DON'T SUPPLEMENT VIT D to AVOID S.A.D.

Do this instead to thrive in the winter.

DON'T SUPPLEMENT with Vitamin D3

Why? IT DOESNT WORK. Vitamin D3 supplementation is good at one thing, increasing blood 25-OH Vit D levels. Research has concluded that Vit D supplementation "DOES NOT GENERATE OVERALL HEALTH BENEFITS"

The review: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41574-021-00593-z

There is a lot of conflicting research, so the conclusion is that it does not generate overall health benefits.

Why doesn't it work?

A Vitamin D3 supplement is NOT EQUAL to Vitamin D3 from sunlight. For starters, it is not sulfated. Sulfated Vit D3 is water soluble, and is what is actually beneficial for your immune + cardiovascular system. Some actually debate that it is the cholesterol sulfate or sulfate itself and NOT the Vitamin D3…which is a fascinating discussion. Regardless, when you take a supplement you are NOT getting a sulfated version of Vitamin D3, just the standard un-sulfated version. This version is beneficial for calcium transport and calcium regulation.

Vit D3 supplements also INCREASE LDL cholesterol...which is the opposite of what happens when you are exposed to UVB light. This is problematic because as we will discuss at length this is the WRONG input signal for your body.

Most also don't know that there are 12 different analogs of Vit D produced in liver. Over half of these you'd only get from sunlight. A supplement is getting you just a few analogs, ones that are mostly just good for calcium transport as mentioned. Complicated stuff that most folks like to leave out when they blindly recommend Vitamin D3 supplements.

They will tell you to just take it with Vitamin K2 and all will be good, however a 2019 Tufts University study showed that supplements across the board basically don’t do sh*t compared to getting the same nutrients from food.

Why all the push for supplementation? Well its an actionable step people can take (an easy band aid solution) and Vitamin D supplementation alone is generating $1.1B annually.

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2. Alternate Sources of Vitamin D3

FATTY COLD WATER FISH

Nature is quite clever, putting a high amount of vitamin D in cold water fish.… However this vitamin D is not sulfated either, so it will not replace Vit D either. Farmed fish is BS for many reasons, including Vitamin D content. One study showed that Wild caught Salmon had ~3X the Vit D on average.

Pass on the grain fed, lice ridden, fake colored salmon please, EAT WILD CAUGHT

YOUR OWN FAT STORES

Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin, and that means your body stores vitamin D in adipose tissue. This is why it is so imperative to SUN MAXX in summer months, b/c maxing out stored Vitamin D is what will get you through the winter.

Throw out the sunscreen.

How to mobilize this stored Vitamin D?

1. Exercise

2. Ketogenic Diet

3. Cold Therapy

If you just embrace seasonality in winter (low carb diet + getting cold), your body will work for you. Focus on metabolic activation of adipose tissue through ketosis + cold.

3. Embracing Dietary Seasonality

In winter this looks like a low carb/high fat diet AKA ketogenic. Depending on your latitude this might even be strict carnivore. Think about what is in season in winter, mostly animal foods.

Eating a banana in Jan = the WRONG input signal

Your mitochondria will adapt to a high fat diet by reforming and becoming more efficient to burn fat as fuel. Fat produces more ATP, more water, and deuterium depleted water compared to glucose.

Mitochondrial efficiency is needed to overcome less energy from light (well efficiency in the sense of overall output per say not technical efficiency).

We did a video on mitochondrial adaptations due to low carb/carnivore type diets on Decentralized Radio that delves into this further…

4. Embracing Cold

Cold therapy has become popular thanks to the likes of Andrew Huberman and Joe Rogan, however they almost never talk about it in the context of seasonality.

What really matters is that you do it IN THE WINTER as it will INCREASE the:

-number of mitochondria (biogenesis)

-activity of the mitochondria

-internal heat production

Your mitochondria are your heat source

"powerhouse" of the cell = a furnace

However, the input signals to the furnace need to be in tune with winter else they wont be very effective at producing heat. Vit D intake downregulates your ability to produce heat in your mitochondria.

Here are some ways you can embrace cold in the winter:

-Go for "shiver walks" (T shirt/shorts in winter temps)

-Keep house at <65F/18C to improve baseline

-Wear less layers when outside for as long as possible

-Cold plunges, showers, face dunks

5. Light Therapy

Even in winter, a large amount of energy is present from sunlight. No UV in high latitudes, but red/NIR is out all day long. You NEED to still be outside maxxing especially in winter. Mid day is critical. Read more about NIR importance from a recent newsletter here. If you failed to get enough sunlight & thus Vitamin D in the summer, I would rather you experiment with a UV lamp over Vit D3 supplementation.

The trick is to use it outside or in combo w/ a Red/IR panel. I personally use a RLT device in winter since I am outside less on average. I also replaced all of my indoor lighting with incandescenet bulbs which are rich in IR light. I think everyone can benefit from more NIR. Midwest light therapy has affordable RLT panels that are high power (and red bulbs to minimize circadian disruption).

6. Be Active

Easiest way to be happier in winter? Go outside and embrace winter sports + activities Combining outdoors + exercise is the best way to live life in all seasons. I love skiing more than any other sport.

SUMMARY

SAD is a biproduct of modern living. It is caused by not getting enough sun in the summer and not embracing seasonality in the winter. It can easily be avoided by:

-Sun maxxing all year round

-Get cold, eat low carb in winter

NOT with Vit D supps

Our biology allows us to thrive in any environment, we just need to embrace THAT environment. The input to the system matters.