Summer months bring the sun. Well, usually. Yeah, we got off to a bad start to our summer here in the Northwest, but things have improved.
Of course, even if we had a completely lame summer, summer months bring something else....travel. Road trips and vacations are popular summer activities. So you're bound to get some sun somewhere.
In a past blog, I talked about vitamin D, and how sunlight is your most important source. So whether you're on vacation or sticking around here in the summer, if you just get 15 minutes of sun exposure (without sunscreen) 2-3 times per week, you're getting a nice dose of D.
This is particularly important if you're overweight, as people who are overweight are more deficient in vitamin D than people of normal weight.
Since exercise is an important component of any weight loss program, you might want to consider doing your exercise outside during the summer months. A recent study showed that overweight people who exercised outside were 47% less likely to be vitamin D deficient than people who didn't exercise outside.
So, take advantage of your vacation or any sunny days you may get, and get some outdoor exercise in, especially if you're overweight.
A good way to see if you're getting enough vitamin D is to have your doctor test you for your blood levels. If your levels are deficient, you know you need to get more sun or may need to supplement.
Those are my thoughts for this first week in August. Forecast looks good, so I think I'm going to go grab myself some vitamin D :)