D is for diatribe!

I had a physical a couple of weeks ago, because I think Mike and I should just get in the habit of yearly physicals now. They did a blood test for my thyroid because there's been a little thyroid weirdness in the family, and apparently at the same time tested a bunch of other things (cholesterol, etc.). So everything came back normal and healthy, except I'm pretty Vitamin D deficient - like a 17 and it should be a 28. Not really a big deal, if I want to get old and have brittle bones and cancer and heart disease and a billion other horrible things. So now I'm on a super-strength Vitamin D supplement and have to go back in about a month to get re-tested. But the bummer is there are a lot of rotten physical side effects of not getting enough Vitamin D. Fatigue, muscle aches, weight gain, difficulty to lose weight, etc., all of which have affected me to some degree, and who knows how long I've been deficient. You know when you have a baby and permanent exhaustion just comes with the territory? Well, mine never really went away. But the last two weeks I really have had energy. I am a total head case, so there's a good chance it's all mental, but who cares? It's such and easy, easy fix.

And now it's time for the public service announcement! I've learned a lot on the interwebs about vitamin D deficiency in the last few weeks, and scientists/nutritionists are just barely scratching the surface of how important this vitamin is. Your body makes vitamin D through unprotected sun exposure and diet (milk, egg yolks, junk fish, green leafy veggies, things that are sun-dried). However, it is very difficult to get enough through just your diet, and Midwestern weather makes it difficult to get enough sun from, oh, November to May (15 minutes, twice a day, three times a week). So most of us in the corn belt or oil belt or wheat belt or whatever it is, should probably default to taking a supplement. Oprah even says so. And many, many people are vitamin D deficient, like epidemic proportions. So I guess my point is, take ya vitamins, and get that sh*t checked if you have a chance.