So if you read the first post from the Transformation Challenge emails then hopefully you got some great tips. Here you will also learn about vitamin D and cardio training!
Nutrition Tip for the week from Kayla Matrunick:
Can you believe that Vitamin D3 was 2009’s most deficient vitamin? Why is vitamin D so important? It is an immune booster, helps fight cancers, wards of depression, important for growth of hair/skin/nails, regulates blood pressure, maintains normal levels of calcium and phosphorus in blood, and is important for bone development. So as you can see it’s important that we get enough Vitamin D3!
Some great foods sources of Vitamin D include fish, cod liver oil, eggs, and fortified dairy. However, these sources need to be activated by 10 minutes of sunlight (UVB rays of the sun) per day in order to transform into the usable “D3” form. With today’s sunscreens, busy lives inside, and sun protective clothing, we fail to reach 10! Luckily, there are also supplements available that can be found at the Health Shoppe. Are you getting your Vitamin D3?
Fitness tip for the week from Becky Fox:
If you’re not doing so already it’s important that you include some cardio in your fitness program. The key is to find an activity that you enjoy, so you can stick with the program. Cardio activities include walking with a friend, bike riding, swimming, or playing soccer with your kids. Really anything that gets your heart rate up for an extended period of time and keeps you sweating!
You’d be amazed how quickly you can start losing pounds, increase your endurance, increase your energy, and become healthier by incorporating more cardio activity into your daily life.
A good goal is to eventually participate in some type of cardio activity for 30minutes, 3- 5 days a week. If your goal is weight loss, you may need to up the number of minutes you are active every week to burn more calories. This could be 45-60 minutes or simply stick with the 30 minutes and really up the intensity so you are working extra hard.
And if you’re day is jam packed and you know you can’t take 30 minutes for a walk, then by all means break it up into shorter segments. This may mean walking for 15 minutes in the morning, at lunch, and after dinner for a total of 45 minutes. Hey every little bit of activity is definitely going to be beneficial in the long run! So get out there and sweat.
Yes, the research on Vitamin D really hit the press in 2009! People living in the northern winter climates barely get any UV light. Then summer comes, and the sunscreen goes all over. Eating with Vitamin D in mind is helpful, but supplementation, I feel, is necessary.