Sunshine Can Help You Burn Fat

by Shin Ohtake on Thursday, April 15, 2010 • 27 Comments

Remember when tanning was in.  I’m probably aging myself here, but I remember back when I was a kid growing up in NYC and swimming at the local outdoor swimming pool.  While all the kids were busy playing Marco Polo in the pool, the adults were busy trying to find just the right position to place their recliners to get maximum sun exposure and literally bake themselves in the sun…extra crispy!  Colonel Sanders would have been proud! 

But then came the realization that looking golden bronze may not be so good for your skin or health!  Smart thing, since skin cancer is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer around.  And all of a sudden sun tanning lotion was replaced with sunscreens and baking in the sun became a thing of the past. 

However, it seems that we may have gone a little overboard about avoiding the sun. 

A recent study found that vitamin D deficiency is not only prevalent, but it’s present in epidemic proportions in North America!  Vitamin D deficiency causes serious diseases like cancer, rickets, osteoporosis and diabetes, and most recently linked to weight gain from increased fat storage.

I’ll show you some surprisingly alarming facts about vitamin D deficiency.  You’ll learn why your dermatologist may be causing you to become vitamin D deficient and find out how much vitamin D you really need and the simplest way to get it.  I’ll also show you the best vitamin D supplementation, as well as which foods to eat, so you can get sufficient vitamin D to optimize your health and help maximize your weight loss efforts.

Truth be told, I think vitamin D may be the most underrated vitamin around…probably because it’s available in mass abundance for free!  The number one source of vitamin D is the sun. 

However, since the skin cancer scare a while back, people have avoided sun exposure like the plague and now more people unknowingly suffer from vitamin D deficiency than ever before. 

A combination of increased working hours, a cultural shift towards indoor activities such as video games, internet and other high-tech computer related activities and the multi-billion dollar skin care industry pushing sun screens and other “skin protection / age defying” related products on the market, maybe to blame for the deficiency. 

Whatever the cause(s) may be, it’s important to know the facts and learn what you can do about it.  But before I get into the preventative measures, I wanted to list a few very important and commonly unknown facts about vitamin D as stated by the foremost expert in vitamin D, Dr. Michael Holick (The author of “The UV Advantage”)

• Vitamin D is produced by your skin in response to exposure to ultraviolet radiation from natural sunlight.
• The healing rays of natural sunlight (that generate vitamin D in your skin) cannot penetrate glass. So you don’t generate vitamin D when sitting in your car or home.
• It is nearly impossible to get adequate amounts of vitamin D from your diet. Sunlight exposure is the only reliable way to generate vitamin D in your own body.
• A person would have to drink ten tall glasses of vitamin D fortified milk each day just to get minimum levels of vitamin D into their diet.
• The further you live from the equator, the longer exposure you need to the sun in order to generate vitamin D. Canada, the UK and most U.S. states are far from the equator.
• People with dark skin pigmentation may need 20 - 30 times as much exposure to sunlight as fair- skinned people to generate the same amount of vitamin D. That’s why prostate cancer is epidemic among black men—it’s a simple, but widespread, sunlight deficiency.
• Sufficient levels of vitamin D are crucial for calcium absorption in your intestines. Without sufficient vitamin D, your body cannot absorb calcium, rendering calcium supplements useless.
• Chronic vitamin D deficiency cannot be reversed overnight: it takes months of vitamin D supplementation and sunlight exposure to rebuild the body’s bones and nervous system.
• Even weak sunscreens (SPF=8) block your body’s ability to generate vitamin D by 95%. This is how sunscreen products actually cause disease—by creating a critical vitamin deficiency in the body.
• It is impossible to generate too much vitamin D in your body from sunlight exposure: your body will self-regulate and only generate what it needs.
• If it hurts to press firmly on your sternum, you may be suffering from chronic vitamin D deficiency right now.
• Vitamin D is “activated” in your body by your kidneys and liver before it can be used.
• Having kidney disease or liver damage can greatly impair your body’s ability to activate circulating vitamin D.
• The sunscreen industry doesn’t want you to know that your body actually needs sunlight exposure because that realization would mean lower sales of sunscreen products.
• Even though vitamin D is one of the most powerful healing chemicals in your body, your body makes it absolutely free. No prescription required.
• 32% of doctors and med school students are vitamin D deficient.
• 40% of the U.S. population is vitamin D deficient.
• 42% of African American women of childbearing age are deficient in vitamin D.
• 48% of young girls (9-11 years old) are vitamin D deficient.
• Up to 60% of all hospital patients are vitamin D deficient.
• 76% of pregnant mothers are severely vitamin D deficient, causing wide spread vitamin D deficiencies in their unborn children, which predisposes them to type 1 diabetes, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and schizophrenia later in life.  81% of the children born to these mothers were deficient.
• Up to 80% of nursing home patients are vitamin D deficient.

Diseases and conditions caused by vitamin D deficiency:

• Osteoporosis is commonly caused by a lack of vitamin D, which greatly impairs calcium absorption.
• Sufficient vitamin D prevents prostate cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, depression, colon cancer and schizophrenia.
• “Rickets” is the name of a bone-wasting disease caused by vitamin D deficiency.
• Vitamin D deficiency may exacerbate type 2 diabetes and impair insulin production in the pancreas.
• Obesity impairs vitamin D utilization in the body, meaning that obese people need twice as much vitamin D.
• Vitamin D is used around the world to treat Psoriasis.
• Vitamin D deficiency causes schizophrenia.
• Seasonal Affective Disorder is caused by a melatonin imbalance initiated by lack of exposure to sunlight.
• Chronic vitamin D deficiency is often misdiagnosed as fibromyalgia because its symptoms are so similar: muscle weakness, aches and pains.
• Your risk of developing serious diseases like diabetes and cancer is reduced 50% - 80% through simple, sensible exposure to natural sunlight 2-3 times each week.
• Infants who receive vitamin D supplementation (2000 units daily) have an 80% reduced risk of developing type 1 diabetes over the next twenty years.

The great thing about vitamin D, is that there’s really no harmful effects from getting too much of it.  And since sunshine is the best source of vitamin D,  you don’t need to pay for anything!  The only thing you have to pay attention to is getting sufficient sunlight without overexposure, which can damage your skin and make you susceptible to skin cancer. 

If you’re caucasian, all you need is about 5 to 10 minutes of direct sun exposure 2 - 3 times a week and you’re good to go.  As stated above, keep in mind that as your skin pigmentation gets darker, you’ll need to be get more sun exposure in order to get adequate vitamin D. 

Don’t worry if you can’t be out in the sun for a long time.  You can always combine it with the right the supplementations.  You can take vitamin D supplements or cod liver oil supplements in the range or 1000 - 10,000 IU per day.  The exact amount will vary with each individual depending on how deficient they are to begin with and where they live.  Which leads me to the next point…the higher the latitude the weaker the sun, so if you live closer to the equator you’ll need less direct sun exposure compared to someone living closer to the arctic (or antarctic). 

In addition to all of the serious illness vitamin D deficiency is associated with, it’s now also been linked to increased fat deposition and muscle weakness. 

The latest study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism showed that vitamin D deficiency causes an increase of fat infiltration into the muscles, causing muscle weakness as well as weight gain.  And there’s also an inverse relationship as well, which means that excess vitamin D can get stored in the fat tissue and can trap the vitamin D making it unavailable to the body.  This is why people that are obese need to get more vitamin D (as much as twice, as stated above) in order to avoid being deficient of vitamin D. 

So here’s a short, simple list of things you should be doing to ensure that you have sufficient vitamin D in your body, so you can avoid any unnecessary illness and weight gain:

• Get enough natural sun exposure.  Just 5 - 10 minutes a day 2 - 3 days a week may be all you need depending on the color of your skin as well as where you live.  The more fair your skin, the less sun exposure you need.
• The recommended amount of vitamin D supplementation is 2000 - 10,000 IU per day.  The amount varies with each individual according to their individual history of vitamin D deficiency.  The good thing is there are no known harmful effects of taking too much vitamin D.
• Vitamin D 3 is the active form of vitamin D, so it is the best form of supplementation. You can also take cod liver oil supplements from a trusted source as well.
• Foods high in vitamin D are fatty fish such as sardines, mackerel and salmon.  Keep in mind that some of these fish may have high levels of PCB’s.  So make sure to get your fish from a reliable natural source.
• Orange juice and Milk do not naturally contain vitamin D.  It must be fortified with vitamin D.  However, it’s not considered a good source since orange juice is high in sugar and too many people have intolerance to dairy.
• Apply sunscreen lotion on your skin after you get the recommended amount of sun exposure.  Also, keep in mind that not all sun screen lotions are the same.  Try and avoid lotions with any known chemicals and paraben that have been linked to causing cancer and other serious illnesses.

So there you have it.  It’s pretty amazing to think that there’s such a high incidence of vitamin D deficiency in this country knowing how easy it is to avoid it.  Quite ironic considering it’s source.  However, now you know the real facts.  Go outside and enjoy the sun!  It’ll keep you a happy, healthy and lean!

Now that you know the facts about vitamin D, do you think you suffer from vitamin D deficiency?

If so, what kinds symptoms have you been suffering from?
 
I’d love to know what you think about the article.  Please leave your comments below

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About The Author

Shin Ohtake is a widely recognized strength coach and fitness & fat-loss expert. His unconventional, no-nonsense approach to getting fit has made him the go-to source for fitness enthusiasts and trainers alike. Shin is also the author of the world famous, MAX Workouts book, which has transformed and reshaped the bodies of thousands of people across the globe - without requiring hours in the gym. To learn more about how MAX Workouts can help you achieve your fitness goals, visit maxworkouts.com.

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