As we have officially moved into summer here in the UK, I thought it would be a good time to talk about vitamin D and give you a little hack for tracking your vitamin D intake without using supplements – how do you do that I hear you say? Well, we will get into that soon…
The National Diet and Nutrition Survey shows that 1 in 6 adults in the UK are deficient in vitamin D. I would argue that a much higher number have less than optimal levels of vitamin D, but may not meet the parameters for a deficiency. Because of this, the Government’s recommendation is to supplement vitamin D throughout autumn and winter, but I much prefer to use the magical powers of the sun to top my levels up when the great British weather allows!
There’s a great ap called dminer which uses your current location and personal information such as weight, skin type and amount of time spent outdoors to calculate your vitamin D levels. It also tells you when you can actually get vitamin D from the sun and tracks your intake based on the time you spend in the sun! How cool is that? You just click the ‘start sun exposure’ button when you sit in the sun and stop it when you finish.
To absorb the rays needed to make the vitamin D we have to be exposed to the sun WITHOUT sun cream, so leave it off while you’re topping up those all-important D levels. Obviously, be mindful of burning and seek shade should you feel like you need to – it’s never a good idea to spend too long in the sun and ignore our bodies signs that it needs to cool down, even if you are wearing sun cream.
When you download the ap there’s a great video to watch which explains lots about vitamin D (so I won’t bore you with it here) and how the ap works, I’d recommend watching it before getting started. Happy vitamin D bathing!
Oh and if you want to check your levels before you start tracking you can order a finger prick test from Better You for £32.95 which includes a supplement based on your results. Or visit you GP and ask for it to be tested, but make sure you ask for the actual reading, rather than just hearing your ok or deficient.