By Mary Delasantos
*Mary Delasantos is our Nutrition Diva. Each week she will discuss how to achieve Optimum Nutrition*.
If you spend time weekly outside without sunscreen you are probably getting the majority of your vitamin D from sunshine, the best and most natural way to get it. What should we do as raw vegans to ensure we are getting enough vitamin D if we spend most of our time indoors in an office or live in an area that does not have a lot of sunshiny days? Here are some options:
- Let your mushrooms enjoy some time in the sun for you. Sundried mushrooms are a vegan food source of vitamin D.
- Lowering your body’s acidity helps keep the vitamin D in your body where it is needed. That translates to eating your greens and other vegetables and fruits daily.
- Get your sun exposure on your days off; in the summer months the UV rays needed for your skin to manufacture vitamin D are most readily available. Vitamin D is stored in fat; so you can stock up for the winter. Experts recommend from 5-30 minutes of sun exposure twice per week. This wide range is impacted by skin pigmentation, geographic location, time of year, cloud coverage, smog and use of sunscreen. If you live at a latitude above 42 degrees north (above the northern border of California and Boston) UV rays will not be available for your vitamin D needs from November through February. If you live at a latitude below 35 degrees north (below Los Angeles or Columbia, South Carolina, your skin can produce vitamin D through sun exposure all year long.
- If you choose to supplement choose a vegan formula, one that is not in a gelatin capsule (if a supplement is put in vegetarian capsules, it will usually state that on the label) and is made from yeast or mushrooms. Be sure to use the supplement according to the label specifications to avoid toxicity.
If you would like more scientific information about vitamin D sources and how this vitamin affects your health, check out www.thevitamindcure.com or www.uvadvantage.org.
If your concerns are about over exposure to sunlight or you would like to know the when to step outside to catch a few rays you can keep an eye on the UV intensity in your area at http://www.epa.gov/sunwise/uvindex.html; just type in your zip code.
Happy Eating!
Mary
Disclaimer: This information is for educational purposes only and is not meant to diagnose, prescribe or treat illness. It is valuable to seek the guidance of an alternative health care professional before making any changes to one’s diet and lifestyle.