Tuesday, June 15, 2010

World Cup and a Vitamin D surprise


I hope all you soccer (football) fans are enjoying the World Cup. I don't watch a lot of tv, but every four years I'm glued to the tube. I was only 7 when Holland lost to Germany in the finals, but I remember it like yesterday. Since 1974, I have watched pretty much every game of every World Cup. On the days Holland plays, I wear my orange shirt and orange hat, and much to the dismay of kids and friends, every chance in between for the next 4 weeks. I took my daughter to watch the USA vs. England match at a local pub, and I think I might have converted her into to a full blown fan. She did grab my arm during the game at one point, as I was yelling at the players to swing the ball left, and calmly looked at me and said "dad, they can't hear you". It was a good Saturday afternoon.

With all these soccer festivities, I will drink some more beer then usual. I don't make a big deal about it, but I do counter it by staying strict with my food choices and activity levels.

Simple dinner. Salad with romaine lettuce tomato, carrots, red pepper and celery. Grandma's dressing with a touch of white wine. Freshly grated reggiano parmesan. (not strictly paleo...but the k2 is in there)
I bought fresh shrimps (with heads on) and made the following. Low heat cooking; a bit of evoo, add onion and garlic. Because of the low heat, you will have time to prep your other food. I diced up red pepper and added that. Pinch of sea salt to taste. I cleaned and cut my shrimp into bite size pieces. (saved all the yummy heads to make some stock). Next I added a bit of lemon juice to the pan, and then a splash of white wine. Add the shrimp and mix well. Now I added a bit of "vodka sauce". (tomato sauce with a touch of vodka).
It was delicious.



I don't eat a lot of fruit. I tend to eat my fruit in season, and summer time is for blueberries, peaches and watermelon. I love an ice cold piece of watermelon out of the fridge on a blazing hot day here. The trick is not to overdo it I think. Don't eat a lot of fruit in one sitting. Just a taste. My sweet tooth doesn't exist anymore, I crave savory things now, so it's easy for me to eat half a sweet georgia peach or 2-4 chunks of watermelon, so be careful. It's easy to over indulge on the sweet summer fruits.


This little treat will last me through my office day when I'm in the mood for a little taste of something.

About a week and a half ago, I sent away for a Vitamin D test from ZRT Labs
If you order it through the Vitamin D Council website it will save you $10. ($65 vs. $75)
My results just came back. 63. That's in decent range. It got me thinking last night though. I live in a sub tropical climate. I probably get more full body sun then most of you (I do work in an office for most of the day, but I will take a shirtless run or walk), but I still need to supplement to get my levels to a respectable 63. I like this article for some solid information.
Dr. Eades just wrote a great post, reviewing the book "The Vitamin D solution". I understand it won't be out till October, but I look forward to getting my hands on it. So how much Vitamin D do I take and what brand you ask? (maybe you didn't, but I will tell you anyway ;-) )  
I take Carlson Vitamin d3 drops 2000 IU. Most days I take either 4 or 6 thousand IU's. I don't take it on the weekends, as I am outside a lot and getting sun. I have not been sick or had a cold 3 years! The times this past winter where I felt I needed a boost, either because of air travel or 4 sick kids at home, I upped the dose some.
Do you take vitamin D3 and how much? Do you get your levels tested?

And last question; do any of you practice the inner smile? Would you like me to share my experiences with it?

Have a great day.


10 comments:

Dr. B G said...

Marc,

What an AWESOME sprint tri time!! And you hardly trained (just evo/paleo training)...

Congrats!!!

I'm ~120 lbs, tan/dark toned and my vit D dose is ~7000 IU on average. I don't why I require so much... probably because I don't run around totally shirtless *haa*!

Eades post is amazing -- he was advising sunlight for vit D in the first PP book like 10-15 yrs ago.

-G

epistemocrat said...

Hey Marc,

Being a Qualitative Self person myself, I can't justify my Vit D intake of about 5,000 - 6,000 IU on average with a Quantitative Self measure, but I've found that's working pretty good thus far and correlates with the story Dr. Dowd told in his Vitamin D Cure book, so I'll keep tinkering with that range, adding in some stochasticity, of course, to keep my body guessing a bit.

The inner-smile makes me think of Marc Simonson and the feeling you get from his writing: as you picked up like me, his genuine enthusiasm and energy just shine through the computer screen.

Cheers,

Brent

Natalie said...

Ah, the World Cup. (damn the vuvuzelas!) My friends here are mostly British and they informed me that I would be rooting for England, to which I agreed, not realising that the first game would be England vs USA. Needless to say, I was very pleased with how England played for the USA.

TrailGrrl said...

Thanks for the great recipes... I just got a bunch of stuff from my CSA and it is a TON of veggies, or at least the greens make it look that way. We've had a lot of rain and their garden is going crazy.

4 pounds of spinach. I am on a creamed spinach kick, so this works out well(recipe from http://www.joyfulabode.com/2010/03/27/creamed-spinach-recipe/), but... 4 POUNDS!! I just about freaked when I saw the bag full of it. Fortunately once you get the stems off and wash it, it is only a couple of colanders full. I may keep half raw to eat this week, and then blanch and freeze the other half. There is kohlrabi, a zuchini, a little yellow squash thing, 2 big green onions, beets, iceberg, romaine, and some other kind of lettuce, and some cilantro. Not sure about what to do with the beets, but my dad likes them so maybe I can give them away if I don't like them. There might be some cabbage in there too. Same farmers I buy my meat and eggs from. The eggs are the best too, really dark orange yolks.

I plan to use some of the spinach in with eggs or as a side dish. As a kid I only knew canned spinach, but I did like it. My mom usually went with fresh stuff, but maybe spinach was one of those things she didn't grow up with. Thank God for the creamed spinach kick or I'd be in trouble. Try the recipe for it above, it is really great, and the sauce is good with both chicken and beef. Looks like I might be making some salads too. I'm trying to make a conscious effort at more green veggies.

It was a nice, but hot and horribly humid day, sunny and perfect for a drive out to the farm for pickup after raining all weekend. Got some beef tenderloin too.

Got kinda hooked on World Cup when I was in Sweden and the USA Team whipped them.

Marc said...

Dr. B G,

Thank you. I'm learning how to swim (T.I) finally...thanks again for that tip.
I'm already looking forward to doing another one.

I've really learned a lot from Dr. Eades over the years.

Brent,
Have you ever gotten your vit D levels tested?
The inner smile is also a meditation technique. It's powerful for sure.

Natalie,
If all goes right...it might be that Holland will face England
then who are you going to support?
It's a fun month for sure.

Trail,
Love me some spinach!

With the beets...how bout making pickled beets? So easy and keeps well and some good probiotics.
CSA and farmers markets here are shut down...its just to dang hot to grow anything ;-(

Marc

BTCHLPS said...

I was taking 2,000 IU for over 6 months but recently upped the dose to 4,000 (as reccomended by Mark Sisson). Before I was worried about taking too much. I don't believe I need more because I try to get a little sun here and there and because I take it all at once with a meal so it is better absorbed. How do you like the drops? I'm thinking of switching from the pills.

epistemocrat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
epistemocrat said...

Hey Marc,

Haven't had my levels tested yet. I currently abstain from tests (including blood work) as much as possible in hopes of tapping into Qualitative Self feedback loops instead since I worry about being misled by Quantitative data. Based on my epithelial health (skin color, hair texture) and recent muscle mass gains, I conjecture that my Vit D3 intake, for whatever reason, is pretty good right now.

Have you had good experience checking your levels and correlating that with adjusting your intake?

Best,

Brent

Marc said...

BTCHLP,

I do like the drops. I know some folks don't like them, as it takes a bit longer to take it....wating for the drop to fall ;-)
I take it with a bit of fat for even better absorption.ie; butter or coconut oil. I think 4000 iu a day is good, but do take a break here and there. Like I said, mostly I don't take it on the weekends.
Thanks for leaving a comment.

Brent,
I agree 100% the "qualitative Self feedback loop" is the way to go.
But to be honest, curiosity got the best of me. Reading up on the "D factor" lately, I wanted to see just how high my levels were. As I recently read some more data that above 100 ngl is not what you want.

Marc

Anonymous said...

I personally was cheering for the kiwis