There is an alternative to getting a flu shot this season. If you get enough vitamin D, your body can knock out the flu bug.

Vitamin D isn’t really a vitamin at all. It’s a steroid hormone that helps regulate cells and organs throughout the body. It is also one of the most powerful antioxidant.

Ideally the best way to get vitamin D is through sun exposure. During the winter months when the sky is darker and it’s too cold to spend a lot of time outside incidents of flu go up. That’s not a coincidence. It’s because your body is deficient in vitamin D.

Vitamin D helps increase you body’s ability to produce antimicrobial peptides. Antimicrobial peptides help kill viruses. When your levels of antimicrobial peptides are low, you are left vulnerable to viral infections such as the flu.

You can get vitamin D from foods too. Vitamin D is present in cold water fish such as salmon and herring. You can also get vitamin D from egg yolks and D fortified milk and cereals. If you can’t get enough vitamin D from your diet and sun exposure, you may want to take a supplement. You can take a vitamin D supplement, cod liver oil or krill oil.

Limit your vitamin D intake to less than 2,000 IU per day from both supplements and food. This vitamin can be toxic if you take too much. Signs of vitamin D overdose include vomiting, thirst, weight loss, diarrhea, and nausea.

Photo by krisdecurtis

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