Vitamins

Light Starvation

“Light is a nutrient much like food,and like food,
the wrong kind can make us ill, and the right kind can keep us well.”

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Humans need light of specific intensity and color range to regulate their internal biological clock. Without it, our daily, monthly and annual rhythms become disrupted. A lack of sunlight can lead to ill health with a variety of mental, emotional, and physical symptoms.

How does “light starvation” or “Malillumination” happen?

Working and living indoors: Poorly illuminated environments with inappropriate artificial lighting could have serious health implications. For example, most artificial indoor lighting lacks ultraviolet light (UV), which at the proper intensity is essential to the production of vitamin D and the metabolism of calcium.

Unhealthy artificial light: Most indoor lighting lacks the requisite full-range color distribution and the proper intensity to sustain health and certain functions, such as vitamin D and hormone production. Light’s effect on human mind body health has, until recently, been ignored in architecture, design, and engineering. Both fluorescent and incandescent lights have lots of Red, but are lacking in Green, Blue and Violet. Furthermore, indoor lighting is generally not bright enough, amounting to only 1/20th the intensity of outdoor light in the shade on a sunny day. The amount of light that we receive from 16 hours indoors is dramatically less than the amount we receive from a single hour outdoors.

Negative lifestyle habits: Even in sunny California and Florida, the average individual receives little sunlight in a 24-hour period. The additional interferences we have, such as tinted sunglasses and contact lenses, tinted car windshields, and tinted windows, don’t allow in the health-giving properties of the entire spectrum of light.

Seasons/low light conditions: In winter in the northern hemisphere, the onset of winter depression and seasonal affective disorder (S.A.D.) occurs in late fall and peaks in February. (These symptoms usually wane in early spring, as the days get longer.)

The Symptoms of Light Starvation:

  • Irritability
  • Fatigue Increased illness – due to lowered immune function
  • Insomnia
  • Hypersomnia – sleeping too much
  • Depression
  • Alcoholism
  • Suicide
  • Vitamin D deficiency
  • Calcium deficiency
  • A disturbance of bodily rhythms such as SAD, winter depression and other phase shift disorders.

What Light Nourishes:

Light enables us to see, and it plays several vital roles as it enters our eyes and our skin. Light enters the pineal gland (the body’s light meter) via the retina. Its neurotransmitter, melatonin, influences the hypothalamus, which is responsible for controlling many of the endocrine functions that are disturbed in depressed individuals such as sleep and wakefulness, reproductive physiology, mood, and the timing of the biological clock.

Sunlight shining on the skin triggers the production of melanin, a dark pigment that protects the surface of the body. As UV rays from the sun penetrate the skin’s surface layer of melanin, the body’s supply of vitamin D is replenished. Vitamin D is known as the “sunshine vitamin”, and although vitamin D can be obtained from milk and fish, this form is not as biologically effective as the vitamin D produced by sunlight.

Vitamin D3 is a skin hormone called solitrol, which works in conjunction with the pineal hormone, melatonin, to control the body’s response to light and darkness. Solitrol works antagonistically with the melatonin to produce changes in mood and our 24 hour bodily rhythms, as well as affecting our immune system.

Vitamin D enters the blood stream and goes to the kidneys and liver where it plays a key role in the absorption of calcium from foods, as well as the utilization of the mineral phosphorus. Nutritionally oriented physician Dr. Elson Haas states that since vitamin D is intimately related to the metabolism of calcium and phosphorus, it is important to the growth and development of bones and teeth in children. Dr. Haas adds that D3, because of its effect on calcium levels, is important in the maintenance of the nervous system, heart functioning, and blood clotting.

Violet – The Correspondences

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Foods that work in a violet way:

There are very few foods that are a violet color, however some foods work in a “violet” way. Violet foods have a remarkable effect on the workings of the mind.
  • Purple sprouting broccoli
  • Plums
  • Purple cabbage
  • Grapes
  • Eggplant
  • Purple berries

Herbs that work in a violet way:

  • Purple basil – a sacred herb of meditation
  • St John’s wort
  • Potassium
  • Peyote

Violet essential oils:

  • Carnation
  • Clove

Violet crystals and stones:

Violet gemstones are associated with mysticism and purification. They are used for meditation and to sharpen psychic awareness, connection with higher self, and to increase imagination and inspiration.
  • Amethyst
  • Flourite
  • Iolite
 Note: This post was compiled by Shirley Twofeathers for Color Therapy, you may repost and share without karmic repercussions, but only if you give me credit and a link back to this website. Blessed be.

Green – The Correspondences

…and his eyes were so green they could turn carbon dioxide into oxygen.
~Rainbow Rowell

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Foods that work in a green way:

  • Food that is green, or works in a green way, tends to be rich in vitamins and nutrients.
  • Eating foods in their natural season, or where possible, foods grown locally, allow the body to settle into the rhythms and patterns of our immediate surroundings.
  • Apples, pears, avocados, green grapes, limes, kiwi fruit, cabbage, broccoli, kale, sprouts, green beans, peas, leeks spinach, herbs.

Green Essential Oils:

  •  Mint
  • Ginger
  • Sage

Green Crystals and Stones:

  • Emerald
  • Peridot
  • Jade
  • Adventurine
  • Malachite
  • Moss agate
  • Amazonite

Green gemstones are used to attract money, prosperity and wealth. They are balancing stones that promote growth and fertility. Carry, wear or place green gemstones around your home or office to promote balance, change and growth.

Symbolic Meanings of Green:

  • New life
  • Resurrection
  • Hope
  • The sea
  • Fertility and regeneration
  • Recycling
  • Environmental awareness
  • A lucky color
  • An unlucky color

Note: This post was compiled by Shirley Twofeathers for Color Therapy, you may repost and share without karmic repercussions, but only if you give me credit and a link back to this website. Blessed be.

Yellow – The Correspondences

How lovely yellow is! It stands for the sun.
~Vincent Van Gogh

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Foods that work in a yellow way:

  • Eating outside in natural sunlight improves digestion and gives a feeling of well being.
  • Fish oils and foods that are high in omega 3 fatty acids.
  • Lemon, bananas, grapefruit, eggs, honey, peppers, pumpkins, pineapples, bananas, grains such as corn, wheat, rice, rye

Vitamins and supplements that work in a yellow way:

  • Vitamins A, B, D, and E
  • Sodium and potassium, iodine, chromium, molybdenium.

Yellow essential oils:

  • Lemon
  • Lemon grass
  • Lemon Verbena

Yellow crystals and stones:

  • Topaz
  • Beryl
  • Citrine
  • Amber
  • Tiger Eye
  • Iron Pyrite

Carry or wear yellow gemstones to promote the ability to express yourself. They are excellent stones for writers and public speakers to increase eloquence. The yellow stones stimulate movement and mental awareness. They are used to enhance decision making skills.

Symbolic meanings of the color yellow:

  • The sun
  • Power
  • Authority
  • The intellect and intuition
  • Goodness
  • Light
  • Life
  • Truth
  • Immortality
  • Endurance,
  • The Empire and fertility (in China)
  • Cowardice
  • Treachery.

Orange – The Correspondences

“I feel a little dizzy,” said Orion. “But also wonderfully elated. I feel that I am on the verge of finding a rhyme for the word orange.”
~The Atlantis Complex
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Foods that work in an orange way:

  • Lack of orange, and orange energy foods can be evident in physical constipation, stiffness in muscles and joints, and stagnation in other areas of life such as “writer’s or artist’s block.”
  • Orange foods help with release of toxins and stress from the body by encouraging the system to become more efficient in the natural. This aids relaxation and release of stress as the body lets go of unwanted and waste products.
  • Orange foods contain key nutrients that support and maintain the reproductive systems. These foods can also aid the flow of creativity on other levels too.
  • Oranges, peaches, apricots, pumpkin, peppers, carrots, brown rice, sesame seeds, oats, shellfish, tangerines,  mangoes.

Vitamins and supplements that work in an orange way:

  • Calcium
  • Copper
  • Selenium
  • Zinc

Orange Essential Oils:

  • Citronnella
  • Bergamont
  • Orange

Orange Crystals and Stones:

  • Coral
  • Carnelian
  • Fire Agate
  • Orange Calcite
  • Copper
Orange gemstones contain some of the fiery energies of red, but are gentler with a more creative spirit. They are used to promote personal power and are useful for people who could use more self esteem. Carry or place orange gemstones around your home or office to stimulate creativity, mental quickness, ability to adjust to changes.

Symbolic Meanings:

  • Balance between spirit and sexuality
  • Fertility and yet virginity
  • Energy
  • The sun,

Note: This post was compiled by Shirley Twofeathers for Color Therapy, you may repost and share without karmic repercussions, but only if you give me credit and a link back to this website. Blessed be.

Red – The Correspondences

“The ‘pure’ red of which certain abstractionists speak does not exist.
Any red is rooted in blood, glass, wine, hunters’ caps and a thousand other concrete phenomena. Otherwise we would have no feeling toward red and its relations… ”   
~Robert Motherwell

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Foods that work in a red way:

Red foods are generally rich in minerals and provide good sources of protein.

  • Strawberries
  • Raspberries
  • Cherries
  • Currants
  • Red cabbage
  • Beets
  • Radishes
  • Peppers
  • Onions
  • Tomatoes
  • Parsley
  • Chili peppers
  • Meat
  • Red wine
  • Chocolate

Vitamins and minerals that work in a red way:

  • Iron
  • Magnesium
  • Zinc

Essential Oils that are “red”:

  • Rose
  • Geranium
  • Jasmine

Crystals and Stones:

Red gemstones can be used to strengthen the body, promote will power and courage, add vitality, overcome sexual dysfunctions. Carry or place red gemstones around your home or office to stimulate vitality and energy.

  • Ruby
  • Garnet
  • Red Jasper

Symbolism of the color red:

  • Vitality and life-force
  • Fire
  • The Sun
  • The Direction of South
  • Blood
  • Good luck and prosperity
  • Power and authority
  • Masculine energy
  • War and anger
  • Passion
  • Energy
  • Sexuality

Note: This post was compiled by Shirley Twofeathers for Color Therapy, you may repost and share without karmic repercussions, but only if you give me credit and a link back to this website. Blessed be.

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