Cheap cod liver oil

[Josh]

I'm thinking of taking a cheap cod liver oil to boost my vitamin D over the winter, as I have been tested with deficiency in the past FWIW and raw meat doesn't seem to contain much. I don't really want to import blue ice from dr ron's.

Does anyone have any experience with the health food shop brands?

Or any other ideas....do the lizard or human sun lamps work?

[yuli]

For regular cod liver oil go with the unflavored Carlson brand.
Its the most expensive out of the health-food store brands but very good stuff

[RawZi]

Or any other ideas....do the lizard or human sun lamps work?

    I would like to try a lizard lamp.

[TylerDurden]

One can buy the blue ice raw fermented cod liver oil from other sources than dr ron's expensive site. It's still not cheap.


I did not benefit at all from cod liver oil capsules in the past. I am sure that the blue ice was a far better product but, perhaps because I was already eating raw and grassfed, it didn't make much additional difference.  Other types of cod liver oil did nothing for me , however, when I was so ill pre-rpd diet, suggesting to me that they were too highly processed to be remotely effective.

[yuli]

When the oil has to be put in capsules its probably more processed that way.
You have to get the oil in the bottle, bottled at the source.

[Haai]

I see on the internet that the recommended dosage for the blue ice fermented cod liver oil is 2ml per day. Is this really enough? For those people on here that take it, how much do you take? 2ml seems like very little to me.

[RawZi]

I am sure that the blue ice was a far better product but, perhaps because I was already eating raw and grassfed, it didn't make much additional difference.  

    I have some blue ice, just to see how it is.  I'm not taking it.  I don't even have an idea how much to take.  I think it's the only US fish oil since 2004 that hasn't been heated.

[RawZi]

2ml seems like very little to me.

    Idk, 2ml seems like it could be a lot, if taken every day.

[yuli]

Why don't you guys just look at the label, it should say on it how much Vit D and omega 3 it has and the ratio of it...
Then use that to figure out the dosage you need.

[RawZi]

    Sounds like a good idea Yuli.  I just hate oils and supplements though.  The less the better in my book.

    Herrings are cheap, and rich in vitamin D.  Why not just ferment them?  I have some fermenting.

[yuli]

I don't use any supplements either other then some cod liver oil once in a while (although I haven't taken any for almost 3 weeks now, just been forgetting)...but I don't think there is a reason to hate supplements.
A supplement can be any rich nutrient source used to supplement your diet. I look at things like raw liver as a supplement as well, why don't we gorge on liver every day? Because its a supplement, and is eaten like a supplement, when its needed. I eat some high vitamin C plant foods sometimes and I do it to supplement my diet of course. If I had no access I woudldn't hesitate to take some vit C tablets, especially there are some that are natural sourced and can be pretty effective. Its true some artficial supplements are not really absorbed so they are useless, but I am sure some fish oil after a good meal will be absorbed, or should be anyways, unless you can't digest fish fat 
As long as most of your nutrition is coming from your diet, a small amount of supplements shouldn't hurt, but you just have to know what to supplement with thats the tricky part 

[KD]

I've been using this brand of vit D that ck recommends in this thread
http://www.rawpaleoforum.com/hot-topics/my-experience-with-vitamin-d-supplements/msg14157/#msg14157

I think with shipping and taking account the loading phase + maintenance it worked out to around $12 for 3-4 months.

scroll down for a classic W. post.


---

there have been numerous vit D/sunshine threads to look at here as well. my conclusion is even in the summer getting full bodied exposure during peak hours is hardly enough even for the summer itself, never mind to store up through northern winters. Virtually everyone is deficient, so its not enough to say one feels this or that without supplementation. Since vit D mainly is meant to be absorbed form the sun, food based supplementation is almost exactly the same as pills (other than the processing) except probably less effective and in way less quantity then is needed. Most other nutrients are meant to come from food so those supplements are not necessary on a healthy rounded diet but are perhaps helpful for some. I eat things like liver almost daily as foods not supplements, but liver itself has an abundance of certain nutrients that might be taken in in excess. Vit D (even in pill form) is supposedly very difficult to become toxic on even when taking 10,000 IU (loading) which would likely never happen with unrefined seafoods unless .75 kg of herring is a typical daily meal.

[donrad]

Go outside. Take your shirt off. Make a garden. Run. Bike. Swim. You will look and feel great.

[yuli]

Go outside. Take your shirt off. Make a garden. Run. Bike. Swim. You will look and feel great.

I'd like to see you do all that in the winter! You can try but...you won't feel that great doing it 

[yuli]

well unless you are like these dudes, walrus-men, lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x768VAsOQSw

[miles]

Is that a viral advert?

[yuli]

lol, are you drunk? Cause you don't make any sense 

[RawZi]

well unless you are like these dudes, walrus-men, lol

    Eat a diet of raw natural fat and little else, it will be healthy to get in the icy water.

    It's said though that in Northern latitudes the angles of the sun's rays hitting us or the length of the rays is not good enough for vitamin D like tropical locations.

    I might start to take the blue ice.  I'm not convinced it's right for me to supplement though. 

    I'll eat organs, at least a few types every month, usually liver; because it's easiest to get.  I don't consider it a supplement though, as it is natural, raw and part of a whole animal.  I consider that only eating muscles as meat, to be a "fractionated" diet, and something that should never have been done for long, nor would it have been done by most animals in the wild.  It's wasteful anyway.  The organs raised naturally have such wonderful stuff in them, and nothing bad.  One of my cats is basically living on liver right now.  She can't seem to digest anything much else.  Other things get her throwing up, losing weight or just losing appetite.

[KD]

Go outside. Take your shirt off. Make a garden. Run. Bike. Swim. You will look and feel great.

I'd like to see you do all that in the winter! You can try but...you won't feel that great doing it  

    It's said though that in Northern latitudes the angles of the sun's rays hitting us or the length of the rays is not good enough for vitamin D like tropical locations.

Right, I used to sunbath in <45 deg winters...while year round sun is important everywhere, its basically pointless in regards to vit D in northern latitudes. Tanning beds are probably superior, and still fail to bring levels up to optimal levels. The point is is you can survive at very low D levels, but you can thrive at levels supplied by year round DAILY (practically) exposure or supplementation. Basically no matter what ones opinion is on sun or vit D or supplements, there is no way someone is going to uptake the optimal amount of D from whole foods without year round exposure. If someone is already deficient (like virtually everyone) its going to be of course more impossible to achieve excess vit d without supplementation, particularly as such individuals probably won't even handle sun very well in that state. Also worth noting is the importance of full exposure. There are various receptors for absorption, so just taking ones shirt off is not likely enough to uptake D even in peak times/year. Its probably particularly important with athletics and physical exertion, regeneration and general healing.

per 100g
Fish, herring, Atlantic, raw - Vitamin D   1628 IU
Fish, salmon, sockeye, canned, drained solids with bone - Vitamin D   763 IU
Fish, herring, Atlantic, pickled - Vitamin D   680 IU
Fish, salmon, pink, canned, solids with bone and liquid - Vitamin D   624 IU
Fish, halibut, Greenland, raw - Vitamin D   600 IU
Fish, catfish, channel, wild, raw - Vitamin D   500 IU
Fish, sardine, Pacific, canned in tomato sauce, drained solids with bone - Vitamin D   480 IU
Fish, salmon, pink, canned, drained solids with bone - Vitamin D   466 IU
Fish, mackerel, Atlantic, raw - Vitamin D   360 IU
Mollusks, oyster, eastern, wild, raw - Vitamin D   320 IU
Fish, sardine, Atlantic, canned in oil, drained solids with bone - Vitamin D   272 IU
Fish, mackerel, jack, canned, drained solids - Vitamin D   252 IU
Fish, tuna, light, canned in oil, drained solids - Vitamin D   236 IU
Fish, caviar, black and red, granular - Vitamin D   232 IU
Fish, salmon, chum, drained solids with bone - Vitamin D   224 IU
Crustaceans, shrimp, mixed species, raw - Vitamin D   152 IU
Fish, herring, Atlantic, kippered - Vitamin D   120 IU
Fish, cod, Atlantic, canned, solids and liquid - Vitamin D   84 IU
Fish, flatfish (flounder and sole species), raw - Vitamin D   60 IU
Fish, cod, Atlantic, raw - Vitamin D   44 IU
Fish, fish portions and sticks, frozen, preheated - Vitamin D   7 IU
Mollusks, clam, mixed species, raw - Vitamin D   4 IU

http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/fish-high-in-vitamin-d.php

[Josh]

They also have foods high in Vitamin D.

http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/foods-high-in-vitamin.php?nutid=324

Shiitake mushrooms are a surprise winner. Might be easy to eat a few of those.

Raw or Pickled herrings might be an option as well.

[miles]

lol, are you drunk? Cause you don't make any sense  

A viral advert is where some company commissions a video, made to look like a genuine amateur recording, in order to somehow advertise themselves. People often debate over whether these videos are fake or real.

I wasn't sure if the video you linked was authentic or contrived.

[KD]

They also have foods high in Vitamin D.

http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/foods-high-in-vitamin.php?nutid=324

Shiitake mushrooms are a surprise winner. Might be easy to eat a few of those.

Raw or Pickled herrings might be an option as well.

yeah shitake is roughly the same as herring, but look at amounts per gram in comparison to the fish oil or even less g. in supplement tabs.

even 150 g of mushrooms daily is alot for the fairly low recommendation of 2000 IU for basically existing. Multiply that times 5 and that is alot of daily amounts of the highest known foods with vit D. Particularly for deficiency its recommended in the 5,000 or 10,000 range. After that someone could have OK levels from conscious regular food consumption but the point is it would never be optimal, particularly for athletic performance. The healthiest balance would be to have regular exposure and regular amounts from a range of food sources - as to avoid pills or oils that are refined and thus have poor associations. Prior to that, its not going to happen with whole food and health will inevitably be weaker for opting out of supplements. Vit D is likely far more important than C or any other vitamin specifically because it is meant to come from a non-food source and is requisite for alot of various functions, even though like any vitamin, food, or raw dietary habit its possible to get by without it in serious quantity.

[Josh]

I suspect you might be right. I think I'm going to go for a good cod liver oil for now - then try and get in some raw foods *as well*

[yuli]

A viral advert is where some company commissions a video, made to look like a genuine amateur recording, in order to somehow advertise themselves. People often debate over whether these videos are fake or real.

I wasn't sure if the video you linked was authentic or contrived.

Oh...well I don't know then its hard to tell...any video on youtube can be a viral advert then. It doesn't look like they were trying to advertise anything in that video though.
You can never be sure I guess....but as long as you're a family man it shouldn't be a problem for you LOL!

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I get real cravings for mushroom (esp. shittake) and fish sometimes, I wonder if its because I am low on D...most likely 
Fortunately I can pig out on shrooms, haven't done that in a while I should go and get some.
I think taking the fish oils is really the easiest way though, they never gave me any problems and seem to be digested well.
Last time I had to have cooked cod (I had no choice was the only food around and I really wanted some meat protein), so I dumped like four tablespoons of cod liver oil on top of the cod steak, OMG that went really well together, I could have topped it with shittakes but I had none.
Fish and shrooms are definitely one of my favorites.
And now that days are so damn short I crave them more.

[Haai]

I got some blue ice cod liver oil today. I took a table spoon and my throat started burning like hell. I drank like a litre of water afterwards to try stop the burning sensation. About 5 hours later and my throat is still really sore. Anyone else had this problem?
I read on the bottle that the pH of the stuff is about 5.6, which is relatively acidic. Hopefully mixing it with water in future before drinking it will sort it out...would hate it if I happen to be allergic to this stuff.