The Vitamin D Cure, Revised

270 Pages·2012·1.82 MB·English

by  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.
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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