Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! I considered taking a break from my vitamin series to post something about the benefits of love or something cute and quirky like that, but I had a busy week and went on a nice date with the hubby today so I didn't get a chance. So, looks like it's on with the vitamins! Stay tuned tomorrow for some chocolate birthday cake, though :).
Anway. C is for Combat.
Which is what your immune system does against viruses, bad
bacteria, and other types of illnesses or ailments. Vitamin C is for your immune system! It gives your body’s immunity an extra boost
to help it fight off infections, illnesses, and disease and prevent further
problems from arising. It can also
lessen the symptoms of the common cold, relieving aches, congestion, runny
nose, etc. It helps strengthen collagen
as well, which is the main element of connective tissue, and this in turn helps
maintain healthy bones and teeth and also helps your body to heal wounds
faster. Vitamin C helps support the good
bacteria in your digestive system too (I talked about that in my post about
antibiotics and probiotics), which is super important for a healthy immune
system! While it’s supporting the good
bacteria, it also destroys bad bacteria as well as viruses, and also
neutralizes free radicals and protects us from toxins. What a handy vitamin to have in our systems!
An interesting thing about vitamin C, though, is that we’re
one of a handful of species that can’t create vitamin C on our own – we rely
solely on our diets to make sure we’re getting enough. And sadly, we’re just not getting
enough… When we look at the other
animals that are able to make their own vitamin C, the majority of them are
making about 2 grams per 150lbs of body weight.
When these animals are in stressful situations or are injured or sick,
their vitamin C production jumps up to around ten times more than average! Definitely gives a good idea of how
beneficial vitamin C is to a healthy immune system. I know we’re not those kinds of animals
though, and in our category of creatures who can’t create our own vitamin C
we’re joined by our closest living relatives, the great apes, who require about
2000-6000 mg of vitamin C a day (under normal healthy circumstances).
So what does the USDA say our recommended daily average
is? 90mg. Sounds kinda pathetic, doesn’t it? I think so…
Fortunately this is a water-soluble vitamin, making it difficult to
overdo it when taking it. A better
average for vitamin C intake is more like 1000-4000 mg per day, and even more
when you’re feeling under the weather. I
remember once seeing a naturopathic doctor who recommended I take 10,000 mg a
day while I was battling a particularly nasty cold. Ten THOUSAND?? I thought that was crazy, but after
discussing it with him further and feeling a bit more comfortable about it, I
followed his advice and sure enough, I noticed a decrease in my symptoms and an
increase in my health. He did warn me to
wean my way back off of it though, as while getting that much into your system
is beneficial, it can be a bit of a shock to stop cold-turkey. So as soon as my symptoms were gone I cut
back to 8,000 mg for a couple days, then 5,000, then 1,000, which is where I
stayed for a basic maintenance dose. I
felt great! It’s something I’ve
continued to do when I feel I’ve caught “the common cold” – I amp up my vitamin
C intake (along with all the other immune-boosting natural medicines like olive
leaf extract, Echinacea, and goldenseal).
What are some great sources of vitamin C other than taking a
supplement? Oranges, strawberries, kiwi, lemon juice, parsley, broccoli, bell peppers, papaya, cauliflower, kale, mustard greens and Brussels sprouts are all
great sources. But, unfortunately,
cutting, cooking, storing, and most forms of processing can destroy the vitamin
C, which is something we all do to our vegetables (not many people eat enough
raw produce, myself included!), making it that much more necessary to get our
vitamin C in a supplement.
That about sums up what I have to say about vitamin C. Now stock up, cold and flu season isn’t over
yet!
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