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The sun is shining, I didn’t need a jacket when I left the house this morning, and it is finally iced-coffee season, YAY!!! (I know many of you drink it year-round, so no biggie!) I do find it funny though that there are just so many milk options these days to add to your coffee. Who remembers when it was just milk or creamer? I know ancient, right? Or when soy milk was the only alternative option, and yet now some places no longer carry it, much to my chagrin. Hey, at the end of the day choose whatever “milk” you like and enjoy, just be careful not to add a lot of added sugar (aka calories) to your coffee. No matter what has changed over the years, coffee was never intended to be a dessert!
In this week’s The Keri Report:
- You Ask, I Answer: How much vitamin D is safe to take and can it cause skin problems?
- Does Chewing Gum Help You Lose Weight?
- A Dietitian Weighs In On Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Plant Paradox’ Diet For Weight Loss
You Ask, I Answer: How much vitamin D is safe to take and does it cause skin problems, such as rosacea and acne?
The first question really should be why do we even need vitamin D? Vitamin D is essential because it helps the absorption of calcium in our bodies; and calcium is needed because it is important for bone health. The tricky thing about vitamin D is that you can get adequate amounts daily from direct sunlight but then you put yourself at risk for skin cancer. Unfortunately, it is also hard to get enough naturally through our food; hence, the reason supplementing is popular.
That all said, the Institute of Health recommends 600IU daily for the average person with a safe upper limit of 4000IU. Some individuals may even go up higher (after discussing of course with your doctor or registered dietitian), but anything more than 10,000IU daily could potentially be toxic since vitamin D is fat-soluble not water soluble.
As for skin problems —- sun exposure may increase the effects of rosacea, so avoiding it and taking a vitamin D supplement instead would actually help to decrease rosacea. And acne? Research has shown a connection between low levels of vitamin D and increased acne; therefore maintaining normal levels (with or without supplements) would be beneficial.
Thanks Sheila for your question!!!!
Does Chewing Gum Help You Lose Weight? – CNN.com
Maybe? Maybe not? The research on this topic varies – in some studies it helped and others it did not. As told to CNN, “I think for some people, it could be a useful tool … Everyone has things that can possibly help them on their road to weight loss, and little behaviors like gum chewing can make a big difference for some.” This article gives tips on how to incorporate gum, but it also gives a few ideas for the non-gum chewers. And personally, I’m in that latter category!
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A Dietitian Weights In On Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Plant Paradox’ Diet for Weight Loss – Prevention Magazine
I love that Kelly Clarkson spoke out on social media denying the use of crazy diet pills or fad diets to lose weight. YAY! But there is one BIG disconnect for me – the diet she is touting, Dr. Stephen Gundry’s The Plant Paradox, is a fad diet. Ooops! Here’s the thing……as with many fad diets this diet eliminates a whole lot of foods. Dr. Gundry claims a negative association between lectins and autoimmune diseases and supports eliminating them one-hundred percent from your diet. Can’t argue that for some it might make sense to limit or avoid some of these foods, but universally the research does not support it. So once again it appears a celebrity is steering her fans down a slippery diet slope, whether or not it is at all intentional.