Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day!! designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment.

I encourage you to do something good for the planet! Go vegetarian for the day, plant something outside, pick up trash, get outside and soak up some sun and get that all important vitamin D. Make a difference today!

I plan to eat vegetarian (not a stretch for me since I eat this way 95% of the time), plant something outside and get some sun.

I'll get a picture of what I plant to post tomorrow. I got some lovely plants at Easter and I plan to transfer them to a pretty pot to put outside on the deck. We recently purchased new deck furniture and I'm ready to be able to use it. We got a great high-top table that seats 8 (this will hold our whole family and a few friends) and then an outdoor fire pit with chairs. Some new plants will look great out there and I'm ready for the weather to be nice enough to get some good use out of it all!

Vitamin D has been in the news lately. It seems that we don't get enough of it and should be taking supplements to offset the deficit. I recently bought a book about it and will post my findings when I get done reading it. We need the sun to make our own vitamin D, so get outside for a little bit each day.

How To Get Enough Vitamin D

There are some ways for adults to insure adequate levels of vitamin D:

regularly receive midday sun exposure in the late spring, summer, and early fall, exposing as much of the skin as possible.

It is recommended totake 1,000 - 2,000 IU per day, and obtain a vitamin D blood test. Then get with your dr to make sure that you have the correct dosage amounts.

Vitamin D has many health benefits:

Maintains your calcium balance
Boosts your immune system
helps with insulin secretion
helps to regulate your blood pressure

Get outside today!!