USANA Health Centre: Vitamin D in the Winter

With winter upon us, it's even more important to get enough vitamin D every day. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to certain disease risks. Your body creates vitamin D when sunlight hits your skin, and only 10-20 minutes of exposure a day will give you all the vitamin D you need.

This is all well and good, but how can we go out in the sun to get our vitamin D when there's no sun to be had?

No one wants to sit outside in the rain and wind with their skin exposed for 20 minutes a day, so over the winter months, vitamin D needs to come from other sources – foods and vitamin supplements.

Eating foods high in vitamin D will keep you feeling healthy and happy over winter. Unfortunately, there are only a few foods containing vitamin D:

• Fatty fish, such as salmon and tuna
• Egg yolks (small quantities)
• Cheese (small quantities)
• Some milk and dairy products are fortified with vitamin D.
• Mushrooms, especially shiitake, morels and oyster
• Alfalfa

However, obtaining the recommended dosage of vitamin D from food alone can prove nearly impossible. That's why it's important to choose a vitamin supplement high in vitamin D to keep you healthy over winter. USANA's Essentials range contains potent level of vitamin D your body needs.

Apart from getting plenty of vitamin D, there are other things you can do to stay healthy over winter:

• Keep warm and dry. Your body uses a lot of energy trying to keep you warm – this decreases the efficiency of your immune system, leaving you susceptible to all kinds of bugs.
• Ensure your home is adequately heated, either by installing insulation or a heat pump, turning on the heater, or making a fire. Always carry a jumper or rain jacket if you leave the house – you never know when you might need it.
• Get plenty of exercise: The wet weather is no excuse for not exercising – go to your local indoor swimming pool, join a gym, or pop on an aerobics DVD.