Winter Wellness: The Battle Against Vitamin D Deficiency - KEEP GOING
Shorter days, colder months are no longer ahead… they are here. This means less sunlight and overall less time outside. All of this cause us to lose momentum and get stuck.
Brook Slagle • 2023-11-26
yo! brook here...
Shorter days, colder months are no longer ahead… they are here.
This means less sunlight and overall less time outside. All of this cause us to lose momentum and get stuck. For me, this is especially true.
I have a hard time pushing through and keeping motivated.
I believe one of the main reasons for this is a lack of necessary vitamins and nutrients…
As the days get shorter, we especially lose out on vitamin D.
Vitamin D is one of the most important vitamins in our body.
Vitamin D:
Prevents muscle spasms and cramps
Promotes healthy muscle metabolism
Increases bone density
Is inflammatory
reduces cancer
decreases depression
…
etc.
Needless to say, it is important.
But yet, 40% of American’s are deficient in it YEAR ROUND.
As it gets colder, the less we go outside, and this further exacerbates the issue.
How I am getting more vitamin D in:
Without a doubt, outdoor sunlight is THE BEST source of vitamin D.
If you can tolerate even 15 mins of outdoor sun exposure, you are likely guaranteed enough vitamin D according to recommended daily amounts.
I will be taking my walks.
But when the weather is pure butt cheeks, I will be will have to resort to dietary focused sources of vitamin D.
Unfortunately, there are not too many naturally occurring sources of vitamin D in “normal” food.
Your best shots at getting vitamin D in your diet are with:
Fatty fish (like salmon)
Beef liver
Canned tuna
Egg yolks
I eat eggs regularly… At least 3 a day. One egg contains only ~6% of your daily recommended vitamin D. That puts me at not even 20 percent.
But worst case scenario… you fall back on supplementation and “fortified” foods:
Fish oil supplements
vitamin D fortified milk and juices
My vitamin D meal that I always have on hand:
Can of tuna
3 eggs
1 cup of milk.
This gets my about 40% of the daily recommended vitamin D.
If I happen to have salmon or another fatty fish on hand, then I will definitely eat that in place of tuna.
You can then supplement with a multivitamin or something.
Or just take a 15-min walk and be cold.
You can find me suffering for 15 mins.
But the other side of this not just physiological… but how it affects us socially and mentally.
Shorter days and cold weather often mean that we will be spending more time not only inside, but by ourselves.
This isolation can be great for getting shit done, but it also can cause use to get some serious cabin fever.
Make sure you are keeping in touch with your friends, jumping on calls with them.
Go out and get some coffee with them, or even better… suffer together with a walk in the park and get some vitamin D.
Getting through these months will be hard.
Here are some of my semi-holistic necessities to survive winter:
Barefoot winter boots: https://www.vivobarefoot.com/us/mens/outdoor (I own the tracker II FG - they are fantastic)
Inexpensive but warm enough denim: https://www.target.com/b/denizen-from-levi-s/-/N-q4e5p
super eggs: https://www.egglandsbest.com/products (6 times the vitamin D 👀 per egg)
darn tough socks: https://darntough.com/
100% cotton sweats: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=mens+cotton+sweat+pants&rh=n:15786641
Do you have anything you would add to the list?
Drop me a reply and let me know how you are surviving winter!
Stay warm out there!
KEEP GOING
B.S.