Since  I seem to have a Vitamin D deficiency, let’s take a look at a few facts according to Wikipedia.

“Vitamin D is produced from skin being exposed to sunlight. Vitamin D defiency is possibly linked to a myriad of ailments with cancer being just one of them. Vitamin D regulates the calcium and phosphorus levels in the blood by promoting their absorption from food in the intestines, and by promoting reabsorption of calcium in the kidneys, which enables normal mineralization of bone and prevents hypocalcemic tetany.”

In actuality,  I may NOT be short on Vitamin D because I work in a greenhouse environment and get a reasonable amount of sunlight in the spring and summer.  This effect is reduced however as I live in the Northern hemisphere where apparently they have tested individuals and found that we do not get quite enough sunlight and are vitamin D deficient.

I will drop by my local health food store and see what my options are this week.  I have read that cod liver oil pills are a good source of Vitamin D….and I used to take these as a young child. I guess my Mom knew what she was doing!

The second problem is that my average daily calorie intake is too high. I do not want to affect my lifestyle too drastically as this can put my whole program at risk.  I am not even going to try to bring my calories down to ideal levels right away.  My goal is a 10% reduction for the next 2 or 3 weeks.

I want to add one more item to Step 2. I plan to take the time for 15 minutes of stretching  3 times a week.  I don’t think this is too much to add to my schedule and the benefits should be obvious to my back and general flexability.

To summarize, Step 2 is to look into Vitamin D supplements, reduce average daily calorie intake to 2,865 (or less), and to perform stretching activities 3 times a week for at least 15 minutes each time.

Later,

Brian Zell

I have used Fitday.com to calculate and track my calories. I wasn’t worried about complete perfection at this time, I just did the best I could with the time I had. Here are the results:

a) I have been consuming an average of 3,183 calories per day. Much of this coming from Fat and Carbs. See chart below.

Based on a quick search online of recommended daily calorie intake, my ideal caloric intake is 2000 to 2,500 calories per day depending on activity level. So….my average daily caloric intake is way too high.

b) Also of interest is that Vitamin D intake is very low. Vitamin D is important for Calcium to work in your body. This needs to be fixed. I will visit my local health store and see what they have this week.