The Vitamin D Cure, Revised
By James Dowd, MD and Diane Stafford
4/5
()
About this ebook
Completely updated with the latest research, The Vitamin D Cure tells you all you need to know about this miraculous natural substance—today's best way to heal pain, prevent disease, and improve your mood. We now know that adding vitamin D to your daily regimen can net you unbelievable benefits, from reducing your chances of having certain kinds of cancer to gaining flexibility and youthful exuberance well into your seventies and beyond. And no, a dose of daily sunshine doesn't give you enough!
Groundbreaking research reveals the healing power of this simple, readily available supplement. Physicians, researchers, and vitamin D users point to mounting evidence that the simple act of increasing the amount of vitamin D in your body can cure or help treat a remarkable number of diseases and ailments, including unwanted pounds, high blood pressure, back pain, muscle cramps, obesity, cancer, and diabetes. Leading rheumatologist and researcher Dr. James Dowd reveals the causes of vitamin D deficiency and offers a simple five-step program that can prevent or alleviate a host of health troubles in a matter of weeks. Incorporating the latest diet and lifestyle advice, the program helps you harness the power of the "sunshine vitamin" to transform your life. Whether you struggle with arthritis or chronic pain from an old injury or you simply want to lose weight and get back to a body image that reflects your best self, The Vitamin D Cure can be your key to a better, more vibrant you.
- All-new recipes and meal plans
- Up-to-date information on how vitamin D helps prevent disease and reduce pain
- New diet and supplement breakthroughs
- New information from scientific studies, a wealth of clinical data, and case stories
Related to The Vitamin D Cure, Revised
Related ebooks
The Vitamin Cure for Diabetes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vitamin Cure for Children's Health Problems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCuring the Incurable: Vitamin C, Infectious Diseases, and Toxins Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death by Calcium: Proof of the toxic effects of dairy and calcium supplements Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Sunshine and Vitamin D: A Comprehensive Guide to the Benefits of the "Sunshine Vitamin" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Candida Cure: The 90-Day Program to Beat Candida & Restore Vibrant Health Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vitamin C: The Real Story: The Remarkable and Controversial Healing Factor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vitamin D: Miracle Cure Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vitamin Cure for Arthritis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Doctor Yourself: Natural Healing That Works Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fire Your Doctor!: How to Be Independently Healthy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Orthomolecular Nutrition for Everyone: Megavitamins and Your Best Health Ever Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Vitamin K2 And The Calcium Paradox: How a Little-Known Vitamin Could Save Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Vitamin Cure for Women's Health Problems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Transdermal Magnesium Therapy: A New Modality for the Maintenance of Health Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Orthomolecular Treatment of Chronic Disease: 65 Experts on Therapeutic and Preventive Nutrition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5User's Guide to Vitamin C Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Vitamin Cure for Migraines Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Could It Be B12?: An Epidemic of Misdiagnoses Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cure For All Disease Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vitamin D and Autoimmune Disease Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Niacin: The Real Story (2nd Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Vitamin Cure Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Magnesium Deficiency Crisis. Is this the Worlds Number One Mineral Deficiency? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Vitamin Cure for Digestive Disease Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5User's Guide to Natural Therapies for Cancer Prevention and Control Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Best Alternative Medicine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Wellness For You
How Am I Doing?: 40 Conversations to Have with Yourself Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Book of 30-Day Challenges: 60 Habit-Forming Programs to Live an Infinitely Better Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Lindsay C. Gibson's Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Book of Simple Herbal Remedies: Discover over 100 herbal Medicine for all kinds of Ailment, Inspired By Dr. Barbara O'Neill Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhy We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Glucose Revolution: The Life-Changing Power of Balancing Your Blood Sugar Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Thinner Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Female Body Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When the Body Says No Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Not to Diet: The Groundbreaking Science of Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Summary of Anna Lembke's Dopamine Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The How Not to Diet Cookbook: 100+ Recipes for Healthy, Permanent Weight Loss Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Secret Language of Your Body: The Essential Guide to Health and Wellness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Hormone Cure: Reclaim Balance, Sleep, Sex Drive and Vitality Naturally with the Gottfried Protocol Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Muscle for Life: Get Lean, Strong, and Healthy at Any Age! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Healing Remedies Sourcebook: Over 1,000 Natural Remedies to Prevent and Cure Common Ailments Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for The Vitamin D Cure, Revised
7 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Vitamin D Cure, Revised - James Dowd, MD
Contents
Acknowledgments
Authors’ Note
Preface to the Revised Edition
Introduction
Part One: The Wonders of Vitamin D
Chapter 1: Most of Us Need Way More Vitamin D
Looking at Your Health Issues
Vitamin D Helps a Lot
Shooting Down Myths
Chapter 2: How Vitamin D Works
Properties of Vitamin D
The Sun and Vitamin D
Chapter 3: The Diet–Vitamin D Connection
Neutralizing the Acid
Why You Need Magnesium, Too
How to Get Enough Magnesium and Potassium
Part Two: The Vitamin D Cure Five-Step Plan
Chapter 4: Step One: Find Out How Much Vitamin D You Need
Keep Your D Level Above Thirty-Something
Understanding the Seasons of Vitamin D
Seasons of the Sun
Why the Vitamin D Cure Works
Finding Your Yardstick
Chapter 5: Step Two: Sun and Supplement Your Way to Great D Levels
Using Sunlight to Increase Your Vitamin D
How Much Vitamin D Do You Need?
One Size Does Not Fit All
Vitamin D Is Critical for Kids
Tips on Buying Vitamin D Supplements
Stay Away from Too Much Vitamin A
Chapter 6: Step Three: Reduce Your Acid Excess by Changing Your Diet
Survey What You Eat
The Balancing Act
Eat the Right Stuff
Breakfast Management
Lunch to Go
Doing Dinner Right
Cutting Salt
Sampling Vegetables
How about Nuts and Seeds?
Vitamin D Cure Two-Week Meal Plan
Vitamin D Cure Recipes
Chapter 7: Step Four: Cover Your Bases with Other Supplements
Nutrients You Need
Knowing What to Take
Chapter 8: Step Five: Add a Little Exercise
Vitamin D Boosts Your Exercise Benefits
Vitamin D Helps You Get the Job Done
Exercise Boosts Your Vitamin D
The Vitamin D Cure No-Sweat Workout
The Final Stretches
Cardio Up for Better Health
Mantra Your Way through Workouts
Part Three: The Vitamin D Cure for Total Health
Chapter 9: The Vitamin D Cure for Obesity, High Blood Pressure, Diabetes, and Heart Disease
Fighting the Metabolic Syndrome
The Truth about Being Fat
Size Matters
To Feel Full, Eat Protein
Looking for Nutrition in All the Wrong Places
Stop Your Soaring Blood Pressure
Vitamin D and Diabetes
A Heart-to-Heart Moment
Vitamin D, Inflammation, and the Metabolic Syndrome
Diet and the Metabolic Syndrome
Interpreting the DASH Diet
The Mediterranean Difference
Going Paleolithic
Moving Out of the Metabolic Syndrome
Lowering Your Risk
Chapter 10: The Vitamin D Cure for Mood and Memory
Developing Brain Disorders
Vitamin D, Diet, and Chronic Pain
Blue Moods
Vitamin D, Diet, Learning, and Memory
Lowering Your Risk
Chapter 11: The Vitamin D Cure to Optimize Your Immune System
The Immune System Team
Specific Protection
The Perfect Storm
Type 1 Diabetes
Systemic Lupus Erythematosis
Multiple Sclerosis
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Psoriasis
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Infections
Cranking Out Protection
Lowering Your Risk
Chapter 12: The Vitamin D Cure to Help Prevent and Treat Cancer
Breast Cancer
Prostate Cancer
Colorectal Cancer
Skin Cancer
Diet and Cancer
Lowering Your Risk
Chapter 13: The Vitamin D Cure for Your Bones, Joints, and Teeth
The Calcium Balancing Act
Pain
Osteoarthritis
How Vitamin D Impacts Osteoarthritis
Gout and Pseudogout
Strength and Coordination Issues
Protein and Strength
Why Do Bones Break?
Protein for Good Bones
Exercising for Bone Health
Rickets and Osteomalacia
Good Bones, Good Teeth
Kidney Stones
Lowering Your Risk
Chapter 14: Your Most Important Health Move Ever
The Big Picture
Appendix A: Vitamin D Cure Questions and Answers
Appendix B: The Right Vitamin D Tests
Appendix C: Acid-Producing Levels of Different Foods
References
Recommended Reading
Index
Copyright © 2012 by Words That Heal LLC. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
Credits: graphs on page 37 adapted from the NOAA/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; map on page 123 adapted from the Centers for Disease Control.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For general information about our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com.
ISBN 978-1-118-17107-3 (cloth); ISBN 978-1-118-22781-7 (ebk);
ISBN 978-1-118-23541-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-26448-5 (ebk)
To my patients, my family, and my dogs
—James Dowd, M.D.
To Greg—thanks for your wonderful love and support.
—Diane Stafford
Acknowledgments
Twice a year I write a one-page newsletter to physicians who refer patients to me, and one fall I decided to include information on vitamin D deficiency. At the time, I had only a basic knowledge of vitamin D. I’d seen one woman who had obesity, arthritis, mood disturbance, and chronic pain. She was severely vitamin D–deficient, but all of her symptoms improved when I put her on vitamin D supplements.
I began studying vitamin D for the newsletter, and that was when a whole new perspective on medicine opened up for me. It was as if I had discovered an ocean that connected all my islands of knowledge, and I’d just received a free pass on a ship that could navigate these seas.
We all struggle to live our lives with purpose, but it’s really something special when purpose finds us and carries us on an unexpected journey. In this case, the ships that have carried me on this journey have crews, and I cannot thank them enough for the excitement they have returned to my practice of medicine.
Michael Holick’s research introduced me to this incredible hormone. As I pored over the scientific literature, I began to meet the researchers who have spent their entire careers studying vitamin D, many of whom passed on their passion to a younger generation of scientists—people such as Robert Heaney, Anthony Norman, Bruce Hollis, Reinhold Vieth, Cedric Garland, Gary Schwartz, Barbara Boucher, Norman Bell, Armin Zittermann, Bess Dawson-Hughes, Susan Harris, Ann Looker, Heike Bischoff-Ferrari, Margherita Cantorna, Rolf Jorde, William Grant, John Cannell, and Captain Hector DeLuca. So many have learned so much from Hector DeLuca. And there are many more.
As I began to apply what I learned about vitamin D, I found that while many patients felt better after starting supplements, many did not, which led me to explore calcium balance and the factors that influenced this mineral beyond vitamin D. It seems I had stepped off one ship and onto another, and the journey morphed into a completely new understanding of how diet regulates body chemistry, affecting much more than our weight. The new crew included scientists and clinicians such as S. Boyd Eaton, Loren Cordain, Anthony Sebastian, Lynda Frassetto, Friedrich Manz, Thomas Remer, Jürgen Vormann, Charles Pak, Khashayar Sakhaee, Artemis Simopoulos, Jane Kerstetter, David Barker, Peter Gluckman, and most recently, Jeffrey Gordon. These scientists and clinicians have changed my life.
This book was my chance to share my excitement and what I have brought to my practice with a larger audience. It fulfills the main reason why I pursued a career in medicine: to help people. For this opportunity, I thank my agent, Faith Hamlin, with Sanford J. Greenburger & Associates, and my coauthor, Diane Stafford, who transformed my often dry scientific ramblings into readable prose. Finally, I would like to thank Tom Miller, our editor at John Wiley & Sons. Tom has embraced our message and has helped to craft a book that we’re all excited about.
—James Dowd, M.D.
In the yearlong journey that produced this book, I worked closely with my coauthor, James Dowd, M.D., whose experiences and knowledge made this book exceptional. I have great appreciation for his Vitamin D Cure, which has made a tremendous difference in many people’s lives, including mine!
Enormous gratitude goes to Faith Hamlin, our top-notch literary agent who made this book possible; Tom Miller, our editor at John Wiley & Sons, who brought his excellent insights and publishing savvy to this book; my parents, Clinton and Belle Shirley, who encouraged my way with words lifelong; my family and friends, who kept me balanced to the degree that a writer can be balanced. Love and thanks to my family, near and far, including Jenny, Ben, London, Allen, Camilla, Richard, Gina, Christina, Austin, Xanthe, Britt, Renee, Lindsay, Josh, Ella, Curt, Cameron—and my dear husband Greg, Molly, Dylan, Cita, Greg, Laura, Patrick, Katrina, Mark, Matthew, and Melinda—and all of their beautiful children, who always make me smile.
—Diane Stafford
Authors’ Note
This book contains the authors’ opinions and ideas based on research. It is intended to provide helpful and informative information on the subject matter covered herein. This book is sold with the understanding that the authors and the publisher are not engaged in rendering professional medical, health, or other personal professional services via this book. If the reader wants or needs personal advice, counsel, or guidance, he or she should seek an in-person consultation with a competent medical professional who has the opportunity to assess that individual’s exact health history and situation. Furthermore, the reader should consult his or her medical professional before adopting any of the suggestions in the book or drawing inferences from information included herein. This is a supplement—not a replacement—for medical advice from a reader’s personal health-care provider. Check with your doctor before following any recommendations in this book or before self-treating any condition that may require medical diagnosis or attention.
The authors and the publisher specifically disclaim any responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, whether personal or otherwise, that someone may incur as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents of this book. In no way does reading this book replace the need for an evaluation by a physician. Also, responsibility for any adverse effects that result from the use of information in this book rests solely with the reader.
Preface to the Revised Edition
The original edition of The Vitamin D Cure featured some forecasts about the role that vitamin D would play in certain diseases, and these were based on the research available at the time. In the last five years, the volume of research on vitamin D has grown exponentially, and new evidence has further solidified the predictions in the original edition. This is especially true of the role vitamin D appears to play in heart and vascular disease, diabetes, infection, inflammation, mood, and memory.
Now let’s take a look at what’s new.
An increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease and death from all causes was linked to vitamin D deficiency when researchers analyzed information from some of the large population databases managed by Harvard University (Framingham Offspring Cohort, Health Professionals Follow-Up Study) and National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from the CDC. Similar studies in Germany and Norway confirmed these findings.
The role of vitamin D as an anti-inflammatory has taken center stage in age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease, adult onset diabetes, depression, and dementia. We were aware of its importance in autoimmune diseases, but we now believe that chronic low-grade inflammation is at the heart of many adult degenerative diseases. Fueling the inflammation is our nation’s pandemic of vitamin D deficiency, poor nutrition with acid base imbalance, and inactivity. But this book does offer solid solutions.
New to the revised edition are fifteen more recipes and a two-week menu. Chef Kelly, who supplies recipes for The Vitamin D Cure Blog, provided these recipes for the book. She has an undergraduate degree in hospitality services administration and an associate degree in culinary arts. All of her recipes have common ingredients, are easy to prepare, and follow the guidelines in The Vitamin D Cure. See Kelly’s website at www.tastesmilerepeat.com.
Readers will also find 135 new references in this edition. Old and new references are on www.thevitamindcure.com. These are organized by chapter and linked to the National Library of Medicine. Most references have links to free full-text articles online.
Note from James Dowd, M.D.
The research and writing of this book have propelled my practice in a new direction. I have begun integrating nutrition and other lifestyle recommendations into my management of arthritis, bone, and autoimmune diseases in children and adults. My patients have welcomed this new approach, and the responses have been remarkable. The American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine (www.abihm.org) certified me in 2010. It is my sincere hope that this new edition of The Vitamin D Cure will inspire you to embark on a healthy new lifestyle.
Introduction
A fifty-year-old woman named Barbara came to see me at the Arthritis Institute of Michigan. She complained of obesity and leg pain, and she had high blood pressure. When she answered questions on her symptoms, daily activities, and eating and exercise habits, I had enough information to tell me what was wrong: Barbara was one of the millions of people deficient in vitamin D—a problem that’s easy to correct with sun, supplements, and diet adjustments.
I prescribed the Vitamin D Cure, Barbara started the program, and in six weeks she could hardly believe how much better she felt. No longer suffering from leg pain, she was losing weight, and her blood pressure had greatly improved. Best of all, she had pulled off all of these upgrades simply by making a few easy-to-implement changes. This sounds almost magical, but we’re talking good commonsense medicine that has eluded many physicians for decades.
Now we’ve wrapped up the answers in this book. The answer to better health for your entire lifetime is in your hands. We hope you’ll let it make a major difference in how joyfully you live.
This is a book that will fill you with optimism because you’ll discover—for the first time ever—exactly how to get in charge of your health to a degree you may have never thought possible. As strangely simple as it may seem, you truly can harness the sunshine vitamin
D and enjoy amazing and far-reaching positive effects on your health!
Many Americans today have numerous and expensive health problems, and so do our family members. This is an odd situation for the world’s most affluent nation with one of the most sophisticated health-care systems. But that’s where we are—and that’s what we have to deal with.
When I tell you that a tiny vitamin supplement, a little sun, and some dietary fixes can alter your health dramatically, I’ll bet you’ll shake your head with skepticism. But stay with me for a few minutes while I present some important revelations that have convinced thousands of skeptical researchers and physicians worldwide.
Doing just a few lifestyle things differently can ward off dreaded diseases and have a dramatic effect on your health. All you have to do is give the Vitamin D Cure a chance, and the payoff will be yours—good health, a better future, and more quality time with your friends and family.
An unbalanced diet, vitamin D deficiency, and the medical problems they cause affect more than two-thirds of the U.S. population (about 200 million people). The chances are good that you or someone in your family—maybe even your child—figures into those scary statistics.
Today, vitamin D deficiency and dietary imbalances are pandemic. At the Arthritis Institute of Michigan, where I treat patients, 90 percent of patients who see a rheumatologist for treatment are deficient in vitamin D. Current statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tell us that more than half of the general population is vitamin D–deficient, regardless of age. And about 70 percent of elderly Americans and 90 percent of Americans of color are vitamin D–deficient. Add to the mix those people who are overweight or obese because of dietary imbalance or inactivity, and the totals are staggering.
How Did We Go So Wrong?
For many people, health troubles started when they immigrated to North America from sunnier climates in other parts of the world. A hundred years ago, we saw a flood of immigrants from Europe and China. In the past fifty years, many immigrants have come from Mexico, India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, all far sunnier climates than most of the United States.
For post–World War II Americans, problems started with their movement into darker industrial cities in the Midwest and the Northeast to look for jobs. Since the 1980s, the digital revolution has moved most of us from the factory floor and physical labor to the desk, where we sit facing a computer. The problems continued as our urban transformation changed our diet. As immigrants and other Americans left their farms and began living and working in cities, their diets began to change.
Then the mechanization of the food industry compounded these dietary changes: canned and frozen produce replaced fresh fruits and vegetables. Free-range cattle gave way to feedlots. Fresh, lean meat was replaced by processed and canned meats. Foods such as canned ham—high in salt, saturated fat, and sugar—became popular, and the population explosion increased the demand for these inexpensive, well-preserved, tasty, and convenient foods.
The result of these altered lifestyles was an urbanization picture of decreased vitamin D production and increased consumption of wrong foods. These changes helped to diminish the health of many North Americans today. These are people who fill my office and the offices of doctors nationwide year round. North Americans feel too bad to enjoy all the abundance and opportunities available to us—but most have no idea what to do about the predicament.
Uncovering the Vitamin D Cure has revolutionized the way I approach treating patients. Most of my patients came to me with muscle and joint pain, back pain, sleep disturbances, severe fatigue, muscle cramps, and headaches. And many were also obese and had high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, autoimmune diseases, and/or dental problems. Most people, including physicians, would routinely attribute these symptoms and diseases to aging or genetics. They would say that time and genes were just running their course. I would routinely dispense a diagnosis and then send patients down the symptom-curbing path of anti-inflammatory drugs, pain medications, antidepressants, and sleep aids. Unfortunately, I saw that my own interventions often did little to stabilize or alleviate my patients’ problems, so I searched for clues that would help me better understand this symptom/disease bundle.
That was when serendipity brought me into the loop: I began to experience some of the very same symptoms that plagued my patients. My joints started to swell and hurt in the springtime, and this soon became an annoying year-round problem that made it hard to clench my fist or shake hands. I developed muscle cramps in my legs, sleep disturbances, and fatigue. I gained weight. Just like my patients, I wondered why my body was starting to turn on me. I was relatively young. What was happening?
Now that I was the patient, I began to field theories for my health troubles. First, I suspected that my four decades of life were simply taking their toll or that my gene pool was kicking in. But I had no family history of arthritis or the other symptoms I was having. I wondered if some environmental factor was causing my health to go bad.
Then, suddenly, the pieces of the puzzle came together. I realized that my springtime joint stiffness had begun three years after I moved from Texas to Michigan. I had gone from a sunny climate to a darker one, and my symptoms had progressed every year after that. At the same time, my diet had changed. I was eating foods richer in salt, pasta, bread, cereal, and cheese. I exercised less and moved infrequently—I’d hired a gardener so I wouldn’t have to spend my day off doing yard work. Lifestyle changes—could they be the culprits?
The truth finally kicked in: I was a vitamin D–deficient American whose diet was a mess. I began to improve my eating habits, and I started taking vitamin D supplements. Miraculously, my symptoms disappeared in just a few months. Then I added a simple daily exercise regimen, which almost totally eliminated the back and neck pain I’d been having. I felt ten years younger.
This book carries the wonderful promise that you can do yourself the same favor. In a short time, using the Vitamin D Cure, you can make yourself well!
Check the list of symptoms and diseases in chapter 1. If you see your own nagging health bothers on those lists, get started with your own personal fixer-upper. Assess your levels of vitamin D, good nutrition, and exercise; make a few changes; and you can feel better in ninety days or less.
• • •
Follow the five-step program provided in The Vitamin D Cure and you can eliminate many major health issues from your list of problems. Making these positive lifestyle changes won’t necessarily save your marriage or make your neighbors more neighborly or ensure that your kids never get into trouble, but this new way of living will make you feel worlds better, look younger, lose weight, and ward off disease.
Now let’s explore the promise.
PART ONE
The Wonders of Vitamin D
If you’re sick and tired of feeling sick and tired, you’ve picked up the right book. Vitamin D deficiency is rampant in the United States today. It’s mind-boggling how many health problems have a D deficiency element.
The very important message this book conveys is that by correcting your vitamin D deficiency and fixing the acid-base imbalance in your diet, you can get a new lease on good health once and for all!
In part one we look at who needs vitamin D (hint: everyone), what vitamin D is, where it comes from, the connection between D and your diet, and how the Vitamin D Cure works.
Chapter 1
Most of Us Need Way More Vitamin D
Sharon came to see me because she was tired of feeling bad. She had diabetes and suffered from chronic pain and fatigue. Wintertime was especially hard because her depression was impossible to shake.
No surprises for me, of course, because I see patients like Sharon every day in my clinic. That commonality was exactly what led me to the discovery that certain symptoms and diseases have clear-cut links to vitamin D deficiency, dietary imbalance, and inactivity.
Like many of my patients, Sharon was delighted at the prospect of a better life. After she got on the program, she saw results in six weeks. I used to feel awful, but now I feel better than I’ve felt in years!
she said. My energy level is up and I’m doing more of the things I love to do. My husband used to ask, ‘Don’t you have something better to do other than just sit around?’ Now he asks me if I would stay home with him for an evening. The Vitamin D Cure has made a world of difference for me.
Looking at Your Health Issues
Review the following list to see if you have any of these symptoms and/or diseases:
Symptoms
Fatigue
Joint pain and/or swelling
Muscle pain, cramping, and/or weakness
Chronic pain
Uncontrolled weight gain
High blood pressure
Restless sleep
Poor concentration and memory
Headaches
Bowel problems (constipation, diarrhea, or both)
Bladder problems (urgency, frequency, or both)
Diseases
Depression, including seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
Fibromyalgia
Parkinson’s disease
Alzheimer’s