How many of you take a handful of vitamins every morning and if you’re truthful, you don’t really notice any difference? It’s possible that the reason is because you are taking them incorrectly.
Enter DEAK – It stands for the fat soluble vitamins. There are only 4 of them – vitamins D, E, A, and K. These vitamins are critical in our diets to promote growth, reproduction, and health. So, let’s take a quick look at each one, and why we need them.
Vitamin D – Vitamin D promotes absorption of calcium and phosphorus and influences bone mineralization. It also regulates and strengthens the immune system. If you are taking calcium supplements for your bone health, you should be taking D as well. Because they work together. Our bodies make vitamin D by exposure to ultraviolet rays from the sun. 15 minutes a day, with skin exposed, (no sunscreen!) will provide sufficient amounts of vitamin D. If you are dealing with osteoporosis, you may need more. Vitamin D occurs naturally only in animal foods such as liver, butter, fatty fish, and egg yolks. So if you are a vegan or vegetarian, you will definitely need to supplement your vitamin D.
Vitamin E – Vitamin E is an important antioxidant and is useful for vision, reproduction, and blood health as well as brain function and healthy skin. In high doses, it can also act as a blood thinner. Food sources include nuts, seeds, whole grains, and wheat germ. Make sure you are sourcing from NON-GMO.
Vitamin A- This vitamin is essential for the maintenance of normal mucous membranes and for normal vision. It also helps with cell growth, hair growth and reproductive health. Like Vitamin D, it only occurs naturally in foods of animal origin such as liver, butter, whole milk, and egg yolks but the body converts certain carotenoids to vitamin A, so dark leafy greens, and yellow and orange vegetables and fruits are your best natural sources.
Vitamin K – Vitamin K is essential in the liver for formation of blood clotting factors. It also supports bone health and helps prevent the calcification of blood vessels. If you are on any type of blood thinner medication, you should NOT be taking vitamin K and should avoid foods that are high in it such as dark, leafy greens.
OK, so what’s all this fat soluble business? Well, these 4 vitamins are only assimilated if they are combined with fat. What that means, basically, is if you are taking your daily vitamins with water, these four will not be properly absorbed. So you are actually throwing your money away and not getting any of the benefits you’re looking for. Also, if you are deficient in any of these vitamins, it may be because you are taking them incorrectly.
So your take-away here is, if you are taking any or all of these critical vitamins, you need to be taking them with some sort of fat. Either take them with food, preferably in the morning with breakfast, or with milk or cream in your morning coffee. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time, your money and could be putting your health at risk because you aren’t properly absorbing them.
LET’S GET BETTER!
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