Winter Vitamin D

There's been a lot of talk in the news in the last few months about Vitamin D. Coincidentally (well, there are no coincidences, but that's a topic for a future post!), I did a presentation about Vitamin D just before all the new studies were in the news. Here on the west coast we didn't have much of a summer and therefore, most of us didn't get a chance to stock up on our Vitamin D before our long winter hit us. A lot of my friends are having a difficult time this fall and I think that one of the reasons is that we are all deficient in Vitamin D.

Vitamin D is important for a myriad of processes in our bodies, two of which are our immune system and our bone health. It's very important to keep up the supply of Vitamin D during the winter. If you take a supplement you want to take one with D3 (not D2) and the foods that contain Vitamin D are egg yolks, fish, organ meats and butter. D3 is far more bio-available to our bodies than D2 so if you're buying a supplement make sure you get the right kind, but in my opinion taking cod liver oil or krill oil is the best choice.

Along with your vitamin D intake make sure that you're getting enough calcium and magnesium to keep your bones strong. I find that if I take cod liver oil every day all winter then I manage to stay completely cold and flu free! Carlson's is a good choice. Any heavy metals in the fish liver have been filtered out.

And when summer comes make sure you are getting outside for 15-20 minutes every day and exposing as much of your body to those warm rays as you're comfortable with. Just don't burn that precious skin!

Now, have a great weekend and go off to the store and buy some delicious cod liver oil (lemon flavoured!).

Welcome to my blog!

As I go about my home and work life, I'm always asked questions about health and nutrition. I also come across new products and recipes that I love to share with others. I hope that this will be a weekly journal were I can post all this great information! As we move into spring in a few months I'll also be sharing pictures and information about my garden. In the mean time please check out my website to see what I do! http://www.foodworksnutrition.com/