How to Get More Vitamin D in Your Day

Vitamin is known as the “sunshine vitamin” because our own bodies convert sunlight into bioavailable Vitamin D. However, Vitamin D acts more like a hormone in our bodies than a vitamin. Vitamin D is essential for so many functions in a woman’s body including:

• Helping the body absorb calcium for strong mineralization of bones.

• Boosting the immune systems and viral/cold/flu defense

• Regulates hormones and neurotransmitters like adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin which is why many women experience depression as a side effect of low Vitamin D

• Anti-inflammatory, especially for the lungs and people with asthma.

• Supports better heart health by lowering blood pressure

• Helps with weight management by helping to regulate insulin and leptin (the hormone that tells us we are full)

• Better breast cancer outcomes

While our bodies should be capable of absorbing enough Vitamin D from food (think fatty fish, not fortified milk and cereal) and produce Vitamin D from sun exposure, we often do not. I always recommend having your Vitamin D levels checked with a simple blood test and suggest an optimal “functional level of 60 to 80 ng/mL.) If your levels are low, you may need to supplement to get your levels back to optimal levels even with the addition of sun and vitamin-d rich foods.

Here are a few of my favorite sources of Vitamin D:

1. Sunshine

   Ideally, women need anywhere from 15-30 minutes of sunshine each day without sunscreen. To safely get this much, think about gardening or workout in the morning or late afternoon sun. You know your body best and how much sun you can safely absorb.

2. Salmon

   Wild-caught salmon has about 700 IUs of Vitamin D3 (or 65%) of daily recommended intake per 3 oz. serving. Try this salmon cobb salad for your next lunch or easy weeknight dinner.

3. Wild-caught Trout

   Three ounces of cooked rainbow trout contain 645 IU and plenty of omega-3’s to boot. Rainbow trout fillets are so thin that they cook in practically no time. Check out this hempseed crusted trout for a simple, tasty dinner.

4. Cod Liver Oil

   High-quality cod liver oil uses a cold extraction process to obtain the oil making it less fishy than other fish oils. I think about it more like a superfood than a supplement. One of my favorites is Rosita Cod Liver OIl which is sustainably harvested from the Helgeland fjords of northern Norway and provides 395 IU vitamin D3 per teaspoon or via softgel.

5. Vitamin D3 Liquid Supplement

   Some women find they must supplement to get to adequate sufficiency especially in the winter and in more northen latitudes. Vitamin D3 can be best absorbed via liquid form like Pure Encapsulations Liquid D3 or LiquiD3 under the tongue.

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