Health: Living in Metro Vancouver requires supplementing with vitamin D

AMNEET AULAKH
VANCOUVER DESI

I would say that good health must not be taken for granted. Good health should be nurtured and supported every day of our life. If you only had one car for the rest of your life, how would you take care of it? I see people taking care of their expensive cars; using premium fuel and oil; and yet, when it comes to food and supplementation, they let cost decide what they will buy.

What is your definition of optimal health?

When I think about optimal health, I think of energy and stamina. I think of flexibility, strength, and clarity of mind, good memory, feeling of harmony and balance, and looking forward to a new day. It is being the absolute best you can be with the conditions you are given and the situation you now live in.

So here are the five tips:

1. Stop smoking
2. Drink alcohol in moderation
3. Eat healthy
4. Exercise/remove or reduce TV time
5. Supplement

In my last article, “Are your daily meals providing adequate nutrition?” I left off with today’s health reality and how our lifestyle is affecting our long-term health.

Our bodies are meant to work. Exercise. In the olden days of ape-man we used to walk everywhere, we did manual labor. Lately, we drive our cars, we sit on our desks and we super-size our meals.  I remember the days when Coke came in a sleek glass bottle, and it was a special drink to drink once in a while. Now we have “Big Gulps” and 2L bottles. The horrible thing about consuming liquid calories is that the brain does not produce a “full” signal, and calorie overload occurs.

The facts are that we eat many calorie-dense nutrient-poor junk foods. Almost no one achieves the recommendations of fruits and vegetable intake to fulfill the body’s daily requirements. In addition, the nutrient value of our foods has gone down and the stress in our lives has gone up. Nearly the entire population gets less than the recommended daily allowance of micronutrients.

For example, Vitamin D. Living in Vancouver (the Northwest), we are subjected to very little sunlight. In fact, darker skinned people have to expose their skin to sunlight for up to 60 minutes per day to get healthy amounts of vitamin D.  South Asians who have migrated here have never considered supplementing with vitamin D because the South Asian countries get plenty of sunshine, and we never had to think about it. Studies have shown that the optimal dose of vitamin D daily is up to 2000 IU per day to maintain healthy immune function, and prevent disease like diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, muscle weakness, and some cancers.

How is your current health? Find out now using this health assessment tool, it will generate three free reports for you. Take a health assessment quiz now.

Amneet Aulakh works as a Clinical Pharmacist Specialist. She has an interest in health maintenance and nutrition. Her passion is to educate and inspire people, empowering them to enjoy optimum health. Follow her on twitter @mirrordoor. She can be reached by email at amneet.aulakh@yahoo.com

Tags: Food, health, Supplement