Vitamin D: The Sunshine Vitamin
Vitamin D, in the true sense, is actually a hormone, not a vitamin. The human body can synthesis vitamin D as long as we are exposed to enough sunlight. This is why vitamin D is know as the ‘sunshine vitamin”. We can also get it through specific foods in our diet and supplements. When UVB rays from the sun hit our skin, an inactive form of vitamin D is produced. This inactive form then travels to the kidney where it is converted to the active form, known as 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, which the body can use for many purposes.
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Your Medications Could Be Depleting Your Body of Valuable Nutrients
Most medications rob nutrients from our bodies and considering the average American fills 12 prescriptions a year, that could lead to severe deficiencies. That number is steadily increasing according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC’s latest figures show 48% of Americans age 20-59 use at least one prescription drug. That number jumps with age, all the way to 88% of American 60 years and older (1).
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4 Nutrition Tips to Keep Your Heart Healthy
February brings us American Heart Month reminding us to keep our heart healthy. Many of us don’t think much about our heart health. This is an important reminder because there are multiple things that can go wrong with our heart, including hypertension, heart disease, vascular disease & stroke. According to the American Heart Association every 39 seconds 1 American dies of cardio vascular disease (CVD) and 33.5% of adults 20 years of age or older have hypertension (high blood pressure). Not only that but heart disease is the number one killer in the US, beating out all cancers. As a registered dietitian this concerns me because these conditions are directly related to diet & lifestyle. That means they are preventable.
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Guest Blogger- Dr. Barry Sears on the Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids
I was honored when Dr. Barry Sears contacted me and asked to be a guest blogger. We all know him as the author of The Zone but he has also done some incredible research on the relationship between our diet, inflammation and disease. He has offered to share some of that information with Nutrition Savvy Girl readers. Here is what he had to say….
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