If you’re following an authentic, modern-day Paleo lifestyle, then you’re well aware that the lifestyle involves much more than what you’re eating.
While mimicking what our ancestors ate (incidentally, we don’t even have to go as far back as our ancestors; let’s even take a cue from our grandparents) is indeed the foundation of creating a plan designed to achieve optimal health and performance, there are other aspects of our day to day regimen that are also important.
You’re moving your body.
You’re spending at least a little time with your feet on the bare earth and you’re allowing for ample time to rest and recover.
In addition, you’re also spending time outdoors, breathing in fresh air and getting natural sunlight in order to help your body get the vitamin D it needs…or, are you preventing this natural process from occurring by coating your body with sunscreen for fear of prematurely aging your skin or worse, developing skin cancer?
Some are taking it to extremes. A growing number of well-meaning parents are slathering sunscreen on their kids causing debilitating results. Nearly one out of five American kids between ages 1 and 11 have blood levels of vitamin D below the 50 nmol/L recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which is contributing to a rise in rickets, vitamin D deficiency, and can lead to chronic pain and short stature (1).
But rickets is far from being the only concern when a lack of Vitamin D is occurring; a low level of the vitamin which acts like a hormone is linked to a number of other conditions, including cancer, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, respiratory tract infections, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis, among others.