I’m thinking you need to get outside – no matter the cost.

 

We’ve all heard how horrible the sun is for you, but are you aware you need 15 to 30 minutes of the bright stuff daily. Not only will a healthy dose of sunshine keep you from transforming into Jackie Gleason’s brazen bus driver, it will also help you synthesize vitamin D.

 

The natural form of vitamin D, cholecalciferol, is synthesized in the skin in response to the sun’s ultraviolet rays. When your skin is exposed to sunlight, the ultraviolet rays transform a cholesterol compound into a precursor of vitamin D.

 

Experts recommend face, hand and arm exposure to sunlight for 15 minutes or so three times a week to ensure adequate amounts of vitamin D.

 

Oh, so you live in Rugby, North Dakota and it hasn’t been above zero for three months? Big baby. That can be a problem, unless you enjoy snowshoeing in your Speedo.

 

Researchers have found that you folks – due to…winter and the attendant lack of outdoor exercise might have trouble producing the amounts of vitamin D you need. And that’s not a particularly good thing.

 

Vitamin D’s benefits include a reduction in the risk of colon polyps and prostrate cancer, reduced coronary arterial disease, increased muscle strength and higher bone strength. Vitamin D is also required for the absorption of calcium and phosphorus in the body and is necessary for proper growth of bones and teeth, especially in children.

 

Deficiencies in vitamin D can cause appetite loss, insomnia, visual problems and weight loss among other conditions. Severe deficiencies can lead to rickets in children and oseomalacia in adults.

 

And it has been reported in The New England Journal of Medicine that vitamin D deficiency may be more widespread than originally thought.

 

You can find vitamin D in mackerel, fish liver oils, dairy products, shiitake and chanterelle mushrooms, sweet potatoes, horsetail, nettle and parsley.

 

You can also supplement your D intake. The Organic Affair stocks Pure Essence Labs’ Vitamin-D, 2000 IU of vitamin D from 100 percent pure cholecalciferol – the natural form.

 

So, Ralphie boy, as we continue to drag toward the end of winter and you’ve been getting out of the house only to sit in the ice-fishing hut on Devils Lake for the brisk North Dakota winter, you might want to consider synthesizing some D. If you’re adamant about snowshoeing in your Speedo, I’ll be happy to capture the moment on film for you.

 

Gotta run. Order’s coming in.