Vitamin D - do You get enough Vitamin D?

One of the things I love the most about blogging is all the learning I receive. I had intended to do a quick post on Vitamin D and I have been reading all sorts of different posts explaining how important this one vitamin is.

Health Benefits of Vitamin D

There are many reasons to stock up on foods containing vitamin D. Health benefits of the vitamin include:

• The prevention of chronic diseases such as many forms of cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension.
• The protection and lubrication of your bones, teeth and hair.
• The regulation of cellular growth and healthy cell activity
• Overall reduction of the inflammatory response, a condition known to cause many chronic diseases, from cancer to diabetes to obesity.
• Protection against adult osteoporosis
• Reduction in the risk of breast cancer in perimenopausal women
• Significant reduction in the occurrence of prostate cancer in African-American men 
• Did you also know that when your vitamin D levels are low it increases your chance of catching a cold or flu virus? Vitamin D plays a huge role in maintaining a healthy immune system. 

Best Source of Vitamin D

So, now that you know how important vitamin D is you may be wondering just HOW to go about getting you some? The best way is through exposure to the sun. Ten minutes for fair skinned people to as much as an hour and a half of sunlight two or three times a week for darker skinned people should be sufficient to produce adequate vitamin D.  

You see, normally, our body takes in Vitamin D in the form of sun-synthesis through the skin. But in our modern times, where many of us spend countless hours inside our actual exposure to the sun is limited. This fact may be a principle cause of many ailments, including depression. For this reason, it is extremely important to have a diet high in Vitamin D.

Which foods naturally contain Vitamin D?

Surprisingly few foods contain vitamin D -- unless it's added to the food. That's because your body is built to get vitamin D through your skin (from sunlight) rather than through your mouth (by food). But once your body has enough, it doesn't matter whether you got it through your skin or through your stomach.
There are three vitamin D super foods:

• Sockeye Salmon (especially wild-caught)
• Mackerel (especially wild-caught; eat up to 12 ounces a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are low in mercury)
• Shiitake mushrooms

Other food sources of vitamin D include:

• Cod liver oil (warning: cod liver oil is rich in vitamin A; too much may be bad for you)
• Tuna canned in water
• Herring
• Catfish
• Sardines canned in oil
• shellfish
• Beef or calf liver
• Egg yolks
• Cheese

There are many foods fortified with vitamin D but I wanted to high light the naturally occurring ones! 

All of this information because I cooked beef liver today for the very first time.  Yes, and while it wasn't a huge success it wasn't the failure I expected.

I decided to share that adventure with you in a separate post on liver - this one is getting LONG!


So tell me - what is your favorite way to prepare Vitamin D rich foods?

How do you get more sunshine?
(I drive with the sunroof open and my windows down and my shirt hiked up over my belly (when no one else is in the car) in order to get some easy rays.)

Linked to Mrs. Jenny Matlock's AlphabeThursdays and Kelly the Kitchen Kop's Real Food Wednesday.