Eat more vitamin D-rich food

Unlike other nutrients, vitamin D isn't really a vitamin at all – it's a hormone, made by your body as you are exposed to sunlight. The result plays an important role in maintaining bone strength. If you eat a varied diet and get some sun (about 20 minutes a day, unfiltered by sunscreen) then you are probably getting all the vitamin D you need. But if a busy schedule keeps you inside too much, try eating more of these vitamin D-rich foods instead:

Salmon
Salmon has by far the most vitamin D of any food (and wild salmon has much more than farmed salmon, which is cheaper and easier to find). Half a fillet of sockeye salmon has more than 1,400 iu of Vitamin D — more than twice as much as most people need in a day.

Tuna
A serving of tuna has a healthy dose of vitamin D — more than one-third of a daily dose. Light tuna in oil has the most. Light tuna in water has about one-fourth of a daily dose, while white tuna has about one-tenth. Light tuna also has less mercury than white tuna, making it a safer choice. The other fish-in-a-can, sardines, also have a lot of vitamin D — about one-fourth of a daily dose (along with a healthy dose of calcium), and pickled herring have about one-sixth of a daily dose.

Sole or Flounder
Flatfish like sole and flounder have about one-fourth a day's worth of vitamin D. (The other white fish, cod, has less than one-tenth.) Look for Pacific flounder, sole, or cod at the fish market, because Atlantic stocks are depleted.

Milk
Fortified milk has about one-fifth a day's worth of vitamin D — and whole milk has more than skim.

Eggs

Two large eggs have about one-tenth of a daily dose of vitamin D. Eggs from truly free-range chickens, like those many people are raising in backyards these days, are often more delicious and nutritious than the factory farmed kind; unfortunately, the free-range label on eggs isn't a regulated term, so it could be meaningless.

Mushrooms
Mushrooms can have a significant amount of vitamin D, but the amount varies widely by type. Shiitake mushrooms (pictured) have 45 iu — about one-thirteenth of a daily recommended serving. White mushrooms, on the other hand, have just 5 iu.

Ricotta Cheese
Ricotta cheese stands out among cheeses for its relatively high vitamin D content. With 25 iu of Vitamin D, it would still take about 24 servings to get your daily dose solely from ricotta cheese (and considering the amount of fat you'd consume, that's not recommended). That said, ricotta has about five times as much vitamin D as most other cheeses.

Readers of the book, Sunshine and Vitamin D, will be ahead of the curve on one of the most exciting health stories of the 21st century. Author Frank Murray spotlights the latest research into how and why this much-maligned and misunderstood vitamin is finally coming into its own, and how to gain the greatest benefits from it.

To learn more about vitamin D and how to take your health into your own hands, visit www.basichealthpub.com