pure/alive/mineralized water, exposure to sunlight and nature, sleep and rest, emotional balance and stability, body and energy balance, awareness of mental programming, environmental exposures, and open detoxification pathways.
Essentially, what I’m trying to say here is if we do not know the mechanism [of action] for how the body utilizes a “substance” (how it stores, mobilizes, and converts as well as the effects of this “substance”) most appropriately or correctly, then we shouldn’t be advocating or pushing for said “substance” to be supplemented beyond its natural production methods. Furthermore, if we measure said “substance” using assumptions based upon utilization (and cessation of symptomology), then that result is going to be skewed, distorted, and highly inaccurate anyway…yet, we are holding ourselves to this standard. Why? Why do we still believe so whole-heartedly that our bodies are incapable of doing what is necessary when given basic health foundation supports, like sunlight or UVB light, consuming animal products, and the like for this specific vitamin scenario, but it works in the same manner for almost everything? Do we believe the programming of this distortion in thinking or do we feel that our body is a self-healing instrument? Because that will essentially dictate our experience(s)…but, if given distorted information, like all of us have been (even in the natural health field because I too was under the impression that vitamin D supplementation at one point was beneficial), then distortions will ultimately be the output too so that experience(s) will bring one to a point where these distortions either harmonize (meaning that one makes changes in their perception(s) and thus, chooses to align more with truth) or one doesn’t, and sometimes in the latter, it can mean the death of one’s body, depending upon the expansion of said distortion…but, there will be other indicators or symptomology before that occurs, like “leaky gut” (food reactions and sensitivities), malnutrition, “celiac/IBS/Crohn’s disease/ulcerative colitis,” so-called “autoimmune disorders,” and other chronic, deteriorating conditions.
Dr. Cowan does a great job giving an overview of this information regarding vitamin D here as well - https://odysee.com/@dharmabear:2/Dr-Thomas-Cowan-Vitamin-D-Friend-or-Foe-Dec-21-2022:2
Assumption #4: Vitamin D assists in supporting strong bones via its regulatory role of calcium in the body.
While this may be partially true in one sense, it is missing a whole other contextual link or aspect of truth in another since our bones are made up of more than simply calcium. They actually require a balanced variation of both minerals and trace minerals in order for them to fully form into strong, supportive bones. What are these minerals? Calcium, chromium, boron, iron, magnesium, manganese, silica, sulfur, selenium, potassium, phosphorus, and zinc, plus 64 other trace minerals. So, what this essentially means is that osteoporosis isn’t a “deficiency” of either calcium or vitamin D, but rather, a depletion of these mineral complexes in the body, and why is this? Well, in all honesty, this is due to specific narratives and “scientific” interventions that have happened over the last 300ish years. In turn, it is likely due to the use of table salt (ionized sodium chloride, so it contains 3 minerals – sodium, chloride, and iodine), instead of a whole trace mineral salt (which contains like 84 minerals or something along those lines), such as Redmond’s Real Salt, Himalayan salt, and Celtic sea salt. The narrative that has been pushed regarding salt being bad for you has also been a great detriment to society (as well as healthy fats and unprocessed meats)…well, I guess that if they are referring to ionized salt, then by all means, that is the absolute truth because it is missing this balanced trace mineral complex that the body needs to function in more harmony, electromagnetically, and when not in this complex form, it can create issues for the charge both within and outside of our cells and/or tissues as well as our structured water, leading to water retention and kidney stress. This is due to the fact that table salt doesn’t create structured water in our body and real sea salt or sea minerals do. On top of this, when your minerals are depleted, then vitamins within the body essentially become functionless and this is because vitamins act as cofactors to enzymes, proteins, minerals, and the like. Most vitamins though are considered coenzymes because they are organic molecules; whereas, minerals, as a cofactor, are considered inorganic ions. Are they both essential to our health and the functioning of our body? Of course, but minerals are a primary source of ions and thus, are great conductors/amplifiers of our electromagnetic fields (or toroidal field) via their positive and negative charges…and this further explains the creation of the structured water within our body as well, like I briefly mentioned above. Much of this information can be found in “The Calcium Lie” by Kathleen Barnes and Robert Thompson M D so I’m not going to go too deep in that here. I simply wanted to point out the fact that strong bones require more than just the support of vitamin D/vitamin K2 and calcium. It requires the support of all minerals and thus, good nutrition…so when in doubt, always check the quality of your food. On top of this, stress and distortions in the adrenal glands (i.e., one’s stress response) can create an issue for absorbing minerals properly as well because once someone's system enters into a chronic fight or flight mode (which is the sympathetic nervous system dominant phase…and this is an automatic process that happens in the autonomic nervous system when a person feels stress and/or threated), then digestion and in turn, absorption is impaired. In other words, stress, but especially chronic stress, always needs to be addressed as a priority within one's holistic framework of healing so that proper nutrition can be absorbed and utilized appropriately by their body.
Conclusion
In having gone through all of these assumptions, and I’m sure that there are some that I may have missed or didn’t go over, but we can conclude none-the-less that a depletion in vitamin D can be traced back to many things and it’s entirely different from what we have been told; however, supplementation is likely not the best or highest aligned route or answer here. As such, if a natural health provider, professional, or naturopathic practitioner simply tells you to boost your vitamin D levels with a supplement, then you may want to ask some deeper questions. A well intentioned, critically thinking, and experienced practitioner will look at these other areas that I mentioned throughout this article before simply resorting to supplementation. A so-called “deficiency” is almost always not at the basis or root of an issue…there is something prior to that “deficiency” that leads to or depletes what is needed by the body in the first place, and this can include any disruption in the basic foundations of health, which begins the disruption of one’s terrain, so addressing those is always a great place to start.
If you require assistance or would like someone to bounce ideas off from via a naturopathic mentorship/consultation, then you know how to contact me.
- Dr. Andrea Bird, BCND, CHHP
Beyond Wellness, LLC
Hesperia, Michigan
(231) 220-8897
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