Introduction and Vitamin D

Happy Thursday, December 11, 2008. This is the offical first post of my new blog The Prairie Chick Kitchen. Now you ask “what is the purpose of all this”? Well, I’ve started on a new journey in my life. Me and my family have just moved to British Columbia from Saskatchewan. My husband moved positions within his company and as a family we thought it would be an adventure moving to a new place. Well, it sure has been. My 12 year old son seems to be adjusting just fine. My husband is doing well in his job. I think I’m the one who’s life has really changed. I worked for the same organization for almost 18 years and it all came to a screeching halt when we moved. I wanted to take some time off when we moved to get settled and make sure our house felt like home. Now that we’ve been here for almost six months and we are pretty much settled I started to look back on what I’ve accomplished within my career and personal life. I really don’t have many complaints other than staying working for organization that made me want to pull my hair out on a daily bases. If it wasn’t for my dear friends who were also my coworkers I probably would have been bald. So the past month or so I’ve been asking myself what do I want to do now. Thankfully, the answer came quickly. I’ve always been fascinated with nutrition. So, I checked into some course and I found one. The best thing was I could do it all online at home. This works out great because I still want to be here for my son, making sure he gets off to school on time and to be here when he gets home.

So now, getting back to the purpose of this blog is kind of two-fold. As I learn new information from my course I will share the highlights. Not only good for you the reader – nutrition information is always useful but it will help me when it’s time to study for exams. The second benefit of the blog is to practice my writing skills. I suck! I know I suck and so do my friends. Luckly, I have surrounded myself with women that are communicators that can write and I mean write well. So, in the past I’ve always relied on them. But now it’s time for me to work on my writing and hopefully over time it will improve.

Now that I’ve gotten all that stuff out of the way I would like to get to what this blog is all about – nutrtition. So with that…

Let’s start.

Mulit Vitamins especially Vitamin D. People please take them especially now that winter has arrived and cold and flu season is knocking on our door. Of course the best way to get them is through whole foods but we all know it’s hard to do that on a daily basis so supplementation is required. A good multi vitamin taken daily can top up what your body needs. Now, taking Vitamin D is especially important for us Canadians this time of year. We should be getting anywhere from 1000 – 2000 IU (International Units) daily.

So, the question is, where can I get this from my diet? Now I must start off by saying that I am a vegan which means I don’t consume any animal products. But I realize some people are not, so I will be discussing sources of these vitamins whether they be for vegans or omnivores. Okay, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way. The best source of Vitamin D is to spend 15 minutes daily soaking up the sun. It is known as the “Sunshine Vitamin” and is manufactured by ultraviolet rays on the skin. It’s very important for bone growth and renewal as it stimulates the absorption of calcium and phosphorus. Food sources can include: vegetable oils, mushrooms, dairy products, eggs, butter and cold-water fish. Thankfully there are many ways to get your Vitamin D so there are no excuses. Your bones will thank you.

Well, I did it. They always say the first post is the hardest. One last thing, if you have any blog ideas please pass them on. I’ll do my best to research the topic and pass on the information I gather.

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