Mood problems are crippling. Whether you’re so “hangry” that you’re ready to tear the world apart or chronic depression has stolen everything you love- we’ve ALL experienced a mood issue at one time or another. It is probably the #1 thing that women come to me for. Recognition and action on my mood problems pretty much fixed me.

 

It can with you too, Lovely.

 

There is one fat-soluble vitamin that could help make LASTING change. Vitamin D (which is actually more like a hormone) is something I started experimenting with in nutrition school. I had heard about it before, being touted at the next cure all for this or that thing.

 

One day in class the topic was mood problems and brain health. I found out here that vitamin D could help my moods. I thought- this school is fucking stressful, so I’m going to give this bad bitch a try and see what happens.

 

A good friend of mine, and myself embarked on this. We ended up feeling light as a feather, sunshiny and laugh-jokey. After only a few weeks! I was totally amazed.

 

Ever since then (off and on when I remember!!) I take Vitamin D. Sometimes I get it through cod liver oil supplementation, and sometimes just the straight D. Living in Canada, 6 months of the year we have very few hours of sunlight, and it’s not like Caribbean sun when it comes either- it’s a tease or a poke through the sky leading us to buying vacations. . .

 

Here’s some of the evidence for this awesome nutrient:

 

There are several studies that have looked at the possible link between low levels of vitamin D and depression. While this connection hasn’t 100% been proven yet the literature  does show that supplementation with vitamin D can improve mild depression and is somehow connected into your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which is good news for your stress.

 

In a study done on women with PMS or PMDD characterized as moderate to severe mood Swings, anxiety and/or depression cyclically, vitamin D levels were correlated with self-rated symptom severity.

 

One female study has shown that women tested in fall had higher vitamin D levels and reported fewer symptoms of mild depression versus those tested in winter and spring who had lower vitamin D levels.

 

 

Vitamin D is difficult to get through food. The most dense dietary source of vitamin D is seafood. Fish, shellfish– it’s all great! Beyond this, organic, free-run/out in the sunshine eggs can provide some vitamin D as well as mushrooms.

 

The amount of time one needs in the sun to get adequate vitamin D is still debatable, but mostly about 20-30 minutes. This is ONLY if you live in the mid- or lower United States and have sufficient skin showing. Sunscreen will block vitamin D synthesis in your skin though- you need to be absorbing the UVB rays from the sun to make the conversion.

 

Traditional vitamin D supplements are soft gels with a liquid centre. This is what you want- vitamin D is fat-soluble, and having it in a liquid capsule that contains a little fat will help with absorption. Looks for vitamin D3, or cholecalciferol. 

You can also supplement cod liver oil to get your vitamin D. I prefer liquid CLO to soft gels because you have to take lots of the pills vs. like a tsp of liquid. Your choice! Just look on the label to see how much you need to take to get your desired vitamin D dosage. Note that other fish oil supplements do not have adequate levels of vitamin D to be considered a supplement.