It’s NOT About the Tan! Buffbones for Vitamin D Divas

“It’s NOT about the Tan”  You can be a Vitamin D Diva and not be Black.  But I am specifically speaking to Black women here because many think that they don’t have to worry about their bones and vitamin D levels.  They think this is only a problem for old White women.  Which is so far from the truth.

Women of color need more natural sun light because of our roots than any other race.  The more melanin (color) that you have in your skin, the MORE sun you need not less.  So why do I see people with the most melanin in their skin walking around with umbrellas on a sunny day?  Are you worried about skin cancer?  HA!

You should worry more about breast, colon, prostate and other increasing cancer rates among blacks (with higher mortality rates) due to vitamin D deficiency. 
Diseases like osteoporosis and osteopenia, used to be very rare among black women.  Black women are under treated for this disease; but Black women are more likely to die from a hip fracture than a White woman.  (NIH Osteoporosis & Related Bone Diseases, June 2010)  When you add the removal of animal products, (like meat, dairy and fish), for social reasons usually, not health reasons; poor nutritional intake, sedentary lifestyle, auto-immune diseases that require steroids, like arthritis and lupus, more prevalent in Black women, it’s no wonder women of color have bones that are silently suffering more.  But it’s needless and can be fixed easily.  It just would require you to open your minds and listen to common sense instead of political correctness and popular science. 

Minky @Asbury Park Beach, Summer 2011. Getting sunshine 4 months out of year, between the hours of 11am-1pm, are very important to me. I live my life around it.

The Love of the Sun
 
This love of the sun, of the Jersey Shore, started long before I was born.  Like most of us, we develop our love and opinions on things from our youth and the great memories that they bring us.  Below are photos of my mom (to the left) and my Aunt Lee (to the right) on the beach in Belmar, NJ.  Below those photos are my nana and then years later, my Poppy with my mom to the right and my aunt to the left, ‘his girls’.
 
 
My mother and father took us to the beach every summer at the Jersey Shore.  The photos below are from Long Branch, NJ.  That young boy is my son, Kyle, who is challenging a rule of chess we were playing on the beach.  (Nice ‘old man hat’)  Kyle is now 23 y.o.
 
 
My brother Corey gets in his vitamin D dose too.  He LOVES to fish, like our father, notice the fishing poles above.  Hanging out with our parents was cool to us.
Below are another group of pictures, showing that we have so many pictures of us being together at the beach.  Yes, we use umbrellas too.  That’s the best sunblock.
 

That's my mom's pug, Pogo; NOT PangPang. Today Pogo is about 12 years old.

What do these pictures have to do with you?  I believe I was fortunate enough to have been exposed to the beach and the sun at an early age.  So, I have positive feelings about the sun.  You, on the other hand, may think it’s just too hot to sit in the sun, especially if you live in a city or not near water.  I understand that.  Not everyone can be as obsessed like me and HAVE to live near the ocean.  But it doesn’t change the fact that if your ancestors originated from Africa, you were meant to be in the sun, likely a LOT more than you are doing now.  Over generations with this absence of sun exposure, I believe and the research shows, that Blacks are reaping the ills of vitamin D deficiency like never before. (As mention above, like increased cancer rates, Vitamin D lowers cancer rates and helps with maintaining your waist and a good outlook on life)
 
How to Increase Your Vitamin D
 
  • You can sit in the sun with your arms and legs exposed (no sun screen for 20 minutes), during lunchtime, as much as you can. 
  • You can take supplements.  Like fermented cod liver oil gel (cinnamon flavored) and/or vitamin D supplements, calcium, a multi vitamin, plus more.
  • You need to get your vitamin D levels checked.
  • You should stop immediately drinking vegetable forms of vitamin D2 (soy milk, rice milk, almond milk.  I drink almond milk  from time to time, but NOT for the vitamin D,
    but because I like it and had enough dairy for the day)  You need cholecalciferol, vitamin D3, from animals, for best results.  If you don’t want to drink milk or can’t drink milk, dairy products; then more than ever you need to get more sun and take supplements in the winter months.  I like fermented cod liver oil, (not just fish oil), at least it’s fish and not beef; which some of you may find more appealing.
  • Stop eating so many low-fat, no-fat foods.  You need some saturated fat to properly absorb fat-soluble vitamin D.  It’s the sugar, grains that are making you fat anyway; not the unsaturated/saturated fat in food.  Also vitamin D  helps you lose belly fat too.
  • You need to stop ‘eating your bones and muscles’ by doing hours of steady-state ‘cardio’ and do resistance training (hard) and rest more.  Volitionally intense resistance training, only 1 or 2 times a week, builds bone by simply telling your brain and body that you need bone and muscle for the life that you are living today.  Healthy does NOT equal eating vegetables and running.  Stop making that connection, it is not what your DNA cares about.  We are omnivores.  Period.  Like it or not.  We are opportunistic eaters, like crows.  If you were dropped in the middle of a jungle, and there were no ‘animals’ or insects to eat, you would starve.  You’re body simply cannot digest sticks, leaves and twigs, we’re NOT gorillas (who have massive area of digestion, we traded that off for a more massive brain and ate more animal products) If the first thing out of your mouth is “I am a vegetarian” or “I don’t eat red meat”, I immediately say to myself, “Why are you trying to convince yourself?”.  If you persist to let me know your position about not eating animals, then I say to you, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.  How long have you been living that way?”  Our ancestors would be amazed at the large cardio decks that people will be on machines for hours, but not going anywhere.
  • Schedule me, Minky, to do a lively and humorous presentation and hear more details about the above things you can do today to increase your vitamin D levels and increase your bone health and strength.  I will also provide a demonstration of super-slow exercises that are to be done only once a week.  You must have a minimum of 6 people to receive the $10.00 per person rate.

Just send me am e-mail at:
Minky@certifiedfitnessnurse.com  and/or call:
(732) 620-2193, ask for Minky or Lori (same person)
Minimum of a month’s prior notice is required.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Minky 

If you want more info about vitamin D see chart below:

 

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