Vitamin D deficiency is a known Spokane health risk, yet not many people know about it.   It wasn’t until a friend was diagnosed with Vitamin D deficiency that I gave the subject much thought.  I had read that  people needed enough sunlight in winter to keep their vitamin D levels up.  I just didn’t realize how very important it was.   My friend is an upbeat, always energetic outdoorswoman so I was surprised when she became  tired day after day.  A visit to her doctor showed that her vitamin D level was entering dangerous territory.  I would have thought she’d get enough sunlight just in her day-to-day outdoor activities, but that wasn’t the case.  Since I spend little time in the outdoors in winter I knew I was at risk.  I haven’t been checked as yet but I’ve done some research on the subject.  It should be a concern for everyone.

What Does Vitamin D Do for Your Spokane Health?

• It protects against breast cancer and can  help prevent breast cancer from spreading.  A Canadian study found that women diagnosed with breast cancer who were vitamin D deficient had almost double the risk of the cancer progressing.
• It protects against colon cancer.  A Canadian study showed that colon cancer patients deficient in Vitamin D were almost twice as likely to die from the disease.
• It protects against 16 other types of cancer including pancreatic and lung cancer.
• It protects against heart attack and stroke.  Studies at Harvard found that people with low Vitmain D had a 60% higher risk of stroke and heart attack over five years.
• It boosts your immune system.
• It protects against fractures.  People taking Vitamin D supplements show lower risk of hip fracture by 20%.

Am I Getting Enough?

Most commercial milk suppliers now fortify their products with vitamin D.   Many orange juice makers are doing the same.  Unfortunately not many people can drink enough milk or orange juice to get all the vitamin D they need.

Sun exposure is the key ingredient to getting enough vitamin D. For people who live in a region above latitude 40 (a horizontal line running from just below New York City west to Northern California), the sun is only strong enough between May and September to trigger the vitamin D conversion.  This mean that the residents of Spokane are at significant risk much of the year for vitamin D deficiency.  Spokane residents should have their doctors check their vitamin D levels to see if a vitamin D level supplement would be beneficial.

What are Vitamin D Deficiency Symptoms?

Vitamin D deficiency can be shown by muscle pain, weak bones/fractures, low energy and fatigue, low immunity, depression and/or mood swings, and sleep irregularities.

How Can I Prevent It?

If you think your vitamin D levels may be low, the best course of action would be to have your doctor perform a vitamin D test.  Discuss adding a vitamin D supplement to your diet if necessary.   As your doctor if any of the following would be a good course of action for you:

• Allow yourself limited, unprotected sun exposure only in the early morning and late afternoon hours.  No more than 15 minutes is best.  This isn’t suggesting you should ignore your sunblock, particularly between the hours of 11 and 2 pm- the sun’s peak hours.
• Each a diet rich in whole foods.  Fatty fish such as mackerel and sardines, egg yolks, fortified organic milk and other dairy products, some organ meats (liver) are good natural sources of vitamin D.

• Take a good multi-vitamin each day.

Take Good Care of Your Spokane Health Overall

Don’t forget taking care of your health requires your full attention and commitment.   Are you getting enough exercise?  It’s imperative to an overall healthy life.  I think my personal trainer is the best in the business and I know many people agree.  Click here to take a look at his website.   While you do that, I’m going to make an appointment to get my vitamin D level checked!

Are you looking for a new physician in the Spokane, WA area?  Do you need a doctor to prescribe you a medication for an illness?  Spokane is home to a vast array of physicians.  Each practicing in family medicine, urgent care, pediatrics and many more specialties.

Although each physician has a very different specialty or style of practice most will prescribe exercise as the leading most important thing you can do for your life.  Life without exercise is a life full of illness, heart failure, diabetes, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, depression (and other mental illnesses), childhood obesity, adult obesity, musculoskeletal deformities/defects, and many other chronic conditions.  Not all exercise programs are alike, so make sure to check with your doctor to find out what program is right for you.  Are you ready to be healthy?  Drop clothing sizes?  Live without chronic fatigue and illness?  If you answered yes, then look no further because Zach Hunt of Physzique will be there every step of the way to help you make sure those things happen.

When you’re ready to fill your physicians prescription for better health here’s a checklist to help make it happen:

• Contact Zach at Physzique right away
• Ask him any questions you may have about the intensity and duration of the program
• Contact your physician to make sure the program is right for you
• Show up for all of your appointments at Physzique
• Follow Zach’s recommendations for cardio exercise outside of personal training sessions
• Eat a well balanced, healthy meal plan frequently throughout the day
• Rest your mind and body at night while sleeping 6-8 hours each night
• Take small breaks throughout the day to relieve stress from work and home life
• Drink half of your weight in ounces of water each day

Once you’re ready to start a new, healthy fulfilling life by contacting Physique you’ll be so glad you did.  Doctors/physicians appointments get expensive and the prescriptions they write while you’re there can be just as expensive, but at Physzique Zach believes in giving the gift of better health.  Zach will be there to push you to try new things and he’ll hold you accountable for your eating habits, personal training seasons, and workout intensity.  Even when you want to give up or give in, he won’t let you.  Isn’t that really what we all need to help us achieve better health?  Somebody that is going to be there for us when we don’t feel well?  A lot like a doctor, Zach will be there when you don’t feel well.  Physzique will be just what your Spokane physician prescribed for better health-EXERCISE!

I know what you’re thinking. journaling as a Spokane weight loss tool? That doesn’t even make sense! Actually though, it makes perfect sense, and here’s why.

Journal Your Food Intake

Let’s start with journaling your food intake.  Believe it or not, people are always amazed when they start this process.  Most are under the impression that they eat properly, that they balance their nutrition and that it isn’t necessary to pay attention to the calories they consume every day.  Here’s what using journaling as a weight loss tool can accomplish:

• Make you aware of what you are actually eating (those little tidbits add up fast)

• Hold you accountable to yourself

• Help you make better, conscious food choices (instead of grabbing whatever’s convenient out of the office vending machine)

• Track your water intake (as silly as this sounds, it’s extremely important)

• Help you plan meals and snacks in advance

• Keep you on track toward your personal goals (whether that’s losing weight, or just choosing to live a healthier lifestyle)

Did you know that the average woman only needs about 1200-1600 calories a day?  Men, on the other hand need about 1800-2200 per day, as do teenagers.  However, the average American consumes many more calories than their body actually needs, and they don’t pay attention to the kinds of calories they ingest.

Here are both a warning, and a challenge.  A lot of people come to the conclusion, that if eating 1200 calories a day will help them lose weight; wouldn’t eating fewer calories make you lose weight faster?  The answer to that, is no.

Eating fewer than 1000 calories a day will actually produce the opposite results.  When you eat less than 1000 calories per day, your body actually goes into “starvation mode” causing a few things to happen.

First, your body will start holding onto every bit of nutrition it receives, storing extra as fat and adding to your weight issue.  Secondly, feeling it isn’t getting enough fuel, your body will start consuming its own lean muscle tissue, a process called catabolism, in order to feed it.  This causes more problems because you not only lose your important lean muscle tissue which burns fat faster, you can also damage important organs in your body that consist of lean muscle.

Here’s The Challenge

Journal your food and beverage intake for one week, without changing any of your normal habits.  At the end the week, add up your total calorie and water consumption for each day and compare it to what the average person should be consuming.  Also take this time to pay attention to the kinds of foods you chose and when during the day you tended to have the least amount of control over what you ate.  This will be eye-opening to say the least.

A Tool, Not a Weapon

What I mean by that is, don’t beat yourself up over your intake for the last week. Instead think of it as your personal weight loss tool to give you insight into what kinds of habits you have now, and what you can do to change them for the better.  Journaling for weight loss is a very effective tool that can make a huge difference in your health. Take baby steps to make new changes, and before you know it, you will be well on the road to health.

Another Spokane weight loss tool you can put to good use, is starting a good exercise program. I don’t know anyone better suited to helping you with that, than Zach at Physzique in Spokane, Washington.  Zach can not only help jumpstart your new journey to health, but help you figure out the right eating plan for you.

Happy journaling!