Yes, sunlight is the main – and most accessible – source of vitamin D, but no worries for the bones, immune system and overall health as the days become shorter and moments in the sun scarcer. The vitamin D intake can be supplemented by eating the right foods in the right amounts.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

1. What type of vitamin D your body uses: under sun exposure, the skin produces vitamin D3, which the liver and kidneys subsequently turn into useable vitamin D. This is important for bone health and the immune system, for lowering inflammation levels, promoting cell growth, and providing cardiovascular support.

2. Not all vitamin D sources are equal. Sources of vitamin D3 – found in animal foods – are better at improving your daily intake than the ones carrying vitamin D2 – plants and fortified foods.

3. Tips for an efficient vitamin D diet:

• Eat fatty fish twice a week. Choose among salmon, mackerel, sardines, herring.
• Don’t avoid egg yolks but choose to eat the eggs boiled or poached if you’re watching your cholesterol levels or are on a diet. Yes, eating an egg every day is fine, specialists in nutrition have agreed on this at last!
• Start to fancy the liver! Not everyone’s favorite, but a taste that should be acquired rapidly, given the high content of vitamin D it carries. Remember that beef liver carries way more vitamin D than the chicken one.
• Look for wild mushrooms to buy because they have been exposed to UV light while growing, hence are excellent sources of vitamin D2. A cup of morels, for instance, contains the equivalent of 17% of the daily value of vitamin D.
• Consider the sprouts, especially the sunflower ones, a high source of vitamin D!
• Add fortified foods to your diet: cereals, orange juice, types of plant milk, farmed mushrooms etc. Look for the `fortified` mention on the package.
• Pay extra attention to your diet if you’re vegetarian. There are a lot of vegetal sources naturally containing vitamin D or fortified with this vitamin but the intake they provide you with is lower than the one deriving from animal foods. As a vegetarian, set your eyes to mushrooms, fortified plant milks (soy, almond, rice), fortified soy yoghurt and other fortified foods.

As a teenager, you need at least 600 IU of vitamin D per day, with a 4,000 IU upper limit for health reasons. Don’t worry, these units are usually written on the package of any food you buy at the grocery store.

With this, we hope to also have helped you get a better orientation among the wide variety of delicious dishes we are preparing at Stradale every day!

Credit Photo: by Polina Tankilevitch on pexels.com