Vitamin D Sources We Can Find Indoors

It has been almost four weeks when the amount of sunshine we can get was so minimal and it’s not healthy at all. Do you miss the days when you and your family can freely bask under the sun? We do. Now, the most we can maximize is the sunlight that peeks through our windows in the morning. On worse days, it will rain or the weather becomes so gloomy.

What’s considered a healthy amount of sunlight that we should get daily? *From research, the amount of sunlight we can get differ because of several factors, such as age and skin color. But generally, safe morning sun from around 10-15 mins can give us the much needed Vitamin D.

Why is Vitamin D necessary? Vitamin D helps lower a lot of dreaded diseases including some forms of cancer and heart diseases but on a lighter but equally important note, this vitamin helps us to get adequate sleep and improves our mood generally. We all know how the community quarantine causes stress to us lately and with less sunlight that we are getting, we can somehow attribute where the anxiety and depression come from.

Vitamin D In Our Pantry

Good news though that, even if we don’t see Mr. Sun that much these days, we can find several sources of Vitamin D in our most favorite part of the house – the pantry. And most of these pantry essentials are easy to find in the local grocery, no need to go gourmet or go to imported sections of the store. Go through this shortlist and check your pantry right away if you have them.

Sardines and Canned Tuna – Most baranggays had already gotten their supply of sardines and canned tunas. With a little bit of creativity in cooking, you can turn these humble canned fishes into different types of dishes : pasta, sandwich, rolls, or dips. Now we know that whenever we open a can of sardines, it’s as if we also open another window in our home to let the sunshine in!

Egg Yolks – One egg yolk can give us 5% of daily needed Vitamin D. It must be the perfect time to make egg yolk desserts like leche flan!

Mushroom – Wild mushrooms contain more Vitamin D than canned mushrooms as they are grown more exposed to sunlight. Even so, we can still a good amount of Vitamin D from eating mushrooms from cans. Mushrooms are also the only vegetables that contain Vitamin D, imagine that.

Cow’s Milk – The easiest to consume and use in our food preparation, milk is our favorite on this list. There are also cow’s milk that are fortified with Vitamin D so you must check the label when you do the grocery.

Cereals – With milk or no milk, cereals provide combos of nutrients and vitamins that we need daily. Aside from Vitamin D, we need the fiber that cereal treats can give.

Orange Juice – Powdered juices or fresh orange juices, or extracted from orange fruits, orange juice is known to be a good source of Vitamin D. Like milk, there are even bottled orange juices that are fortified with Vitamin D and calcium. These two nutrients are usually paired together because Vitamin D helps our bodies to absorb calcium much better to strengthen our bones even while we age.

How many of these products are in your pantry right now? If you haven’t got any of them, make sure to tick them off your list when you do the grocery next time. Going outdoors to get some sunshine is still the best way to fill up our bodies with Vitamin D but for now that we have a minimal amount to do that because we follow the community quarantine guidelines, filling up our pantries with vitamin-rich foods and products will help us in the best and healthiest ways.

*Sources:
https://health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/2018-07-18/how-much-time-in-the-sun-do-you-need-for-vitamin-d
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/how-to-get-vitamin-d-from-sunlight/
https://www.bhachc.org/much-sunlight-enough/