I was thinking about what to write about to kick off my first ever blog post, maybe something relevant to this time of year. Top tips for keeping lean in the festive period or maybe try and guilt you all into not drinking too much alcohol, but I thought I’d let some glossy magazine do that.
Then I had a moment walking to work this morning at the crack of dawn. I thought to myself, that I really hate it when I go to work in darkness and come home in darkness. So I checked my DMinder app on my phone, which is an app that tells me about what time of day is best to maximise my Vitamin D opportunities. Sadly there was zero chance today and even more depressingly is says that it’s roughly 96 days until my next chance to get Vitamin D from sunlight In the UK.
Wow…that’s a depressing thought.
So unless you’ve been living under a rock I’m hoping you’ve heard of Vitamin D and that it’s kinda important. Vitamin D is produced in the skin by sunlight absorption, you can also get a small amount from foods such as oily fish, red meat and liver. Vitamin D plays an important role in some key bodily functions including; bone health, the immune system, muscle function, cardiovascular system, respiratory system and some studies have linked it to having anti-cancer effects.
It’s estimated that 50% of the population are Vitamin D deficient. In the UK we can only really get enough sunlight between April and September and sadly most of us are inside working and if we are outside we cover up with clothing or sunscreen.
Earlier this year the government announced that it recommend everyone take a Vitamin D supplement (Read more here).
Ordinarily I think we would all agree that whole-food is a better way to go than taking supplements, however in the case of Vitamin D it is almost impossible to get enough from diet alone. Therefore its definitely something i’d recommend supplementing, especially this time of year.
Now Vitamin D is kind of cool as you haven’t got to take it each day, studies suggest that absorption is just as good when taking 7 days worth in one go as it is daily. So if you are not great at remembering to take supplements daily this method could work for you. Recommend dose is between 2000-5000 IU per day, personally i would just take it at breakfast to make part of the morning ritual.
