When the sun is out

On our day 2 in Edinburgh, the sun was out... lovely, warm and bright.

So naturally, many sought to get a dose of vitamin D, especially since Scotland is well known as being a grey and wet country.
Some facts about vitamin D:

• Vitamin D prevents osteoporosis, depression, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and even effects diabetes and obesity.



• Vitamin D is perhaps the single most underrated nutrient in the world of nutrition. That's probably because it's free: your body makes it when sunlight touches your skin. Drug companies can't sell you sunlight, so there's no promotion of its health benefits.



• Vitamin D is produced by your skin in response to exposure to ultraviolet radiation from natural sunlight.



• The healing rays of natural sunlight (that generate vitamin D in your skin) cannot penetrate glass. So you don't generate vitamin D when sitting in your car or home.



• It is nearly impossible to get adequate amounts of vitamin D from your diet. Sunlight exposure is the only reliable way to generate vitamin D in your own body.



• A person would have to drink ten tall glasses of vitamin D fortified milk each day just to get minimum levels of vitamin D into their diet.



• The further you live from the equator, the longer exposure you need to the sun in order to generate vitamin D. Canada, the UK and most U.S. states are far from the equator.
  No wonder they were out in droves ;)



• People with dark skin pigmentation may need 20 - 30 times as much exposure to sunlight as fair-skinned people to generate the same amount of vitamin D.


• Sufficient levels of vitamin D are crucial for calcium absorption in your intestines. Without sufficient vitamin D, your body cannot absorb calcium, rendering calcium supplements useless.



• Chronic vitamin D deficiency cannot be reversed overnight: it takes months of vitamin D supplementation and sunlight exposure to rebuild the body's bones and nervous system.



• Even weak sunscreens (SPF=8) block your body's ability to generate vitamin D by 95%. This is how sunscreen products actually cause disease -- by creating a critical vitamin deficiency in the body.
  Gosh.. didn't know THAT!



• It is impossible to generate too much vitamin D in your body from sunlight exposure: your body will self-regulate and only generate what it needs.



• If it hurts to press firmly on your sternum, you may be suffering from chronic vitamin D deficiency right now.
  Err... sternum tu kat mana?



• Vitamin D is "activated" in your body by your kidneys and liver before it can be used. Having kidney disease or liver damage can greatly impair your body's ability to activate circulating vitamin D.



• The sunscreen industry doesn't want you to know that your body actually needs sunlight exposure because that realization would mean lower sales of sunscreen products.



• Even though vitamin D is one of the most powerful healing chemicals in your body, your body makes it absolutely free. No prescription required.

So get out in the sun people!!

People were out in droves... all benches were occupied. Those who cannot get a bench, opt for the green grass...

Some hung out with friends...

Some prefer solitude with a book...

Yang bergolek-golek pun ada...

Yang dating pun ada, hehe...

When the sun is out, so does the frisbee...

But some prefer to just do nothing...

Or just termenung, hehe...

When you're surrounded by beautiful sight as this, who wouldn't :)