Healthy Tuna Salad

Don’t Forget About Vitamin D

PR Cole MS, RD
www.FueltheFighter.com

In the winter months do you find yourself taking longer to recover from athletic injuries or do you end up getting sick more often than your friends? You might not be getting enough Vitamin D! Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to lowered immunity, poor blood sugar control, depression and bone health issues.

You might be thinking “hey, doesn’t my body make Vitamin D from the sun?” Yes it’s true that we have the ability to produce this “sun vitamin,” but many people tend not to get a lot of sun exposure during winter months or they use sunblock in warmer climates to protect from harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun. This ends up leaving skin healthy, but it also may result in lower than normal levels of Vitamin D.

Even if you do spend about 10 minutes with your arms and legs exposed to the sun two to three times a week, you still might not be making enough Vitamin D. There is a broad spectrum of variation in our capacity to produce this vitamin based on skin pigmentation, time of day, season and latitude.

So what to do? A simple blood test from your doctor can determine your vitamin D levels. If your levels are low, discuss with your physician whether you should supplement. Most multivitamins contain only 400 IU of vitamin D while the current recommendation is 800 IU. To get enough Vitamin D, try to pick out a multivitamin that contains 600-800 IU of Vitamin D and make sure to include Vitamin D rich foods in your diet like wild salmon, low fat fortified milk & yogurts, mushrooms and eggs.

Wild Salmon Salad Pocket

• 6 ounces canned wild salmon (boneless)
• 1 tablespoon lite mayonnaise,
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoon diced scallions
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• Drop lemon juice
• Pinch black pepper
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Cut a whole-wheat pita in half, stuff each half with fresh baby spinach leaves and the salmon salad.