<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

     Some people thought you can pick up vitamin D here and there in your diet.
   This just isn't true. There are only a few food sources of vitamin D.  In 
the US, liquid milk has to be fortified with vit. D by law.  Some dried milk 
has vit. D, some doesn't.  Some cereals are fortified with vit. D.  I think 
milk and cereal are fortified because they're children's foods - the government 
is trying to protect children from rickets.  Some fish has vit. D - for example 
if you ate 4 ounces of mackerel every day, you would get the U.S. RDA.   Or if 
you took a teaspoon of cod liver oil every day.  You would have to be eating a 
pretty milky, fishy diet to get your vitamin D.
     Vitamin D is toxic in large amounts - so if you think you're deficient, 
don't take a lot to make up for it.  A doctor might recommend you take a lot of 
it, but they should do regular blood tests to keep track of your vitamin D 
level.  I read that it's pretty safe to take up to 2000 IU per day on your own.
  The U.S. RDA is 400 IU per day.  I asked a family doctor, who said they 
suggest 400-800 IU per day for middleaged women.  Vitamin D is a hormone - it's 
not something one would take a megadose of any more than - one hopes! - a 
megadose of estrogen or testosterone ...  The beneficial effects I talked about 
may just apply to curing a vitamin D deficiency.  It doesn't mean that more is 
better.
   You could think of vitamin D as stored-up sunlight.  You can wander around 
under the sun and catch it yourself; you could catch the sunlight the fish have 
stored for you, or you can get the sunlight from a vitamin bottle.
    I live a lot on exotic Latin roots - like name', cassava, malanga, batatas 
(which are a starchy kind of sweet potato that's scrumptious), because I never 
ate them while I was eating gluten, so I can eat them now without getting 
sick.  Some people have asked where you get that kind of thing.  The answer 
is, a lot of grocery stores have a tropical foods supplier.  They can special 
order a box of it for you.  I have a big freezer and I buy 40 or 50 pounds of 
roots at a time, and I peel them and cut them into little pieces and put them
in freezer bags.  Sometimes stores have these roots in the produce 
section. The unusual fruits and vegetables that I eat are expensive, but 
at least the starches aren't; most of the Latin roots are $1.49 a pound. 
Laura

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