I’m normally not a Dr. Oz fan. I personally think he’s easily paid off. But then again I have to admit I think not so nice thoughts about most people that have become famous in the medical industry. Ok I’m not a fan of most people in the medical industry. I’m even skeptical about my own doctor.

But after reading his ideas on the sugar detox I had to give the guy some credit.

While folding laundry I turned on the tv and started skimming through shows. In the details box I saw “Dr. Oz, sugar detox.” I figured it’s funny that I’ve been posting about this, I’ll watch it.

But the detail box lied! The show had something about vitamid D, though, so I stayed on it.

My last blood work showed that everything is in a very healthy range, but my vitamin D, as usual, is low. For me that’s normal. I work nights. The best sun hours of the day I spend sleeping in a room with blackout curtains(which really doesn’t matter because the ultraviolet ray benefits can’t penetrate glass, GO OUTSIDE!) .

Why is D so important? Read.
 There’s a ton to D. Like an uber ton. But today I’m going to focus on the weight loss benefits of it.

  • Vitamin D affects your insulin levels which affects people who are diabetic or borderline diabetic. It is very important that they keep their vitamin D levels at a healthy range.
  • Vitamin D activates your fat cells to help you burn calories (raises your metabolism) which in turn helps make them smaller, especially fat cells around your stomach and hips because of their link to the liver.
  • Vitamin D helps your body stimulate and release Leptin which is protein hormone that tells your brain you’re full.
  • Vitamin D (mostly taken from sunlight) reduces side effects of depression, resulting in more activity, more want to exercise, and better eating habits.
  • Vitamin D stimulates the immune system which means less sluggish days and less days where you’re too sick to be active.

Just in case you’re confused, much of your vitamin D comes from absorbing sun rays. But before you head outside and start worshiping the “sun god” for hours at a time, remember you only really need 10-20 minutes of sun exposure WITHOUT sunscreen. After that, put the sunscreen on. If you are petite and fair skinned, keep it closer to 10 minutes. The larger you are or the darker you are, the more you need to get closer to 20 minutes.

But with it only taking about 10-20 minutes outside to get a decent amount of vitamin D each day, why are so many people still deficient in vitamin D? Because we don’t go outside anymore. Most of our waking hours are spent in the car, in the house, in the shade, in the not where the sun is. Add to that the lack of inner health that we face. Our bodies aren’t processing and using vitamin D like they should. So how do we get more Vitamin D without too much exposure to the sun?

Well, you still need to go out in the sun. You just have to. BUT you can add a little extra D to your diet. That’s right, food. MMMMMMMMM. We all know cow milk is a great source of vitamin D.

Here’s some of them that this book they showed on Dr. Oz goes over.

If you haven’t read product labels lately, you’re missing out. Many foods (eggs, breads, cereals, ect) now have a big “fortified with vitamin D” picture on the front of them. While I’m not a fan of modifying natural foods, this is an option. (Yes, I know, I’m an organic nerd, but it works for me.) I’m a fan of Simply Orange Juice with extra C and D but that’s not on my sugar detox diet right now so it’s a hush hush thing for me right now.

Milk… of course is full of Vitamin D. Now add to it, fish. Yep, the nasty smelling slimy water lovers are an amazing source of Vitamin D. Go for the fatty versions of the animals. I know that sounds horrible but they produce the most vitamin D.

But lets say you’re a vegetarian and you don’t eat things that moo or bawk or things with hearts (personally I’m a fan of bawk and moo, sorry. I just pretend they don’t have hearts), and you don’t want to take in a ton of carbs? Mushrooms. They soak up the sun just like we do. In fact, they are the only freggie (fruit or vegetable) that contain vitamin D.

Mushrooms aren’t enough to get that extra D? Daily vitamins. YOU KNOW IT’S COMING- organic daily vitamins. But most of them only contain 15-40% of your D so you can’t fully rely on those.

Now look me in the eyes and tell me you’re going to start taking care of your D. DO IT! I know you can’t see me, but I’m doing the concerned mom look, so you do the “Ok Mommy” look back at your screen and nod your head. K? K.

The book they were talking about is called the Vitamin D diet. It’s a 5 week diet where they say you can lose 15 lbs. Screams crash diet to me. But since I used her info from the show for a lot of this info, I will give her credit by putting a link to her book. If anything it will at least shed some light on Vitamin D (pun intended, ha, get it? get it? light-vitamin D… ok I’m done) Link here

The Vitamin D Diet: The Revolutionary Plan That Melts Stubborn Fat Fast

Note because I’m a turd like that: A healthy diet is a lifestyle change, not a 5, 6, 7, 90 day plan for fast weight loss. If you are going to do a specific diet (soup diet, vitamin D diet, whatever diet) it needs to be something you can maintain. As soon as you go back to your old ways, you WILL gain the weight back. So learn from these diets. Incorporate them into your daily if you feel like doing them. And remember that most of the weight you lose in the first few weeks is waste. YAY POOP!