While you may be aware of the role vitamin D takes in building stronger bones, have you ever considered it to assist with the battle of the bulge? Providing your body with the right amount of vitamin D can greatly impact your weight. Unfortunately, most people are not getting enough vitamin D and have become deficient. This can be scary when you are overweight.
Vitamin D and Weight Loss
It can be difficult to lose weight when the body is deficient of vitamin D. When a person is overweight to begin with, the excess body fat absorbs vitamin D and holds onto it – making it less available to the body. When the body recognizes this deficiency, a disruption occurs in the creation of leptin. Leptin is the hormone that sends signals to the brain that reveals fullness or satiation. This disruption causes these signals to be interrupted and leaves a person feeling hungry even when they are not.
Replenishing the bloodstream with vitamin D can restore normal levels of leptin in the body. One of the best ways to increase vitamin D in the system is to get outdoors and bask in the sunshine. The USDA Nutrient Database suggests that a person requires 800 – 1,000 International Units (IU) of vitamin D daily. This can be a challenge when acquiring this amount from solely the diet. Just ten minutes in the sunshine three times a week is ample in getting the additional vitamin D your body requires. There is no need for sunscreen during these short ventures in the sun because it will block the UV rays that are providing vitamin D. Any longer in the sun does require protection to prevent other problems.
Another interesting fact is that in conjunction with calcium and sunlight, vitamin D can actually assist food assimilation and help to restore a person’s blood sugar levels. When a person lacks calcium, they are typically found to be vitamin D deficient. When this occurs the body may cause synthase production, which is a fatty acid enzyme that converts calories to fat. As a person is calcium deficient, synthase is produced at a much higher rate than normal, in some cases over 500 percent. This deficiency problem can result in obesity.
Vitamin D Rich Foods
Pink Salmon, canned tuna, catfish and sardines are all among the highest sources of vitamin D. While most of us are not going to pop a can of sardines and enjoy them as an afternoon snack, there are several other foods that you may be interested in. Oatmeal, fortified soy milk and some yogurts are also high in vitamin D.
When a food label lists that the item has been fortified, then it typically contains higher levels of vitamin D than other choices of the same variety. For instance, for vitamin D rich foods look for fortified orange juice, fortified nonfat milk and fortified yogurts.
In order to keep the weight under control, never restrict vitamin D or calcium. The correlation between vitamin D and obesity is becoming increasingly impactful as researchers discover the truth in what lies behind those dreaded love handles and unwanted pounds. Taking a multi-vitamin is the first step in correcting the deficiency levels and improving your weight loss efforts.
